At Welter, Thomas Hearns was an undoubted all time great, in counting the Welters who may of beaten him fingers may be used, but i suspect few would need to resort to toes. the same may be said for Lt Middle as well, Thomas was like a Praying Mantis of a fighter, who left his Ring Prey... Praying, But at Middle things were a lot shakier..if just as exciting. At Middle Hearns looked devastating blasting out James Shuler, and i suspect not many middles would have come back from the first two rounds that Tommy laid on Hagler and Barkley, to win in the third, but even Victories against such as Olajide, Roldan and Kitchen were achieved after have to endure a "Bambi on the Ice" moment At Middle this Praying Mantis of a fighter often found himself the Prey... Ellsworth "Spider" Webb is certainly worth a mention, he was never a champion, but was a stella contender, for awhile, and who seems rather criminally forgotten these days, in 1958 amongst others, Ellsworth took on four future world middleweight champs, he lost on points to Gene Fullmer, who was a Former middleweight champ also, so no disgrace, of the other three ? Webb won all of them, beating Beating Dick Tiger on points, and achieving two cuts stoppage victories over Joey Giardello and Terry Downes it seems the Chevy Corvette was not the only sporty model cruising along in fine form in '58 ! Ellsworth certainly did not like the suffocating crude pressure that nemesis Fullmer could apply and Maintain, would he cope better with Hearns longer range bombs although he could be dropped, he tended to come roaring back, he was only stopped once, in his last fight, coming back after a layoff to face a revenge hungry Dick Tiger, Not the smartest of matches perhaps, but there wasnt nearly so much cotton wool around in Spiders Day... So The Praying Mantis Vs The Spider Could the obscure Webb Ambush the Renowned Hearns ? Thomas or Ellsworth ?
Fullmer used a fair bit of movement in their second fight after Webb had him down (not ruled) a few rounds in (2nd fight this, which I must upload because this keeps coming up!) Anyway, if Tommy boxes I think he might well be able to evade Webb. By the same measure, if he lands a beauty on Webb as he did Schuler there's no guarantee Webb can get himself back together as he did against Boyd. But I'd favour Webb to close the distance after being stung and force Tommy to punch it out with him; then it's Webb's game. I say he lands some damaging shots to force a stoppage as he did with Giardello (was it cuts? In the footage I just remember Joey getting battered) Webb KO 7/8 Hearns winning is so very possible I'm not really arsed either way. Great matchup :good
Hi Flea Man as I recall Giardello was indeed banged up, with Webb in the driving seat, but cuts caused the stoppage, (Perhaps clarifying info required on this) Ellsworth seems one of those old school classy tough-guys who matches up well with most, certainly nobodys easy nights work. its nice to give him a recall here. Regards A53
