Who is Greater: Hearns or Mayweather?

:deal

 

Once again, Hearns lost twice in his prime to prime Leonard and prime Hagler, who did Floyd ever fight that was on the level of these guys?

 

I don't know what "could" or "might" happen, maybe he would...maybe he wouldn't, I'm basing my opinion off what has happened. To act as if Floyd hasn't been in with great fighters is simply not accurate, furthermore you are asking do I think he beats guys who are naturally bigger than him at a weight/age where he's past prime that's a bit unfair IMO. Bottom line if you take it top to bottom, I think Floyd's resume is better and deeper, to each their own. Again, I have nothing but respect for Tommy Hearns and I recognize how great a fighter he is.

 

Operative word is lost, he beat Duran but apart from thodse three Hearns outclassed most of his opponents and got beat by Iran Barley (twice I think).

Floyds beaten some very good fighters.

 

you must be a young man who knows Floyd and his generation. There is no way you know Hearns greatness if you say his chin is the defining point of Thomas Hearns. I can guarantee you Tommy has taken more punches and harder ones than Floyd ever has. Tommy is a risk taker and likes to brawl, which was his problem. He went for the knockout. And to mention Ronald Hearns, who had no amateur background and is not a good fighter do not pertain to this. But his dad is ATG legend.

Hearns didn't compete with heavier guys? He is the first man to win titles in 4 and 5 divisions. If he didn't compete he wouldn't have won those. He beat Virgil Hill for his 2nd title at light heavyweight, which was 30 pounds above his first world title he won against Cueves 11 years prior. Fought at 190. outboxed Nate Miller in England when he was 40 years old. Cueves, Duran,Benitez Hil. All the superfights and wins and legacies and fab 4 era and Mayweather is greater? Mayweather has to do a lot more to match Hearns.

 

I'm not doing H2H as that's unfair, Floyd came up from 130-154 and Tommy went from 147 to cruiserweight.

I'm a big fan of Floyd, I buy his PPV's when he fights, I even watch his interviews and follow him on facebook
However, when you take the time to go through his record, it is strong and deep. However, Floyd has never faced a prime hall of famer, or an ATG at all. If we look at Floyd's best wins, Corrales, Castillo, Oscar and Cotto. Oscar is the best opponent of these, and he was 34, past his prime and only fought twice more (getting lucky against Steve Forbes, and getting destroyed by Manny). If we look at Cotto, Manny already blasted him out 3 years ago. Mosley was 38 years old, and whilst highly rated at the time, was clearly not the force he was 10 years ago. The Marquez win was very good though.


Tommy fought multiple HOF'ers and ATG's. He faced arguably four ATG's (Leonard, Duran, Benitez, Hagler) and beat two (arguably three, Leonard rematch) of them. Leonard, Benitez and Hagler were all arguably prime when Tommy faced them. His single win over Benitez is stronger than any win Floyd has.

It comes down to this, do you really think Floyd would beat a prime SRL level of fighter? Imagine if Castillo got the decision against Floyd, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Floyd is lucky to come up in the era he did, if he came up in the late 70's and 80's, he'd have to face prime Arguello, prime Aaron Pryor, prime Duran and maybe Benitez and Leonard, do you really think he'd go undefeated facing these guys!?

The defining fight of Floyd's career would be Pacquaio, and these guys are now 33 and 35 and they still haven't even fought once!

If Tommy came through in the early 2000's, he'd have faced the likes of Oscar, Mosley, Trinidad, Forrest, Wright and I think he'd beat all these guys hands down.

Tommy wasn't prime when he faced Barkley, though I do hold the first loss against his legacy. The rematch loss shouldn't be held against Tommy, he'd been in many wars at that point, and clearly was well past his best. His legs were shot, and he wasn't a strong LHW.

 

deeper resume? Are you guys serious? Floyd's resume is handpicked fighters he knew he could beat . It is easy to win if you don't take on the best fighters. Hearns could have fought guys he could beat his whole career. He could have stayed at 154 and kept knocking out guys there, but he wanted to fight Hagler and move up and would eventually fight Spinks had he beaten Hagler.

 

Hearns.

 

Hearns chin was not rock solid, but it was dependable to get him through fights and win most of the time. He beat 4 legends and lost to 2. If he had china chin he would have lost to all 6

 

Duran and his fans want to say his win over Moore was one of his most dominant wins. The old Duran was back, and even with Barkley in 1989 Duran fought great. So if you take the good you take the bad. Hearns fought Duran 5 years before Roberto won his middleweight title, and Duran was the WBA champ at the time so it was a unification. Duran started losing post 147 because Ray showed other fighters a glimpse into Duran and the blueprint to beat him, and Duran was fighting betters guys like Hearns,Benitez,Leonard and losing.

 

Cueves had 11 title defenses. Judah and Ortiz? Those guys are not great fighters or even dominant.. Judah wins some and then loses some big. You are kidding comparing them to Cueves right? Pipino Cueves? He had something like 11 title defenses. People diminish Cueves because he was knocked out easily by Hearns, but that is proof of Tommy's quality rather than Cueves skills.
Floyd fought Oscar who was old, and let's face it, Oscar never fought great at welterweight. He had a good run at 135 and 140 when he was fast, and then he had a power shortage at 147 and really was not great at that weight. He had a good jab and could beat most guys there with his jab. Floyd fought Oscar when he was old and at ww. JMM is overrated,. The guy lost to John and never takes on anyone except Pacman. Good style matchup. Who else did Floyd beat? He never took on Margarito or Williams, the real challenges in the weight. Martinez. He never would either.

Who else? Shane? Canelo just easily beat him. Shane was great, but again Floyd handpicked him, Floyd's resume is not deep. It is handpicked of guys who he was much better than and hadan advantage over. Hearns fought Cueves,Duran,Benitez,Virgil Hill.Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard,Iran Barkley, Juan Roldan, James Shuler, Randy Shields etc. Hearns won 3 titles from Cueves,Benitez and Hill. That alone is unique in boxing to win titles from 3 guys of that quality.

 

Mayweather - 41 votes.
Hearns - 81 votes.

So far.