You're blowing it son: Ray Leonard stops Tommy Hearns 9/16/1981

That was fun watching - back in the closed circuit days; I saw it at the local Civic Center, same as all of Leonard's (and Holmes, for that matter) fights. About 1,000 fans or so and a lot of noise, the next best thing to being at the fight itself.

 

leonard was superbly conditioned and I was rooting for him. Tommy's movement revealed the blueprint that fighters with greater endurance (did someone say Terry Norris?) used to expose Sugar's weaknesses and the key to victory

 

I wonder why people think the stoppage was premature. Seemed perfectly justified to me.

 

The stoppage was fine. Hearns had no sting left.

 

What a fight!! I watched it live at my friends house with his older brothers .. I was already a huge Hearns fan, hated Ray Leonard. Was never the peoples' fighter fan .. Growing up playing Texas Holdem with rib eyes or T-bones on the the BBQ and Boxing, it was a good life … I too thought it was a premature stoppage and I was Pissed .. But I didn't understand it all … I was 11 yrs old

 

The stoppage was correct because Hearns was a sitting duck. I think because Leonard didn't land a really concussive head shot on Hearns while he was against the ropes and was working the body, people think it didn't look like Hearns was out of it, but he was. You only need to have watched rounds 13 and the start of round 14 to know that the context was there for Davey Pearl to step in at any time.

 

he looked thru to me. he was leaning on the ropes a sitting duck unprotected and taking blows. He could have been hurt bad and we dont want that. live to fight another day

 

Great stoppage for Ray, but it makes you wonder how he couldn't get to him in the 6th and 7th round when he had him hurt.

 

Hearns's legs were gone. Early in the round he was moving well, then he gets hit and his movement stops. Nothing left at that point. Even if the stoppage was slightly early, all it did was save Tommy from some punishment. He was not going to last much longer regardless.

 

good stoppage and Hearns has Davey Pearl to thank for having him sharp and able to fight well another 10 years when he beat Virgil Hill. Had Leonard beat him up worse maybe Tommy would not have been able to fight all the fights he had later with Benitez,Duran,Hagler,Leonard again,Hill. and all the other fights which totaled 34 more fights.

 

I think the question is why did people question Hearns chin. I don't think it was bad, I think it was unpredictable. But it held up in most of his fights even in the losses to make for a great fight.

 

Dundee was a great man to have in the corner to tell you exactly what you needed to hear. He was great with the finished product and he did a great job with Ali and Ellis among others