Tommy Hearns Names The Best Overall He Fought

How do you know it’s not the truth.

I sparred plenty and the hardest-hitting guy I ever sparred never knocked me down. And others did. That’s because he hit so hard that I figured out immediatley I wasn’t going to trade with him and mostly played defense.

But people on here are all: ‘This guy knocked him out and he said this guy who didn’t was a better puncher, he’s lying.”

I have to assume anyone who thinks that’s how it works hasn’t ever been in a ring.

The one who knocked you out may have faced a version of you that wasn’t as good — older, maybe didn’t train as well, perhaps somewhat under the weather, etc. — as the version that survived against a better puncher. Or that one single shot may have hit you right on the chin and the guy who hit harder wasn’t as good all-around or as accurate and maybe didn’t hit you quite as cleanly. Or you may know your punch resistance diminished over time, or you learned not to leave yourself as open after someone knocked you down or out.

Good example: seems like most everyone who was ever in the ring with Shavers or Foreman rated them among the best punchers they faced, even guys who beat them. You think every single one of these guys who attest to their power are lying? Really? The consistent word I’ve seen used to describe their punches most often was ‘numb’ — if they hit you on the arm, your arm went numb for a while. Now if you experienced that against, say, Foreman and somehow managed to not get knocked out, you still may hold that he hit harder than guys who did because the effect of EVERY SINGLE PUNCH that Foreman touched you with made an impression.

 

I mostly agree. However... I was never sparked out cold but twice I left a session only to realize later that I didn't really remember anything from them. I knew the guys hit hard but don't really remember any details but that I was hiding and stalling the whole time to avoid their power. And one of those guys I later had a return with, only to feel he didn't hit all that hard, so I must assume he landed something special (or lucky) the first time around.

I guess that is the difference between who hit hardest and who I got hit hardest by. It's a weird sport.

 

because many fighters go against the held belief fans want to think sort of to say, you don't know everything. And there is ego.. Hearns will say Roldan hit the hardest yet Barkley and Hagler and Leonard knocked him out. Or Duran saying someone other than Hearns hit the hardest, when you know Hearns hit him the hardest. Or Barkley.

 

So he’s lying to make you look bad? Or to be disagreeable with you? When HE is the one who got hit?

Ever been in a ring? Am I lying when I tell you the hardest puncher I ever sparred with never put me down, but someone who didn’t hit as hard did?

Again, maybe if he says Roldan, then Roldan had more power on each punch than Barkley did ... but Barkley had more on just the knockout punches. So he’s answering the question on who hit harder by what it felt like from every punch rather than just the few key punches (which he may not remember as well if they were concussive).

But, no, let’s do it your way: instead of asking great boxers about their actual experience and perception of what they actually went through, let’s let some yahoo who has never been in a ring and watched something on YouTube tell us.

Because the “held belief of the fans” is what matters most.

 

What does it have to do with me. That makes me sound paranoid. No he is saving a bit of his ego. Duran saying Hearns hit the hardest is an admission the same as Hearns saying Hagler hit the hardest is an admission. They already lost to those guys, why give them more credit than they already got. Saying a guy they beat was the hardest puncher says they overcame the punch.

Whether Roldan hit the hardest, I am not sure. But Hearns said that one time.. And surprisingly Nunn said Roldan hit him the hardest also. And Toney said Barkley hit him the hardest. It is subjective, but many times the guy who hit the hardest is not the one who knocked them out. Which I find interesting.

 

You’re projecting: “They don’t agree with me so they’re lying and I know why. It’s his ego.”

How about this: maybe the hardest puncher didn’t hit them the best ... didn’t have the skill or timing or the matchup was wrong for him, but he was still the hardest puncher.

A pretty darned good argument can be made that the hardest-hitting 147-pounder that Hearns fought was Pipino Cuevas. But he didn’t hit Hearns harder than, say, Leonard did, because he didn’t land his bombs. Had he landed three or four good hooks, however, and had Hearns knocked him out, he could legitimatey say that Cuevas was the hardest-hitting welterweight from his experience even though Leonard knocked him out ... but Leonard took him deeper so was able to land more big punches and against a Hearns who wasn’t as fresh, was a more complete fighter, etc., so maybe not the harder puncher of the two.

Roldan knocked down Hagler, who has one of the best chins of all time. If Nunn and Hearns also say he’s the hardest puncher they faced, you don’t think it’s YOUR ego at play to say, “No, they’re all lying” in the face of their own words on top of the fact that he knocked Hagler down?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Hearns listed a cruiser or light heavy as the hardest puncher he faced ... not pound-for-pound, but he’s a bigger guy with more weight behind his punches. And if Hearns took those shots when he weighed 147, he might say that, but he was also bigger so probably better able to absorb them so I doubt he will.

Look, if you want to say that you think Barkley was the hardest puncher Hearns ever faced, I’ve got no problem with that. But when you say he’s lying if he disagrees with you because the guy who actually got hit by him and the others says someone else hits harder, I think it’s your ego at play here.

 

Not just Hearns. Most fighters. They will never say the guy who knocked them out punched the hardest, and you know Duran was never hit with a punch like Hearns hit him with. I don't think anyone wants to give a fighter anymore credit than they have to. Cuevas can say Randy Shields hit him harder than Hearns, but who would believe it.

 

Last year he said the hardest hitter was "probably" Roldan and the most skilled was SRL.

 

That knockdown Roldan gets credit for against Hagler was a slip .

 

I will say that, although to push a solid fighter like Hagler down that easily shows his physical strength. I remember Hearns had bruises on his back after fighting Roldan. The guy was rough. Kinchen who was pretty solid couldn't handle the pressure.

 

I tend to thin that is largely a brain trauma issue. WHen Hearns hit Duran with that right it PROBABLY erased that fight from memory immediately. You don't remember getting knocked out, you find out later that it happened. These guys are speaking about memories that they have, not ones they forgot.

 

This exactly.