Giardello was kinda all over the scale....back in the TV fights of the late 50's -early 60's. Hearns would have a big height , and some reach, advantages over the 5'10" Giardello. Hearns avoids unnecessary "firefights" and just boxes to a decision.
Giardello was a natural middleweight,...and had obtained, by the early 60's, a PHD in boxing wizardry...it was ironic that he would get his two shots at the title at about that time. I think he would be too smart for Hearns....taking a close 15 round decision (without elaborating too much).
Giardello may not have been the defensive wizard that Benitez was but Giardello was a hell of a lot tougher and naturally bigger and stronger. He was also very slippery in his own right. If you imagine the problems Hearns had with Benitez but put a bigger, tougher guy in there I could see Giardello beating Hearns. Earlier in his career Giardello was something of a puncher too and knocked out some pretty good contenders at middleweight so given Hearns' chin problems that's a possibility too. I think this one is a tossup though given Giardello's inconsistency.
Good an*lysis:good I wonder what is objectional about the word an*l? Can we say genital? penile? Strange.
Hearns didn't have too much trouble with Benitez at all really. I'd say less than SRL, and certainly milllles less than Roberto Duran. Benitez was a great fighter at 154 and many thought he would reverse the SRL result if he moved up and some experts actually believed he might be the man to detrone Hagler. He was very very highly regarded there. Hearns fought a brilliant strategical fight (The Stewart gameplan was sensational) and only lost patience a couple of times. He hurt his right hand midway thru the bout and used it sparingly thereafter. He won comfortably. Benitez was impossible to look really good against around this time and was a great win. This was only his second loss and unfortunately his career went downhill from here.
Honestly can't remember. He used it sparingly in the second half of the fight but was very busy with his left hand.
Thats his story. An equally plausible possibility is that he used it sparingly because just like duran he couldnt land it to save his life. Unlike Benitez (the best 154/160 pounder Hearns beat) Giardello had a great set of whiskers and was a natural, seasoned 160 pounder. He was bigger, taller, stronger, and hit harder than Benitez. Those are all things that would give Hearns reason to be more conservative and make me pretty comfortable calling it a tossup.
I seem to remember seeing Hearns make contact with Benitez elbow and then in the corner him telling Steward , it hurt him to throw it,but it was a long time ago and I could be wrong.:think Hearns could win with his jab and speed but, if he wants to trade Joey was no mug.If he only had only had the discipline to keep in shape he would be routinely mentioned as a possible top 10 .imo
Excuses in a win? No. He actually dislocated two bones and didn't fight again until 7 months later. You can see his right hand output diminish after the 8th round. Benitez was the best defensive fighter in boxing during his prime and was terribly hard to hit clean, as Leonard, Hearns and Duran all found out. His elusiveness led to this memorable exchange between SRL and Dundee "Go downstairs!" Dundee exhorted Leonard between rounds. "Go to the body. Stick that left in his face. You can't stand in front of him and hit him with a right hand. Forget the right hand!" Leonard held out his hand, indicating where Benitez' face was. "But he's right there!" said Ray. "Yeah," said Dundee. "He's right there, but then he ain't there."
