What if Duran and Hearns had tried to unify at Welterweight in 1980?

If that was hearns in Montreal duran would have ko him

 

Hearns ko duran
Hearns get ko by barkley
Duran beats barkley
Boxing the greatist sport on the planet

 

Anything's possible in high-level boxing but I'd bet against it. Leonard had faster feet than Hearns and only gave up 3 inches in height and 4 in reach. He also hit harder than Duran. It's no mystery at all why he was (eventually) able to close distance on Hearns enough to pull out the late comeback. Duran, on the other hand, gave up 7 inches in height and 12 inches in reach to Hearns, and was slower than Leonard. Apples and (smaller, slower, less powerful) oranges.

 

Hearns wins, but most likely in a harder and longer fight.

 

Hearns still wins as his style was all wrong for Duran. Would be a lot better contest than their real bout though.

The Hitman prevails by clear decision.

 

I don't disagree that SRL dimensions were superior to Duran, and in fact, that is part of the reason I say what I do. Duran was able to overcome being on the short end of the stick dimension wise against somebody I consider to be superior to Hearns at WW. Somebody who essentially proved he was superior. While you notated the ways in which SRL is superior to Duran going against Hearns, it would only be right to point out that Duran is superior to SRL in some ways to; maybe not in physical dimensions, but in boxing ability he has attributes that are superior to SRL. So while I agree it's likely easier for SRL to ge the job done against Hearns, it's there to get done with Duran as well.

 

Still going with Duran what happens to hearns if duran gets inside and bang him to the body ?

 

The 1984 suggests to me Duran simply can't handle Hearns's power sufficiently to win a fight with him, because I certainly don't think Duran could win by an early stoppage - which would be the only way to nullfy Hearns. And I don't think Duran's punch resistance had faded, although you might argue Hearns' power had increased a little.

It seems sacrilegous to say Duran was neither slick enough nor tough enough, but that's about accurate for this assignment.