Hit Man vs. the Golden Boy. Two big right-hand punchers. Twelve rounds. Let’s take the best light heavyweight Lalonde, whenever you think that was (late 1980s) and the Hearns of somewhere in the 1991-93 range, which includes the Virgil Hill fight. Does Lalonde break through against the sometimes-fragile Hearns? Does Thomas just sit back and box his way to a decision, avoiding Lalonde’s dynamite? Or does it end up a shootout where we see whose right gets there first … and best? What say you all?
I think the version of Hearns who beat Hill would stop LaLonde or win a wide decision, Hearns by this point his career had learnt how to survive better aswell. So if on the off chance LaLonde did catch him I think Hearns could overcome it.
Hearns beat Hill, Lalonde was never in at that level, Ray Leonard was never a top 10 light heavy, Hearns would have out-jabbed Lalonde.
Nice post , i agree .. I will add ..Hearns liked this weight alot and felt very comfortable here .. He doesn't need to drain and weaken Lalonde down to 168 and call it a light heavy fight ... He fights him at 175 and outclasses him there
I believe Hearns probably outboxes Lalonde over 12 but has to survive a knockdown or some rough moments. But then again, Hearns lost to Iran Barkley at that weight and I’m not sure Iran was a better light heavy than Lalonde so I could see the Golden Boy’s lightning striking.
Well Barkley swarmed all over Hearns not allowing him to breath, whilst taking some pretty hellacious shots himself. Whilst it's debatable that Barkley was a better Light Heavyweight than LaLonde, stylistic wise he presents a much more challenging opponent than LaLonde would be. He also had the mental edge of stopping and beating Hearns the 1st time, and was out the prove it wasn't a fluke.
Yeah, I see the more likely scenario of Hearns’ dismantling Lalonde with hurtful precision - easy wide UD with an equal chance of mid to late round stoppage. Perhaps even a chilling KO - SRL certainly laid him out flat via sizzling combo. Old story though, Donny could punch and, for sure, he might get lucky and sneak one through to hurt or put Tommy down - but I think Hearns dusts himself off and still goes on to win. Then again, Tommy being hurt might be a wake up call for Hearns to blast away - as he did in the shootout vs Roldan. I wonder what The Golden Boy with the bionic hand/arm is up to these days?
Last I read, he retired to an island (Costa Rica) and lives the good life with his wife raising his children. There’s a lot to admire about Lalonde — came out about being abused as a child long before that was common and used boxing as a platform to talk about it. Plus won a world title while basically being a one-armed bandit.
Cheers for the update. Good point - the revelations re abuse weren’t as common then - taking that much more courage to come out about same. And in doing so, he would’ve also given courage to a contingent number of other victims to feel more secure in coming out themselves. Good luck to him - very happy that it’s all good for him post boxing career. He certainly had the Sugar Man in a spot of bother before Ray turned up the heat to seize control and finish with a highlight reel KO.
That fight with Leonard was a heckuva show. He gave Ray all he wanted and Leonard rose to the occasion as he so often did.
It’s crazy that in all my years of following boxing I just thought about this matchup today and THEN saw this thread! Smart money would definitely be on Hearns but a lucky huge right hand from Lalonde is always a danger.
Lalonde was one of the fighters that HIT HARD. He was funny because he could be getting outclassed looking horrible and BOOM he lands a glancing righthand and his opponent is done. If he touches Hearns with that righthand Hearns is going to have a big problem. But on paper Hearns should win.
