Thomas Hearns vs Pernell Whitaker At 147

Not so sure about that, prior to fighting Hearns, Benítez had comprehensively outboxed and outclassed Duran who was better than Chavez, yes, Duran was a little past his best against Benítez, but then so was Chavez against Whitaker.

 

Plus Chavez moved up to 147 to fight Whitaker a weightclass he was unremarkable at.

 

Well theres a few things to take into account here.

Chavez moved up to 147 to fight Whitaker, a weightclass he never really did anything remarkable at clearly that wasn't his weightclass.

Chavez was also bit past his prime at this point.

The decisions are equal to me I've never seen anyone score it for either Leonard or Chavez, so to me they are equal in terms of being robberies.

Was Leonard more removed from his prime than Chavez ? Probably. But Leonard had two good performances prior to Hearns fight, and then went on to 12-0 a Duran who beat Barkley.

Would Whitaker's win over Chavez be more notable ? Again probably yes. But again Hearns was considered washed up going into Leonard fight, after being KO'ed by Barkley. And then looking very beatable vs Roldan, Kinchen. So that also has to be taken into account for Hearns.

 

Not for me. Chavez was the consensus #1 pfp - if not him, it was Whitaker. Benitez was about 6th pfp at best when he lost to Hearns. A great win for Tommy, but not on the scale of beating Leonard in 1981 if he could have achieved this (which was also a probable pfp #1 vs pfp 2). Also, outclassing a post-New Orleans Duran happened a fair few times in the 1980s, hardly massive news.

Decent point, Duran wasn't exactly remarkable at 154 either- and Whitaker himself was 2 divisions above his best weight. Duran's standing in 1982 was not on the level of Chavez's in 93.

 

A lot of people will always talk utter crap.

 

I always thought general consensus was Hearns beats Leonard over 12 rounds and Leonard beats Hearns over 15 rounds ? Even the 2nd fight had that of been 15 Leonard would've stopped him I'm sure. Although Hearns at that point had learnt to clinch more when he was hurt.

 

That doesn't mean he was at his best. For me he had past his best around the time of the Comacho fight if not a little before.

 

Only a consensus of whiners who want to rewrite some results so their favourite actually wins. Angelo's "you're blowing it now son, you're blowing it", would have just happened at the start of the 11th (in all probability). The idea that the 12th round pans out like it did anyway is absurd- and the idea that Dundee says to Ray in the changing room, "y'know if it was 15 rounds, i'd have let you know the fight wasn't going your way before round 13...damn it!"

 

I know. But that can be said of loads and loads of great fights. Chavez-Whitaker was a far bigger fight than Hearns-Benitez in significance 'at the time'.

 

It was but with hindsight Chavez never really did anything notable at 147, and less than a year after the Whitaker fight. Chavez went on to lose decisively to Frankie Randall.

You said about Duran at 154 but he atleast beat Davey Moore, and had impressive performances above Jr Middleweight vs Hagler, Barkley. Which means it wasn't the weight that effected Duran, it was more the style of Hearns and significant height and reach advantages.

 

..and Benitez and Laing.

 

Well yeah again styles of those fighters were bad match ups for Duran, they were stick and move awkward fighters who never stood in front of Duran. Alot of people also think Duran went through a bad patch during those string of losses. And then made a resurgence with the Davey Moore fight.

 

His resurgence wouldn't have been as successful had he fought Benitez or Hearns for the title the night he beat Moore- just like it wouldn't have been as successful had he challenged Nunn or McCallum the night he beat Barkley.

 

Yeah part of it is down to the weight and styles, I don't think Duran ever stood a chance vs the likes of a prime Nunn or Benitez.

But I still think Duran had more impressive showings vs Moore at 154, and vs Hagler, Barkley, than Chavez did at 147.

I honestly don't remember Chavez having any significant performances at 147 unless I'm forgetting a fight.

 

Chavez was pfp nr 1 facing the nr, 2 who also probably wasn't at his very best at WW, at a catch weight of 145. It doesn't get much better than this. You can always split hairs about perfect time, perfect weight etc. but if the nr. 1 and nr. 2 are fairly similar in size and face off it's about as good as it's going to get.

Leonard and Hearns 2 turned out to be a great fight, but going in to it the question was really whom of them had faded the most - and most thought that was Hearns. A bit like Thrilla in Manilla. Two guys who were war torn and faded, but put on a great display nonetheless.

From a sporting, Chavez-Whitaker is clearly ahead even though Leonard-Hearns 2 was more entertaining. A better comparison in sporting terms is with Hearns-Leonard 1.

Duran was definitely beatable at this point, but I have to give Hearns extra points for how he did it. Not even Hagler came close to anything like that.