Is Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns your favorite fight of all-time?

I always consider Leonard the best of the 4 and always rank him in my toplist of lb for lb fighters.

Hearns is definitely up there too but he was more vulnerable.

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Originally Posted by Max Power

I always consider Leonard the best of the 4 and always rank him in my toplist of lb for lb fighters.

Hearns is definitely up there too but he was more vulnerable.

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My first memories of Leonard were not of his fights, but of his commentary on Tyson's early fights!! :)

Max exactly how old are since you were in Tyson's era i guess at least late 20's early 30's. Anyway Fight shows Leonard had levels that most fighters will never have. His offense is one of the greatest there has ever been and his chin on fucking stone which a lot fighters found out about him.

I am 33 just turned for your future reference.

Aw shit well you almost got a decade on me i am 24 anyhow i will agree with you on Leonard at least. I fell Leonard could beat Mayweather today clear ud with some trouble he would just out land him. The funny thing is i think Hearns is the worst match up for Mayweather Because Hearns really never lost because he got out boxed. The way you have to beat him is go through his shots and knock him out pretty much ever lose but most of them were greats. Hill was Hearns last great fight i feel hell of thing to go to Lhw from ww and win against a Legit guy. Cw he was kinda just hanging around but he still had power even at that weight which was pretty crazy thing to imagine 50 pound difference in division. Anyhow i don't really know how rank the others after Leonard because they all had a pretty good say in there own way Radar should been fab group i think as well.

They were beyond doubt some of the best boxers from one of the strongest eras of Welter/Middle of all time :)

Let me ask you, as a group, this question...Hearns was coming out fast and knocking guys out. He kept on doing that for another several years (mostly). Why did he box leonard? His best weapons were his reach, his right hand, and his leverage, yet he never set down to punch. Why did he box Leonard instead of trying to hurt him?

Yep, role-reversal happened there.

Going into the fight, people thought it would be the power of KO artist Thomas Hearns versus the skill and boxing ability of Ray Leonard.

Instead, right after they mixed it up at the start, it became the Boxing ability of Thomas Hearns versus the power of Ray Leonard.

Hearns had come in way too light which hurt his punch resilience and his endurance.
After initially being aggressive against Leonard, then Hearns got cracked, his legs began doing the Zab Judah Shuffle which was always the tell-tale sign throughout Hearns' career when Hearns got hit a good one: his legs would do the funky chicken.

Anyway, Hearns boxed him because he had too. Leonard was forcing the fight. And despite Hearns' greater punching power, Hearns wasn't winning in the shootouts... so he boxed him.

He was far less durable than Leonard who was of such well rounded ability that Thomas was going to get hit. I think Leonard would have worked him out even if he did come in a few lbs heavier.

Many great fights. Hearns - Leonard is in the mix, but I do not consider it the best ever. I really like Foreman - Lyle, but many other great ones: Pryor - Arguello, Chavez - Taylor, Ali - Frazier (pick one), Hagler - Hearns, even lesser fighters as Ward - Gatti I or Corrales - Castillo.

Or you can say a great fight is a master boxer showing his skill destroying a fine fighter. For example, Ricardo Lopez taking Rocky Lin to the school.