When did Hearns' prime end?

[SBleeder]

Simple enough question.

[JAB5239]

Simple enough question.

His fundamentals were so good its really a difficult question to determine. Id probably say after the Virgil Hill fight but I may be being generous.

[joseph5620]

Simple enough question.

I would say Hearns peaked right around the time he knocked out James Shuler. I think he started to slide around the James Kinchen fight. But I always believed Hearns best weight was 147 where he looked the best imo.

[roademier]

Tommy was definitely a unique fighter.
He was a monster at 147 and maybe scarier at 54
but
I would say his prime ended with the Hagler fight.
His zenith was the KO of Duran which was a few fights before.

[Sugarj]

Tommy was definitely a unique fighter.
He was a monster at 147 and maybe scarier at 54
but
I would say his prime ended with the Hagler fight.
His zenith was the KO of Duran which was a few fights before.

Exactly my thinking.

[rightsideup]

I agree after the duran fight.

[Mintcar923]

It's really hard to tell because Tommy always stayed so dedicated. He had even looked good defeating Virgil Hill in '90. It seemed he lost a lot of his speed as he moved up in weight.

[Anthony342]

Yeah, I'll go with that too, Duran and then moving up in weight later. Speaking of moving up, it seems like boxers do it early in their careers to make more money with bigger fights and to beat some of the better opponents out there and later in their careers do it because they can't continue to make weight. Is that accurate at all?

[BattlingNelson]

Most people felt that he was well past it for the second Leonard fight. Even with the benefit of hindsight, I'd agree. So I reckon his prime was ended by Iran Barkley, but he had been sliding somewhat in his previous bouts.

[Scott9945]

Yeah, I'll go with that too, Duran and then moving up in weight later. Speaking of moving up, it seems like boxers do it early in their careers to make more money with bigger fights and to beat some of the better opponents out there and later in their careers do it because they can't continue to make weight. Is that accurate at all?

I believe that difficulty making weight decides the weight class for every fighter, young and old. For the most part, boxers fight in the lowest weight class they can make figuring that gives them an edge.