An Ultra In-Depth analysis: Hearns vs Leonard II

[Rockin']

It was a good enough scrap, but what fight were the judges watching?

[#1Assassin]

one of my all time favorite fights. its a shame it gets largely overlooked in history. they were past their primes, but that fight was so many years in the making.

you have hearns who had been plagued by their first fight for years, coming off a couple of bad performances and written off by everyone but trying to prove the world wrong.

then leonard, the proud fan favorite who had established himself all over again in his last two fights. trying to maintain his status against one of very few fighters fully worthy of sharing the stage with him.

sure they were past their primes, hearns in particular. they werent the same young guys with their whole careers ahead of them like in the first fight. but by the time their rematch came along they were established ATGs, battle hardened and legendary champions whos knowledge far exceeded that of the fighters who had boxed all those years ago.

more importantly their rivalry was still as alive as ever, maybe even more than ever.

both guys put their knowledge and hearts on full display, showing what makes a great champion great. it was a tremendous fight, only downside was the decision. i too have wondered many times what fight the judges were watching.

still, in a way hearns got his revenge. he had beaten leonard, he knew it and so did ray. ray managed to salvage a near catastrophe and turn it into another legendary night for the sugarman, despite being out shined by the hitman from detroit.

[Sugarj]

Its a fight I've watched many times and still love.

If I'm honest I did think the draw was a fair verdict for a while. I felt that the fight was overall fairly even......and that Leonard's dominance in rounds 5 & 12 made up for the two knockdowns by Hearns.

Hearns didn't seem terribly disappointed with the verdict in the post fight interview. 'You know how it is' 'better to have a draw than a loss'.

But I was challenged to rescore the fight a few years ago by a forum member......and I did find Hearns a one point winner. Not the most disgusting verdict of all time though!

[BKM-2010]

I had no problem with the decision, in fact I could of seen Leonard being the victor at the end more so than Hearns. I scored two rounds 10-8 for Leonard which made up for the 2 knockdowns he suffered which were not nearly as damaging as the two moments where Leonard was actually very close to stopping Hearns on his feet. Also I believe Leonard held a more major title so I could see him getting the benefit of the doubt more. It was a fantastic fight where both men showed a ton of heart, rightfully the fight of the year at the time.

[forget]

Hearns was doing well through twelve rounds in the first fight too. It was the championship rounds in which Leonard displayed his superiority. A lot of title fights would be different today if they went 15 rounds.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I really liked this fight.. I was too young for the first fight, but this one happened when I was 7 or 8 and I was really into these guys since they were hyped up and had the fame and cool nicknames..

I thought it was a legit decision.. 7-5 Leonard but hearns kds makes it a draw.. Really wish they would have fought a third time in 89 or 90.. Like Barrera-morales, or gatti-ward or bowe-Holyfield, these 2 guys would always have good entertaining fights, and both went downhill over the same time period, so it was pretty even

[rightsideup]

I really liked this fight.. I was too young for the first fight, but this one happened when I was 7 or 8 and I was really into these guys since they were hyped up and had the fame and cool nicknames..

I thought it was a legit decision.. 7-5 Leonard but hearns kds makes it a draw.. Really wish they would have fought a third time in 89 or 90.. Like Barrera-morales, or gatti-ward or bowe-Holyfield, these 2 guys would always have good entertaining fights, and both went downhill over the same time period, so it was pretty even

Hearns really wanted a third fight.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Hearns really wanted a third fight.

Didn't he lose to Barkley shortly after the rematch, which probably killed all momentum for a third one, and instead we got the forgettable srl-Duran 3..

Hearns no doubt wanted the rubber match, and would have been interesting to see how it all would have turned out if Barkley didn't upset him

[#1Assassin]

Didn't he lose to Barkley shortly after the rematch, which probably killed all momentum for a third one, and instead we got the forgettable srl-Duran 3..

Hearns no doubt wanted the rubber match, and would have been interesting to see how it all would have turned out if Barkley didn't upset him

he lost to barkley BEFORE the second fight, not after. thats the whole reason ray gave him a rematch after all those years, he like most people thought hearns was washed up. before that (and after the rematch) he wasnt willing to risk losing to hearns since he already had a win over him.

more importantly, how the hell can so many of you have thought it was a good decision? some claiming leonard had the upper hand? wtf!?

leonard said himself he lost the fight for the record, not in the post fight interview but in every interview he has done since watching it back. as for hearns not protesting, thats not because he didnt think the decision was terrible but because thats the kind of guy he is. he understood there was nothing to do about it so he accepted it, more importantly he knew in his heart he won which was most important to him (his words).

but again, how the hell can you people have thought that wasnt an outrageous robbery? ****ing hell people around here cant score for ****.

[rightsideup]

Didn't he lose to Barkley shortly after the rematch, which probably killed all momentum for a third one, and instead we got the forgettable srl-Duran 3..

Hearns no doubt wanted the rubber match, and would have been interesting to see how it all would have turned out if Barkley didn't upset him

Yes styles make fights and at that stage in there career's Duran could counterpunch and slug with barkly but Ray was just to quick for Duran at that point. An interesting match would have been Barkly Leonard but that was not in the cards either. It was generous of Ray to give Duran a big money fight although it was as you mentioned dull.