"Tommy Hearns had a weak chin"

[SBleeder]

Can someone explain to me why they've come to that conclusion? I see this in posts every day... most recently in this thread: http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=575614

When was his chin really a problem for him, especially at 147? He got sparked a few times but never below middleweight, other than by Leonard, who is a huge puncher.

[rightsideup]

I do think tommy could take a good punch and was at his best as a junior middleweight where his legs were stronger and you are totally correct in saying that ray leonard was a very good puncher as a welter. As tommy climbed to middleweight and beyond his rivals such as hagler and barkly could take his punch and land their own thus he was knocked out by both men. No shame in that he should have stayed at his best weight which was junior middleweight.

[jabsRstiff]

Look at the first two rounds of Hagler-Hearns......Tommy was nailed repeatedly with huge shots by Hagler and stayed up through it all. A guy with a weak chin would have dropped, not stood.

His chin wasn't the strongest, but wasn't quite the liability some have made it out to be.

[SBleeder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY_n7dRv-HA

Cuevas landed some good shots, including his deadly left hook, and Tommy wasn't fazed.

[New England]

hearns didn't have a great chin in the sense that it matched most of the rest of his characteristics, but it wasn't bad. he would have never gotten to the levels he reached with a "weak" chin.

he was a massive WW. a stoppage loss to ray leonard is nothing to scoff at. leonard could really punch. it's likely that leonard is one of the only WW in history who would stop hearns. robinson, leonard, and who else really, do you pick to stop tommy hearns at WW?
armstrong? nah. he'd probably lose.
gavilan, napoles, ross? doubt it.

name some other top historic WW. they probably lose to tommy hearns, many via stoppage.


his stoppage losses to leonard and hagler, as well as his long physique and a the tendency of a bodies like that to show damage, contributed to the myth that his chin was as vulnerable as it's made out to be by some.

[SBleeder]

Originally Posted by New England

hearns didn't have a great chin in the sense that it matched most of the rest of his characteristics, but it wasn't bad. he would have never gotten to the levels he reached with a "weak" chin.

he was a massive WW. a stoppage loss to ray leonard is nothing to scoff at. leonard could really punch. it's likely that leonard is one of the only WW in history who would stop hearns. robinson, leonard, and who else really, do you pick to stop tommy hearns at WW?
armstrong? nah. he'd probably lose.
gavilan, napoles, ross? doubt it.

name some other top historic WW. they probably lose to tommy hearns, many via stoppage.


his stoppage losses to leonard and hagler, as well as his long physique and a the tendency of a bodies like that to show damage, contributed to the myth that his chin was as vulnerable as it's made out to be by some.

Armstrong beats Hearns at 147, probably by stoppage. Napoles could stop Hearns, but I wouldn't bet on it. Other than that, Robinson and SRL. McLarnin and Canzoneri would have a shot.

[greynotsoold]

Tommy took punches to the chin better than he took punches to the body. Hagler pounded his body, Barkley got to him with body punches in both fights, and even Doug DeWitt got his attention in the 7th round of their fight ( I think...I haven't seen it since it happened.)

[poet682006]

The myth that Hearns had a glass jaw is one that's always had me pulling my hair out. Yet you hear that schiesse all the time in NSB

Poet

[Scott9945]

Originally Posted by poet682006

The myth that Hearns had a glass jaw is one that's always had me pulling my hair out. Yet you hear that schiesse all the time in NSB :rolleyes9:

Poet

These days everything has to be black/white to fans. Like most fighters, Hearns had neither an iron jaw or a glass jaw. He fits into the large gray area in between.

[jabsRstiff]

In his loss to Barkley Hearns was not done in by a weak chin. Tommy was always a ruthless finisher and he was starting to rip Barkley apart (body shots). While thinking he had his man about to go he got careless and got nailed with a punch that Barkley practically brought up from the floor and dead into his chin. Your chin need not be weak to fail you in that situation.