He seems to be a favorite on here and is my favorite fighter ever. Been a loyal fan of his since the first Leonard fight in 81. Why the mental make up question? It seems like he had the potential to be the greatest most exciting fighter ever,and when he was at his best,he looked invincible especially with that Right hand . But when the questionable chin and stamina came into play,they seemed like they came short of his other out standing abilities,which obviously is'nt his fault. But the main thing I wanted to bring up is do people knowtice that he was much more motivated in some fights than others? That right hand that destroyed Cuevas,Duran,Shuler and many others looked sort of average against other fighters.I'm aware of the hand problems,but I think the most disappointing fight for me was the Barkley 2 fight where he had the revenge factor going in.. He came out reluctantly instead of agressively and yeah he was passed his peak and Barkley was awesome himself,but Hearns destroyed many other fighters afterward. Seems like there were times there was a tremendous fire in the hitman and other times there was putting in a days work. The second Leonard fight was a prime example of Hearns motivation,even passed his peak. To this day I wonder how the outcome to Hagler Hearns 2 would have been,hopefully Tommy would be more patient and wear down Haglers rushes if he can. opinions??
I think it was timing and other factors like aging. His right hand was not as quick and precise in the late 1980s as it was in the early 1980s that is for sure. Also, I think his knockout punch came more when he was relaxed and didn't look for the punch. When he tried too hard sometimes he would not get the knockout. Also later in his career he started to work the body more like the Shuler fight immediately after Hagler. The Hagler fight showed him that body punches might be more important than he thought before, but to get to the position to land body punches he sometime was fighting inside more and wouldn't have the distance for his right hand. Either way, Tommy got knockouts more when he was relaxed and not looking for them.
