Randy Shields faced both Leonard and Hearns So Who Hit Harder?

Randy Shields faced both Leonard and Hearns So Who Hit Harder?
(Shields faced Cuevas & Benitez also)

Some good info in this interview, plus in the Youtube notes.

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Shields knew his craft. Seems like a real good guy here too.

 

That was excellent. Always liked Shields, gave a good account of himself every time out. Knew his stuff, actually knows his stuff.
He description of how it would be like to deal with Pacman was great.

 

'If life was any better I don't know what I'd do' yeah, when you say it with that enthusiasm I really believe you Randy

I can't say I'm surprised with his answer. I've read some comments from Randy in Ring Magazine over the years and he always had praise for SRL. He had a rather low opinion of Pipino Cuevas, commenting how easy it was to defuse Cuevas' danger with clever lateral movement. He also believed that he won that fight, and that the damage he inflicted on Cuevas correlated with Cuevas' career downturn.

 

If he defused it so well why couldn't he beat him?

 

A lot of people thought that he did.

 

Here's the fight

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Great clip,,,there is some evidence for his statement. Watch Leonard Hearns 1,,, Sugar Ray was the one stalking Tommy from about the 6th round on looking to knock his azz out. I always thought Tommy was a little more vulnerable at 147 than is generally acknowledged

 

yeah in that interview he says he could take Hearns jab away, well he didn't. A lot of talking.

 

I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about his comment on Cuevas.

 

similar comment from Shields. That is why I mentioned Hearns. He talks about or people say he took this away, but he really didn't win the fights. If it was that easy, he would dominate not just a close fight. He didn't come close to beating Hearns.

 

Leonard was not a better puncher than Hearns .. ask Duran. Leonard was a much more complete fighter, better defensively, had better stamina and took a better shot ... Hearns was lighting fast, huge and lanky with exceptional power .. he was also dicey on the chin and had questionable stamina .. all of this made his possibly the most exciting fighter of his era.

 

Randy thought he did beat Cuevas, so his conviction that he defused Cuevas is entirely consistent with that belief.

Whether he won or not or deserved to win or not, he outperformed all of Cuevas' challengers by miles. He lasted the distance and arguably inflicted more damage, so 'defused' isn't an unfair way of describing it.

 

Look at the stare down between Shields and Hearns and you’ll see Randy laughing.

I remember him saying in an interview soon after that Hearns came out with his death stare to try to intimidate him and he thought, ‘Oh, what’s he going to do ... hit me?’ And started laughing to himself.

Shields was just a shade below world-class level but he had no fear and stood up to Hearns and Cuevas, two wrecking-ball, all-time punchers. He was durable and skilled and understood the game. A credit to the sport.

BTW, how can it be that there’s no film (or full fight footage) of Leonard-Shields. SRL from the very start of his pro career (heck, even his late amateur fights all exist) was one of the most high-profile, well-chronicled guys who ever fought ... yet this fight is a black hole.

 

Leonard was not the harder puncher. Ask Hagler and Duran. Anyone who fought either of them. I do think Ray punched hard enough at welterweight, but not as hard at higher weights. I remember someone saying when Hearns made the 2 round prediction for the Duran fight, Ray did not knockout Duran and Hearns said. I punch much harder than Ray does. That is the difference" he said.