What really went wrong when Duran met Hearns

Duran was beyound his prime fighting outside his weight class and got caught short by a freak of that division but he got caught and did not see the punch...Duran took a great punch and rolled well with a lot of punchers...I still rate Duran over Hearns on the all time list...@ 135 he was the best but that was his division...he was a great 147lber in the 1st Leonard fight....# 1 @ lightweight..top 5 @ welter based off that fight and that Duran

 

................This might make me catch some flak, but **** it. Excuses like the one Duran had for this fight (and as mentioned, every other setback he ever had) are why I have never respected Duran or liked him. Respect his abilities? You bet; he was a superhuman talent. But in at least in terms of dignity and forthrightness, he is nothing approaching a man.

 

..............Yes, he'd already lost to Hagler by then.


Hearns was faster, more powerful, and being taller had better punching angles than Hagler had.

I also think that perhaps there had been a severe lessening of resolve on Duran's part; a willingness to accept defeat that hadn't been there when he fought Hagler. After all, he was on the rise again before Hagler. He might have thought the gig was up after that, and was just in it for the money. It was a combination of all these things, though.

 

Because Hagler was a natural middleweight with probably the best chin in the history of the sport. Leonard's durability was no joke either and he barely managed to beat Hearns.

 

What went wrong was he got KTFO

When you step in the ring you can be ko'd at any time if your hit right. Especially when your in with an ATG puncher, with better speed, massive reach and height, faster feet, better timing. Boxing is all about styles, and unique strengths of each fighter, thats why fighters fight, otherwise we'd just calculate results

 

Well, whether you like it or not, it was one of those impossible stylistic matchups.

Frazier had taken a lot of very hard punches prior to fighting Foreman, but never those of his kind. Foreman had the style to neutralise all of Frazier's attributes: stamina, heart and wearing you down simply didn't come into play, just like Duran's strength played no role against Hearns.

And while Hagler had heavy hands, he didn't have nearly the explosive power that The Hitman brought to the table. Plus, he fought a stupid fight as he did more often. Hearns had the perfect gameplan, courtesy of Emmanuel Steward.

 

Steward said it was Hearns speed more so than just pure power that made it the way it was. In some ways Hearns was faster than even SRL. These ways combined with his sheer physical advantages led to a slaughter. Hearns was never sharper.

 

This is how I feel about him as well, more or less. It always seems to be the so called "bad asses" (Liston, Duran, Tyson) that people are making excuses for. For most others, a loss is just that.

 

Very very true. Steward also devised a master strategy vs Benitez, with much taken from SRL's (and Dundee) flawless tactics vs Wilfredo. He's a great tactician at times Steward.

 

That's because Hearns hit harder than anyone Duran had, or would fight. He was knocking out cruiserweights later in his career, which is ridiculous.
The thing is Duran didn't stand a chance, every single advantage went to Tommy.
Speed, power, height, reach and even chin (due to the fact Duran couldn't hurt Tommy at 154) were all advantages Hearns had in that fight, and there was no way Roberto could win.
Duran was already out of it after the 1st, just look at how he goes back to the neutral corner, so there was no way he was making it out of the 2nd round.

You asked how hard did Tommy hit? He lifter Duran off the floor with a body shot, and IMO the punch that finished Roberto was the greatest I've ever seen.

 

The thing that amazes me is that Cuevas and Duran got up from those shots. (Yes, Duran's handlers did help him quickly to his feet, but Roberto was not rendered unconscious the way Ingo was by Patterson, or Liston by Martin. Given the chance, Duran may have actually beaten the count on his own as Cuevas did, or at least made an honest attempt the way Gene Fullmer did after Robby's "perfect" hook.)

 

I just did a rough count as best i could and i really don't think Duran was getting up anytime soon, certainly not inside the 10.

 

What went wrong was Duran was never able to bother or pressure Hearns in any way, so Tommy was comfortable enough to seek and deliver one of his trademark pinpoint shocking right crosses. Letting Hearns get on you unchecked was akin to Russian roulette.