Was Hearns v Leonard II one of the best performances of Tommy's career?

You're right about that, Duran was a ****ing brilliant fighter and that was a fantastic win for Hearns, who is my favourite fighter of all time.
But the Cuevas win is that little bit more special in my eyes.

 

yeh the cuevas win was amazing but its all our differnt opinions

 

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Probably Duran. Then Benitez and Cueves.Virgil Hill was a great performance in that he was older and his skills diminishing,but he fought his fight and outboxed the undefeated light heavyweight champion.

 

Given a lot of people felt at the time that Ray waited until Tommy was shot to fight him again Hearns pulled together a great performance on the night. The Hitman won the fight from my memory but I haven't watched it in donkeys.

I have always believed Tommy was all wrong for Duran. Roberto has his excuses about not training for the fight and partying in Miami with a $100,000 advance he got for signing up for the fight but I reckon Tommy with his power at 6'1 was just a step too far for any version of Duran. Just a plain and simple mismatch for me.

I agree with the people above that put Cuevas and Benitez as Tommy's best wins.

 

Tommy was all wrong for Duran at 154. Younger, motivated Duran at 147 is a diffrent animal... Tommy still ko's him later.

 

It was a hard-fought, close fight that I think still delivered the goods in terms of drama and excitement, if not quite the quality of their first encounter. Both were heavier, many years older and slower, and it showed.

I watched the first and second fights back to back the other night, and I must say that both had slowed quite alarmingly since their first fight. You don't get such a strong impression of it until you watch both fights right after each other.

But still, both fighters displayed great courage and heart...something neither fighter ever lacked. Great fight.

I just got Sugar Ray Leonard's new book (came out last year) and in it he admits that Tommy deserved the decision.

 

Tommy performed above expectation level in Leonard II. And he just about earned the decision,imo. His best performances were when he was younger.
Such as -

Benitez
Duran
Shuler.

 

Cuevas
Duran
Hill

 

Hutchins.