When Did Tommy Hearn's Prime End?

Barkley knockout.It was all a slow decline from there.

 

Immediately after he got rid of the Jheri curl it was all over.

 

Hagler.

 

Hagler, regardless of the Shuler outcome.

 

Even though he was still a world class fighter at 175 and CW, his absolute physical/mental/spiritual peak was in the early/mid 80's and this peak ended after the Hagler fight...despite still being relatively young. One could attribute it to a lack of hunger or simply having too many tough fights in a short span of time but he was never quite the same after '85.

 

The minute he dropped down in weight to fight Roldan

 

After the KO of 'Roldan' in Oct. 1987....... Hearns killed himself by dropping back to 160...... By early 1988, Hearns was fit to fight at 168........ Hearns was drained at 160 for "The Barker" in June 1988......

Hearns looked shot at 165 for Jimmy Kinchen in Nov. 1988 on PPV!! Yet he got the decision by a **** hair.....

SRL was too cocky and full of **** in June 1989 against Hearns; and it showed..... DRAW? Well, okay.... I bought it.... I'm partial to Leonard......

MR.BILL

 

For me, post-Hagler.

 

Hearns looked like a million bucks when he KO'd Jim Shuler in March 1986......

Hearns looked ordinary with a TKO over Mark Medal and a points win over Douglas DeWitt to cap-off '86.....

BUT!! Hearns looked great at 173 to TKO Denny Andries in 10 rds in early 1987....

MR.BILL:hat

 

The Hagler fight ended his prime I think. After that he started to struggle and was not as sharp with his punches. He could still punch and box and was exciting, but not his prime anymore. The Barkley fight then was another dip, but he still had experience and skills to outbox Ray and Virgil Hill.

 

In a way you might be right. Moving back down then he was weakened and the tough fight with Roldan and then Barkley and then the hard Kinchen fight. 3 fights where he was wobbled and the last two he was knocked down and once knocked out probably hurt his confidence a little. That would be tough for any fighter to withstand. But to his credit he started to fight more on the inside and go more rounds and win decisions. After Barkley, Hearns went the 12 round distance his next 3 fights in a row with Kinchen,Leonard,Olajide. Then he went 12 rounds with Virgil Hill, Iran Barkley and later with Delgado and Nate Miller. So after Barkley he went 12 rounds 7 times. He knew he was not the same so he decided to win fights differently. Beating Virgil Hill who was 5 years his junior in a division where Virgil was the top fighter and had 10 title defenses and undefeated was unheard of.

 

I would say that the Hitman's prime was between 1982 - 1985. Never quite the same post Hagler,imo. This is in spite of his one round ko of James Shuler in '86.

 

roldan i would say. very open and was using his boxing skills and power before he used his speed and agility to obliterate guys but he seemed a bit slower and less snappy at middleweight and especially against roldan.

hard to say when he lost his prime because he really went to school and turned into a solid technician unlike his early days. my argument for this is his win over virgil hill is him using his great experience and later improved cageyness to outpoint an experienced world class unbeaten professional.

his athletic prowess dipped rapidly after hagler but i would say roldanish is where he was more relying on his experience......tyson ko1

 

Tommy's prime ended once his reached 154.1 lbs