Was Pipino Cuevas Done By The Time He Fought Duran In Early 1983?

Agreed. While his ferocious style was very effective it also involved sustaining plenty of damage to oneself.

 

His performance against Hearns has to be one of the worst ever from a long running highly regarded champion against a challenger. It's not even like he had shown enough wear and tear that he looked ready to be taken without much of a fight, or gave it his best and was just outmatched/caught clean. He looked like he had completely choked.

 

Perhaps that’s how it looked at the time. But unbeknownst and in hindsight he was also facing one of the greatest fighters of all time and one who was absolute poison for him stylistically

 

That fight was effectively over the moment Hearns beat Cuevas to the hook & knocked him backwards in the opening seconds. Cuevas had no real strategy &/or desire to get inside Hearns' power, & he was never going to win fighting off the back foot.

Having said that, Hearns was a H2H monster @147 IMO, like a WW bob Foster. It took someone as well-rounded/talented as SRL to find a way to beat him, & he had to come from way behind to do it. I'd be hesitant to favor any WW not nicknamed Sugar Ray over Hearns in a h2h match, even if Hearns may not rank as highly as other ATGs due to his lack of longevity @the weight.

 

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Good call on O'Grady ,he said he just couldn't absorb punches anymore..and a very insightful post overall.

 

Spot on ... some beatings ruin fighters ... Tito ruined Vargas , Reid and Mayorga ...

 

Good stuff SC, as usual.
I'll also add with a lot of the big punchers,
it seems as once their confidence is
shaken, it's hard for them to get back on track.
Foreman (1st career) Cooney, Garza,
and Mugabi all seemed to lose some
fire after their initial loss.
So many trainers, old fighters , writers
etc have said boxing is 90 percent mental.
There's something to that.

 

No doubt Hearns was a monster at the weight. I remember there was also talk of Cuevas balance being affected by not wearing suitable shoes for the ring surface, but I'd need to look back into the particulars of that.

I rewatched it earlier, just to see if I was being a bit harsh on him and it's the sheer fear to let his hands go and try to test Tommy's chin or body early that surprises - it's like he had no faith in his own power. As you say he did go for one big hook very quickly and gets beat to the punch, then after that he only fires with intent a few times while Tommy is opening up trying to finish him, being basically forced to at that point. If there was a strategy to try and be cautious and outbox/counter him early, they had to realise it wasn't working at the end of the first/early into the second. He was getting tagged and walked down with ease, already hurt, and falling short on absolutely everything off the backfoot.

Then again, there was a point in the second when Tommy is kicking up a gear trying to finish him and Cuevas does throw a huge wide hook with full weight behind it that misses landing flush on the front of his jaw by centimetres, as Tommy is pulling straight back without really noticing it. If that had landed, Hearns is probably knocked clean out himself and Pipino's getting praised for suckering him in. It's easy to overlook amidst Cuevas fighting for his life and missing everything...I'd certainly forgot about it, but does highlight the thin margins of this sport. An early glimpse of the defensive shortcomings/risk taking that just didn't work against larger men nearly so well.

 

I love the pre fight story going into the bout. Steward had Tommy wearing clothes to make him look smaller. And bend down and do things so Cuevas could not tell the true size of the guy. Manny wanted Cuevas to be surprised at the ref instructions to see just how big Hearns was. But never have a guage as to the reach and height of Hearns back then as a welter.

Some of those early Heaarns bouts---he looked like 154 or even a big middle in there. Had to be intimidating for opponents. And I think Steward was positive that doing that to Pepino at that time was going to see Cuevas thinking and not fighting his usual style in there. Certainly never looked comfortable, did he?

 

I think his balance was affected by not wearing a metal shield around his head.