Jose Napoles vs Thomas Hearns

[wmute]

Lets take a look at those three KO losses:

Hagler - Hearns broke his right-hand in the opening round

Leonard (1) - Hearns had never fought past 8rds and was more exhausted than KOd

Barkley (1) - Hearns seconds away from victory when caught with thunderous left-hook (lapse in concentration)

Hagler - right hand got nothing to do with one's chin. It can influence the tactic of the fight, sure. Doesn't change how his chin held up to punches, thouhg.

Leonard - Hearns was hurt twice in the fight, not just toward the end when he was clearly exhausted as you pointed out. (As a sidnote, I would have loved to see an immediate rematch on 12 rounds, or at 154. It's a knock on SRL resume IMO)

Barkley - if he had a better chin he would have survived the lapse in concentration.

Plus Hearns was occasionally down in other fights.

Like I said before, not china, but certainly a liability, and the weakest part of Hearns' game.

[McGoorty]

Hearns would look huge next to Napoles. As against Monzon, Napoles would be forced to walk in while attempting to slip the Hearns jab, leaving himself open for right hands. The good news is that Hearns isn't as strong and durable as Monzon but the bad news is that he's faster and more powerful. Monzon's thudding blows wore down the game but outmatched Napoles and cut him badly by the mid rounds.

Napoles isn't completely without a chance as he put on intelligent pressure effectively and hit hard enough to hurt anybody at welterweight but it's one of the toughest match-ups that I can think of for him at 147.

I agree that this is a very dangerous fight for Napoles,... but I give him a chance of stopping Tommy,... I always had a question about the Hearns chin .... and that is the one quality in a fighter that I hold above all others. I've seen so many fantastically gifted fighters that have suddenly been hurt get totally blown away, especially Napoles,.. he was one of the best finishers that I've seen,..... well, actually, so is Tommy,..... I presume the Monzon fight was at MW,....... Jose was no Jose at MW,...... he was natural at WW, and he also gives Ray Leonard a very hard WW test,...... throw in Duran,....... I think Napoles would have been the 5th member of the awesome foursome of the 80's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The one guy out of the extended 5 that does NOT have any trouble with Napoles is Hagler,... Marvellous one KO's Napoles are the Newspaper Headlines there.. Hearns would stop him 1 in 2 fights,......... And Dare I say it,.... Napoles can KO Hearns 1 in 2.................................. I gave my vote to Jose,.... only because (maybe).... because I DO RATE Napoles above Tommy in terms of Welterweight Division achievement........ but he can't match Hearns above 147,..... Tommy can easily carry himself successfully against most MW's and SMW's and will make short work of him there. I think making the WW limit was a tough ask for a prime Hearns,..... Leonard exposed a few flaws in their WW bout........ Maybe a better question at WW is Ray vs Jose.....Am I a POET too ????

[ghns1133]

i think it would be allot like hearns betitez

[NChristo]

I agree that this is a very dangerous fight for Napoles,... but I give him a chance of stopping Tommy,... I always had a question about the Hearns chin .... and that is the one quality in a fighter that I hold above all others. I've seen so many fantastically gifted fighters that have suddenly been hurt get totally blown away, especially Napoles,.. he was one of the best finishers that I've seen,..... well, actually, so is Tommy,..... I presume the Monzon fight was at MW,....... Jose was no Jose at MW,...... he was natural at WW, and he also gives Ray Leonard a very hard WW test,...... throw in Duran,....... I think Napoles would have been the 5th member of the awesome foursome of the 80's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The one guy out of the extended 5 that does NOT have any trouble with Napoles is Hagler,... Marvellous one KO's Napoles are the Newspaper Headlines there.. Hearns would stop him 1 in 2 fights,......... And Dare I say it,.... Napoles can KO Hearns 1 in 2.................................. I gave my vote to Jose,.... only because (maybe).... because I DO RATE Napoles above Tommy in terms of Welterweight Division achievement........ but he can't match Hearns above 147,..... Tommy can easily carry himself successfully against most MW's and SMW's and will make short work of him there. I think making the WW limit was a tough ask for a prime Hearns,..... Leonard exposed a few flaws in their WW bout........ Maybe a better question at WW is Ray vs Jose.....Am I a POET too ????

Napoles was a natural Lightweight but he was forced to move up to get a title shot, in terms of achievements at WW I'd have Napoles above Hearns by quite a bit, Napoles is a top 5 WW imo, beat the better opponents and had quite a reign there. What did Tommy do at WW to be rated above him ?.

[McGoorty]

Napoles was a natural Lightweight but he was forced to move up to get a title shot, in terms of achievements at WW I'd have Napoles above Hearns by quite a bit, Napoles is a top 5 WW imo, beat the better opponents and had quite a reign there. What did Tommy do at WW to be rated above him ?.

I don'r know much about his LW career,,.. I don't think I've seen him at that weight,.. he was a superbly built fighter.