Supposedly Hearns felt unwell on fight week and was having a little trouble with his hands. I'm not sure if that was why, but in this fight with Alfonso Hayman he adopts a much more of a overtly boxing/moving style rather than his more traditional flat-footed punch-'em-out approach at 147. Granted, Hayman was not a world-class operator, although he did manage to stop Johnny Gant earlier on in his career and mix with some top contenders. Predictably, Hearns makes a mockery of him here, darting from side to side, jabbing him all over the shot and leading accurately with just about everything in the book. But what really impresses me is Hearns' defence: I could count on one hand the number of times he gets hit clean. He does a really good job of avoiding Hayman's counters, and always seems that one step ahead. He never gets dragged down to his opponent's level, never forced to take one or two in the exchange to get in the big right hand as was sometimes the case. He hits and moves, lands with a variety of shots, and puts on a very pleasing and artful display. It certainly adds to his H2H credentials as far as his boxing ability is concerned, for me. Part 1 is here. I won't crowd up the page - the other two should be on YouTube. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GVwC4EjlUY[/ame]
I suppose that big straight right that wobbled him in the first minute is one of those punches that you could count.
i love tommy and i love watching him but he always needed to have his opponent at medium-long range. even when he worked the body, he did so from a distance. when people got inside those long arms, he pushed them away or moved. his inside game was almost non-existent. however, what he did he did so beautifully that it almost didn't matter. the jab negated most oncoming assaults (even though he left his right way too low) and it's range kept him safe from counter attacks. even then, the right is one of the best, and most versatile, i've ever seen
He went for the KO early and got caught a couple of times which is why he probably fought more defensive than his usual style. Hearns also did some good defensive work as well as body punching in this WW title defense of his: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQuu_DnBQ9A[/ame]
who cares about that he still won. Tommy was great. Combinations and boxing skill. This was before he became the legend who outboxed Benitez and Hill and knocked out Duran and Shuler and had a war with Hagler. He was just starting off here.
I really like this performance, really shows the art of Hearns. His jab is pretty nice throughout and his movement is graceful for such a big lad. Cheers for this.
I'm just surprised you didn't do what you usually do...quote TheGreatA and caption it with... "Spot on....I agree....with everything".
