The Hammer of Thor vs. The right hand of Hearns.

When I think of a great artist, athlete, filmmaker, inventor, ect, one of the first questions I ask myself is the following: Would these accomplishments have been possible without the existence of this person in question? Let’s jump over Hitchcock and “Psycho” and the rest of the mastermind bunch to get to Tommy Hearns.

Tommy Hearns vs. Pipino. Cuevas. : 1980: Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Tommy Hearns challenges Cuevas for the W.B.A. Welterweight Championship. Horrifying fight for those of us who had never seen Tommy Hearns before. Even the undercard war between Earnie Shavers and Randall Cobb (Yes, these were our undercards in the 80’s. Eat your hearts out.) couldn’t prepare us for what was to come. Tommy, 6,2, with perfect balance and bone crushing power, backs the 5,7 Cuevas up with jabs that land like a cross between a bomb and a whip. In the 2nd round, Tommy hits Cuevas with a right hand. Cuevas wobbles in a way that makes him look like he’s just downed a pint of 100 proof whiskey. Tommy cocks back his right hand and hits him again. This time Cuevas falls to the canvas as if someone has thrown him from a building. Keep in mind that Cuevas and his cast iron jaw were legendary and not just on the Mexican boxing scene. Also, if you fought Cuevas, you’d most likely hear your bones crunch before the final bell. Sure, nobody would mistake Pipino for an invincible fighter, however had it not been for Tommy Hearns, nobody would’ve beaten him like that.

Tommy Hearns vs. Roberto Duran: 1984: Las Vegas. To make a long story short, Roberto Duran, one of the greatest fighters of any era, the man who was the most feared and most likely greatest lightweight to ever fight, the guy who challenged Ray Leonard with a record of 69 -1(55) and left the ring with a record of 70 -1 (55), was knocked out in two rounds and fell face first on the canvas when Tommy unleashed a lethal right to his face in round two. As one journalist wrote, “I knew that I could watch Duran fight for another 50 years and never see him in that position again.” To my memory, this writer was Steven Farhood and he was exactly right. Nobody even remotely threatened to do that to Duran again.

If Tommy never existed, I’m a firm believer that, while there’s no doubt these two warriors would’ve fallen to defeat in their careers, they would’ve never been bulldozed in two rounds by a mean, lean, wrecking machine like Hearns.

I’m interested to hear other opinions on fighters who accomplished things that other fighters were highly unlikely to duplicate.

Thomas Hearns had extraordinary power for a guy in any weight division. i guess every now and then a guy with such devestating power shows up, but the fact is that Tommy Hearns was almost the complete package minus one thing. For all the power he had though, there was massive vulnerability in his punch resistance. in this sport it's not what you can give out it's what you can take. Maybe Cuevas and Duran were unfortunate to have come across a guy with that type of tenacity and power. Maybe Hearns was unfortunate to come across Hagler and Leonard. every great fighter in history met their match at some point or the other, generally speaking.
I think when the divisions were as talent deep to have fighters as good as Hearns, Leonard, Hagler, Duran etc competing around about the same weight... defeats in such fashion were always going to be inevitable.
If Hatton had never stepped ino the ring with Pacquiao would he have met such a devestating end?? Maybe he still would have, he was on the slide anyway and his chin had been dented before by Mayweather.
I think Hearns would have been an irresistable force in any generation in history, but if Cuevas and Duran were fighting during any other time then i still think that there would probably have been a fighter about with the tools to carry out such destruction. I kind of get your point though, if Duran was in his prime today then there's nobody that'd be able to carry out such a job on him. but if there was a Monzon fighting in Hagler's time would Hagler still have been as a destructive and formidable force?? i guess what i'm trying to say is i think that througout history there must have been fighters capable of repeating Tommy Hearns' feat against Cuevas and Duran

