Iran Barkly and his victories over hearns

[TBear]

Also take into consideration that in the first meeting, Hearns had dropped from light heavyweight champion back down to middleweight. It showed in his first title bout against Rodan as he was rocked several times. Not taking anything away from Barkley or Rodan as they were both strong hard punching middleweights. But dropping weight divisions historically as resulted in bad things. Barkley himself payed the price dropping too much weight a couple times in his career.
In the second meeting at light heavyweight. not only did Barkley have the physical advantages but more importantly he had a very strong mental advantage.

[Mugwump]

I don't find it hard to rationalise. Barkley had genuine ability. Yes, he hit like a truck. But very often he hit with timing and varied his punches just enough to keep opponents' guessing.

Meanwhile Hearns' engine had run up excessive miles and, never the greatest defensive boxer, his reflexes were also on their way out.