Following on from Puglist_Spec's thread... Tommy boxed out of the Kronk, and we know that some unbelievable talent passed through those doors in and around Tommy's weight. Any sparring stories about the man? I know there's footage of him and McCallum going at it. But any other stories on him?
When Andres went to the kronk after losing to hearns the sparing got so rough that hearns stopped sparing with Dennis he had improved since moving to Detroit. And was always very tough.
I heard Hearns regularly got beaten up in sparring by ams. This was told to me by a guy who apparently trained in the Kronk in the 80's. He said there was guys who never made it who were much better than Hearns. Guys who ended up in Jail and stuff like that. This is probably complete bull**** though
There is footage of Hearns sparring w McCallum an it is very even if anything Mike is handling him ..
Emmanuel Steward said the Bernard "Superbad" Mayes used to kick Tommy's ass in sparring every day, and that he was the most talented fighter he ever trained*. Bernard won a bunch of Amateur titles, and fought on ESPN a few times, but loved the malt liquor and died of Cirrhosis in his early 30s. *He later said that OSCAR DE LA HOYA believe it or not, was the most talented fighter he ever trained but just couldn't bring it from the gym into the real fight.
I think Steward also has called McCallum and McClellan the most talented he ever trained. I suppose it's hard to keep track of the talent when you've trained so many talented fighters.
Know about him taking Ray Leonard 3 years before they fought, but also losing to Curtis Parker in a Philadelphia sparring session.