dbudge wrote:Thomas Hearns had extraordinary power for a guy in any weight division. i guess every now and then a guy with such devestating power shows up, but the fact is that Tommy Hearns was almost the complete package minus one thing. For all the power he had though, there was massive vulnerability in his punch resistance. in this sport it's not what you can give out it's what you can take. Maybe Cuevas and Duran were unfortunate to have come across a guy with that type of tenacity and power. Maybe Hearns was unfortunate to come across Hagler and Leonard. every great fighter in history met their match at some point or the other, generally speaking.
I think when the divisions were as talent deep to have fighters as good as Hearns, Leonard, Hagler, Duran etc competing around about the same weight... defeats in such fashion were always going to be inevitable.
If Hatton had never stepped ino the ring with Hatton would he have met such a devestating end?? Maybe he still would have, he was on the slide anyway and his chin had been dented before by Mayweather.
I think Hearns would have been an irresistable force in any generation in history, but if Cuevas and Duran were fighting during any other time then i still think that there would probably have been a fighter about with the tools to carry out such destruction. I kind of get your point though, if Duran was in his prime today then there's nobody that'd be able to carry out such a job on him. but if there was a Monzon fighting in Hagler's time would Hagler still have been as a destructive and formidable force?? i guess what i'm trying to say is i think that througout history there must have been fighters capable of repeating Tommy Hearns' feat against Cuevas and Duran

Who Dat? Good post by the way.

Frank wrote:

dbudge wrote:Thomas Hearns had extraordinary power for a guy in any weight division. i guess every now and then a guy with such devestating power shows up, but the fact is that Tommy Hearns was almost the complete package minus one thing. For all the power he had though, there was massive vulnerability in his punch resistance. in this sport it's not what you can give out it's what you can take. Maybe Cuevas and Duran were unfortunate to have come across a guy with that type of tenacity and power. Maybe Hearns was unfortunate to come across Hagler and Leonard. every great fighter in history met their match at some point or the other, generally speaking.
I think when the divisions were as talent deep to have fighters as good as Hearns, Leonard, Hagler, Duran etc competing around about the same weight... defeats in such fashion were always going to be inevitable.
If Hatton had never stepped ino the ring with Hatton would he have met such a devestating end?? Maybe he still would have, he was on the slide anyway and his chin had been dented before by Mayweather.
I think Hearns would have been an irresistable force in any generation in history, but if Cuevas and Duran were fighting during any other time then i still think that there would probably have been a fighter about with the tools to carry out such destruction. I kind of get your point though, if Duran was in his prime today then there's nobody that'd be able to carry out such a job on him. but if there was a Monzon fighting in Hagler's time would Hagler still have been as a destructive and formidable force?? i guess what i'm trying to say is i think that througout history there must have been fighters capable of repeating Tommy Hearns' feat against Cuevas and Duran

Who Dat? Good post by the way.

Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong.... i'll be honest i'm only 23. for me to definitely give you names of fighters i think would have been able to do that to Cuevas or Duran would only be based off statistical evidence and BS. i'm sure there have been fighters that carry the authority in their punches to do so though. i'm more familiar to Leonard, Duran, Hagler and Hearns thanks primarily to youtube lol. The Four Kings is a great read about them also

dbudge wrote:

Frank wrote:

dbudge wrote:Thomas Hearns had extraordinary power for a guy in any weight division. i guess every now and then a guy with such devestating power shows up, but the fact is that Tommy Hearns was almost the complete package minus one thing. For all the power he had though, there was massive vulnerability in his punch resistance. in this sport it's not what you can give out it's what you can take. Maybe Cuevas and Duran were unfortunate to have come across a guy with that type of tenacity and power. Maybe Hearns was unfortunate to come across Hagler and Leonard. every great fighter in history met their match at some point or the other, generally speaking.
I think when the divisions were as talent deep to have fighters as good as Hearns, Leonard, Hagler, Duran etc competing around about the same weight... defeats in such fashion were always going to be inevitable.
If Hatton had never stepped ino the ring with Hatton would he have met such a devestating end?? Maybe he still would have, he was on the slide anyway and his chin had been dented before by Mayweather.
I think Hearns would have been an irresistable force in any generation in history, but if Cuevas and Duran were fighting during any other time then i still think that there would probably have been a fighter about with the tools to carry out such destruction. I kind of get your point though, if Duran was in his prime today then there's nobody that'd be able to carry out such a job on him. but if there was a Monzon fighting in Hagler's time would Hagler still have been as a destructive and formidable force?? i guess what i'm trying to say is i think that througout history there must have been fighters capable of repeating Tommy Hearns' feat against Cuevas and Duran

