The best version of Floyd Mayweather versus the best version of Tommy Hearns

Floyds best version was super feather and lightweight and Tommy's best version was welter and 154.

If they met at the higher weights I like hearns by decision. I think he's pretty bad match for Mayweather and naturally just much bigger man. Handling ODLH is one thing hearns was just too big.

 

You left off Genero Hernandez, who was at least even odds.

Look, Mayweather was pfp 1 for a large chunk of his career. You’re not going to enter fights as an underdog often while pfp 1.

Interestingly, Leonard got his ass handed to him while a 3-1 favorite over Norris. Mayweather typically won lopsidedly with that line of odds and at the same age or older.

 

Tommy may have just been in a humble mood…but his take is that it would go the distance. Hearns had a little more appreciation for Floyd than the classic forum seems to.

https://www.*****.net/2022/07/14/thomas-hearns-floyd-mayweather/

 

Boxing legend Thomas Hearns outlined how a fight against Floyd Mayweather would have played out.

‘Hitman’ Hearns revealed what strategy he’d use if he ever came up against the great Mayweather inside the ropes.

However, Hearns doesn’t believe he’d have gotten the knockout if they ever had traded blows in the same era.


Mayweather, who claimed the WBN Fighter of the Decade for 2010 to 2020 – awarded in 2021, is revered with the all-time best.

Thomas Hearns
Hearns was himself part of an everlasting legacy of fighters involved in the greatest rivalry of all time during the 1980s.


On what his strategy would be in a fight against Mayweather, Hearns told Lem Satterfield for Ring Magazine: “Against me, I would have to respect him.

“I think that he could go the distance with me. I would have to out-think him and definitely out-jab him. He’s a shorter man. So he can’t get to me.

“I would have to keep the jab on him and keep him at a distance. Force him to use his head movement all of the time.


Somewhere down the line, I would probably hit him with a couple of right hands.

“I would probably get him with a good right hand if not an average right hand. If I was to go to the body, you know that might play into what he is probably trying to do strategically.


I think that if I got closer to him trying to land a body shot, that would be what he wants. So I think that my best thing would be to stay on the outside and box him.

“But I think that he could go the distance with me.”

 

Anybody that knows boxing knows that Leonard was past his prime vs Norris. Prior to that Leonard fought Hearns in a rematch in which both boxers were past their best but still put on a great show. That was TWO years before Norris.
The fact of the matter is Leonard handed boxers who were HOF boxers their first loss and he didnt do it by decision- he stopped them.
He also made Duran flat out quit in the rematch which no boxer in 119 bouts was ever able to do.

 

Holy mother of goal post shifting...!

 

@Mark Dunham

 

well rr ? @Mark Dunham

 

Hearns is a great and the naturally larger man so he should be a clear favorite. I do think Floyd would make this a competitive fight. I would take Hearns with an 8-4 type decision.

 

Floyd was a slight favorite (-135) against Hernandez. This says more about how unproven Floyd was than about how good Hernandez was. Hernandez was a respectable champion, but far from Floyd's level.

I assume the sportsbook set 3-to-1 odds on Leonard/Norris to encourage betting action on Norris.

Floyd took much better care of himself than Leonard did of himself. Floyd also never dabbled in drugs, had prolonged layoffs, or moved down in weight, as Leonard did versus Norris. Either way, I'm sure Leonard takes full blame for his miscalculations in choosing to fight Norris and Camacho.

Leonard has the satisfaction of beating the best fighters of his era, in or near their primes. Meanwhile, Floyd has the satisfaction of finishing his career undefeated.

 

Type "fall 98 prediction ko magazine Mayweather Hernandez" into Google

 

I think Floyd does about as well against Hearns as Benitez did. That is to say, he makes it across the finish line intact and manages to eke out enough rounds on each card to avoid getting completely embarrassed. Tough to do much more than that given the size differential and styles clash, but I think Floyd has the wherewithal to avoid getting blown out early and manages to craft a few more moments than others might expect.

 

As chinny as Tommy was, I still have to go with him. Floyd can't outbox him.

 

Too much of a jab, too much power, and probably more importantly too much height and reach.
Oscar proved you could freeze floyd with a jab and by that point it was as fast or as prime hearns and while Oscar right hand was functional Hearns was another level.

I've always thought SRL, Hearns would have beaten floyd at 147 and in Tommy case above that and Duran would likely do the same at 140 and below.

 

Floyd had no road to victory over a prime JMW version of Hearns.

He couldn’t have outboxed him to a decision, and he didn’t have the strength and the firepower to have stopped him.