MOST OVERRATED FIGHT EVER;Leonard vs. HEARNS

Well like most fights the excitement is many times the skill and level of the fighters involved.....to me the fight was exciting from beginning to end because of the quality of the fighters who appeared to be levels above everyone else and the danger Hearns and SRL posed to lesser fighters.....the tension that built round after round while we waited for one to impose their will was the intrigue....who was better? was the question? we saw what they could do to everyone else.

 

True, very true.

 

Some interesting "Leonard Camp" & "Hearns Camp" comments in the buildup to "The Showdown":

"Leonard said, ''Kalule can't hurt me because he can't punch,'' an assessment agreed to by Hearns's manager, Emanuel Steward. ''To beat Leonard, you have to have a punch,'' Steward said. ''You can't beat Leonard by outboxing him. You have to hurt him. I don't think he has the greatest heart after he's hurt.''

Leonard said Hearns ''has nothing I want and I have what he wants.'' ''He's just a champion,'' Leonard said. ''He's not marketable. There's a bit of envy there. I don't know if it's hatred or jealousy, he just wants to be in my footsteps.'' Who's the Headliner?

More comments/info here:
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/25/sports/leonard-vs-hearns-overshadows-card.html

 

It was not overrated at all. It had everything. I thought it was great in many ways and poor Tommy might have been the iconic fight for both Ray and Marvin, although Ray had the Duran and Benitez and Hearns fights, and then Hagler as his iconic fights. He had all these great fights to fall back on.. Hearns vs. Ray had everything changes in momentum and each fighter reversed roles. I don't see how you cannot like this fight. Tommy and Ray were made for each other. They were very evenly matched and could be aggressive or not, and they both utilized both ways. You probably do not like Hagler vs. Leonard, since that had much less changes in momentum and it was about Ray winning rounds and not exchanging with Hagler. One fight I always watch is McCallum vs. Curry. The surprise in Hearns vs. Leonard was the puncher became Leonard and Hearns became the boxer like Ray was thought to be.. I think if they would have been no name boxers in a 10 round fight, people would have thought what a great fight. You don't have to be a Leonard or Duran or Hearns to boost a fight.

 

Ray sure was coccky. I had to misspell it because they changed it on me. Even now he acts like he is Hearns and Duran's friend, but in reality he knows now that they are now part of his history, so he has to buddy up to those guys. He would love to have Hagler his buddy also

 

Take away the part of the statement about the massive closed-circuit interest, and you could very well be describing any one of Matchroom's shows from Leeds.

 

Lol a coward? If you have me in front of you ,probably you would **** on your pants

 

By the way. Can you write anything longer than 3 words in spanish? You talk like a parrot

 

I see your point. Well I cannot fault you for an opinion, although with what you want you don't need great fighters all you need is to put them in a phonebooth and let them swing and the winner is the one standing. The technique and everything else is what I like and Leonard vs. Hearns had that. They switched momentum and used what they could to win the fight.. Sometimes watching a guy elude punches is great.

 

Yes yes behind a screen every nerd like you is a super hero but in live it changes a lot of course. Btw. ( it is maricones not maricons) your spanish is a joke just like you buffoon haha

 

I'd go as far as to say that this is one of my favorite fights ever, if not the favorite. To me it had everything - even if the 'action' didn't occur until the closing few minutes or so.

But I can understand why it appeals to the purist more so than to those, who favor watching an action-packed 'fight' from the opening bell. It was a chess match for the most part; but it was a chess match between two of the greatest Welterweights in Boxing history.

 

I think it's one thing to look back years after the fact with a critical historic eye and say, what's the big deal - but at the time, at the moment, with no idea of the outcome, it was a good fight. A LOT of strategy involved: the switch in tactics by both fighters, the drama with Dundee's epic, "You're blowing it son!" at the end of the 12th, audible even in the din of the closed-circuit civic center I watched it from ... and Leonard unleashing a barrage of punches when Hearns got hurt, all combined to make quite a show.

Perspective can change opinions with a lot of experiences - personally, this remains a great fight. Glad to have seen it "live" ...