Who Dat? Good post by the way.

Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong.... i'll be honest i'm only 23. for me to definitely give you names of fighters i think would have been able to do that to Cuevas or Duran would only be based off statistical evidence and BS. i'm sure there have been fighters that carry the authority in their punches to do so though. i'm more familiar to Leonard, Duran, Hagler and Hearns thanks primarily to youtube lol. The Four Kings is a great read about them also

The fighters you mentioned probably would've defeated the men I mentioned. No doubt, guys like RR and HA would've beaten Cuevas. Roberto is up for debate. However, they wouldn't have knocked them out in two rounds. Especially Duran. Take my word for it.

I see your point. But the point I'm making is, not so much about the defeat, but the way the defeat was carried out. For example, there are men in boxing history who could've knocked out Joe Frazier but very few could've treated him like George Foreman did. Dbudge, you make some excellent points but the more you watch this sport, you'll see that there are a handful of fighters in history that do things that other figthers, no matter how great they are, cannot do.

that was kind of my point about Ricky Hatton against Manny Pacquiao. I don't believe that Hatton was a 2 round job for any other fighter around 140lb. i don't believe that there is anybody else in the World that could've done that to Ricky Hatton at the time it happened, i do believe, though, that during history there were many capable of doing it. i don't see that The Thomas Heanrs - Cuevas/Duran are much different to that situation. Thomas Hearns was a special fighter for any generation but it's the victories such as these that show his greatness. If Cuevas or Duran hadn't have been there for Hearns to demolish then do you think we'd still talk as highly of him now? Antonio Tarver switched off Roy Jones' lights in 2 rounds, before that happened it was thought of as an impossible task as Jones was touted as unstoppable buit yet Tarver was able to do that to him. At the time nobody thought Duran was a 2 round job for anybody. Nobody thought Hatton was a 2 round job for anybody. i think to say that nobody else would have been able to do that to Cuevas or Duran other than Thomas Hearns may be a little premature

frank good topic of course..pipino there are lots of guys in history that could crush him in two rounds .robinson for sure graziano who fought at 151 or so etc etc..duran it just happened.i think robbinson stops him and mickey walker also.in two rounds maybe not...tommy hearns i feel was an all time great weak chin and all..a legit weter champ and unlike ray a legit LH champ..a bob foster sandy saddler type of build and power..i always liked hearns and his abilty..

dmar5143 wrote:frank good topic of course..pipino there are lots of guys in history that could crush him in two rounds .robinson for sure graziano who fought at 151 or so etc etc..duran it just happened.i think robbinson stops him and mickey walker also.in two rounds maybe not...tommy hearns i feel was an all time great weak chin and all..a legit weter champ and unlike ray a legit LH champ..a bob foster sandy saddler type of build and power..i always liked hearns and his abilty..

LOL: How did I know you would say that? Ok, let's leave Pipino out of it and stay with Roberto Duran. What about it ,dmar? What WW or Junior MW takes out Roberto Duran in two rounds?

frank like i said it just happened and it happened in two rounds..again what fighters possibly can ko duran in two rounds..robinson walker and ketchel who fought plenty at 154 or so could..add graziano to that list that could..now WILL they is another thing.your limiting it to just 2 rounds cause hearns did it..the hearns ko was just one of thoses things that happened...ill bet against that happening again..