Hearns was one of my very favorite boxers back when he was in his prime,.."The Motor City Cobra",..
He did the same thing to Hagler that he did to every other boxer who got in the ring with him, but Hagler took it and kept moving forward.
Hearns had never had to take the kind of relentless punishment that Hagler dished out.
Hearns was a much more polished boxer, but Hagler was old school tough.
It must have been very disaheartening for Hearns to give Hagler everything he had in the first round and then see him come out for the second as fresh as he was at the beginning of the first. He must have known that he had lost the fight at that point.
To his credit, Hearns continued to stand in there with Hagler and literally fought himself to exhaustion for two more rounds.
Two outstanding fighters giving everything they have from beginning to end.
Hagler was also a true Middleweight, not a blown up Welter. Hearns ALWAYS showed up, never coasted.
Nick Diaz is an animal. I'ts going to take one tough sonofabiitch to ever lay him out. That fight with Daley was incredible. Like Hearns with Hagler, Daley had every chance to put Diaz out in the first, and didn't have Diaz's killer instinct. The best fighters have that fury.
Cuevas wasn't beaten in like 3-4 years with like 10-11 title defenses. Tommy took him out in the 2nd round. That was the fight that put the Hitman on the map.........
"You set your own goals for success, and when you succeed it don't necessarily mean that you're going to be a big star or make a lot of money or anything. You'll feel it in your heart whether you've succeeded or not." - Roy Buchanan
Best fights I have EVER seen were the trio of fights between Arturo Gatti and "Irish" Mickey Ward! The lead continued to change again and again in all three of their fights. While they both had the utmost respect for each other (a rare occurence in this sport), Mickey Ward had so much respect and belief in Arturo that he was his trainer and ring coach in his last fight. Unfortunately, Arturo's performance was a dissapointment.
Some other fighters that I was very impressed with...........Costya Tsu (spelling?), and the great "PacMan" Manny Pacquiou. Watcha think?
Ray Leonard won / stole a couple fights he should not have won. Hearns was certainly one of em and so was his fight with Hagler.
I still get insanely upset anytime someone says Ray Leonard "beat" Marvin Hagler. One of the most disgraceful things I've ever seen in combat sports. I don't blame Marvin for retiring after that.
Brian.
"You set your own goals for success, and when you succeed it don't necessarily mean that you're going to be a big star or make a lot of money or anything. You'll feel it in your heart whether you've succeeded or not." - Roy Buchanan
Best fights I have EVER seen were the trio of fights between Arturo Gatti and "Irish" Mickey Ward! The lead continued to change again and again in all three of their fights. While they both had the utmost respect for each other (a rare occurence in this sport), Mickey Ward had so much respect and belief in Arturo that he was his trainer and ring coach in his last fight. Unfortunately, Arturo's performance was a dissapointment.
That first Gatti-Ward fight was insanity. Ward's body shots were amazing in that fight. Gatti probably pissed blood for a week after that.
Originally Posted by lngrng
Some other fighters that I was very impressed with...........Costya Tsu (spelling?), and the great "PacMan" Manny Pacquiou. Watcha think?
Manny is the best boxer of his generation, by a long shot.
Brian.
"You set your own goals for success, and when you succeed it don't necessarily mean that you're going to be a big star or make a lot of money or anything. You'll feel it in your heart whether you've succeeded or not." - Roy Buchanan
Good stuff. I used to really enjoy watching boxing back then with my Dad. He and I didn't get along very well at times but we always loved watching a good fight together. I wish he was still around today. I would classify my boxing history as pre and post Tyson. During the Tyson years, I pretty much lost all interest.
"Hey jackass, get your government off my freedom." MOLON LABE
Ray Leonard won / stole a couple fights he should not have won. Hearns was certainly one of em and so was his fight with Hagler.
I still get insanely upset anytime someone says Ray Leonard "beat" Marvin Hagler. One of the most disgraceful things I've ever seen in combat sports. I don't blame Marvin for retiring after that.
Brian.
I remember watching that fight live with a couple of Navy friends and our girl friends. It was a very active fight but I was left disappointed as well. Ray landed more light shots but every one of Marvin's was twice the power. I was always a fan of the Marvelous one and was sad to see him go out that way.
"Hey jackass, get your government off my freedom." MOLON LABE
That does bring back memories. Remember when you could watch the big names fight on Saturday afternoon/night without paying big bucks? I'm only 40, but I remember watching Ali live. I watch that stuff on ESPN Classic now and my kids ask me if I was alive then!
Not quite as long ago, but I never got more satisfaction out of a fight than seeing Douglas beat Tyson.
I enjoy handguns and I really like shotguns,...but I love rifles!
Good stuff. I used to really enjoy watching boxing back then with my Dad. He and I didn't get along very well at times but we always loved watching a good fight together. I wish he was still around today. I would classify my boxing history as pre and post Tyson. During the Tyson years, I pretty much lost all interest.
I think most people start off watching combat sports with their Dad. I remember my old man renting the first UFC's on VHS and watching them with him. I thought it was pretty cool - I remember watching UFC 7 with him and thinking Marco Ruas was the greatest fighter ever. Ever since then, we'd watch boxing or kickboxing together (Dad is a big Ernesto Hoost fan). When MMA started to get big again, we would watch that - IIRC, it was the old Pride show on FSN that Jay Glazer hosted. That's when I really started to follow MMA seriously.
And yeah, I've never been much of a fan of Tyson, although I think he was incredibly talented in his prime. I've always been more of a Holyfield fan.
Brian.
"You set your own goals for success, and when you succeed it don't necessarily mean that you're going to be a big star or make a lot of money or anything. You'll feel it in your heart whether you've succeeded or not." - Roy Buchanan
That does bring back memories. Remember when you could watch the big names fight on Saturday afternoon/night without paying big bucks? I'm only 40, but I remember watching Ali live. I watch that stuff on ESPN Classic now and my kids ask me if I was alive then!
What killed boxing was going to pay per view. Once they lost their presence on TV, they lost the bulk of the casual fans. One of the reasons why MMA took off so much is that they started showing a ton of stuff for free on TV. That way, people flipping through the channels would see it and stop and go, "Hey, that looks pretty cool, let's watch this." The UFC is even looking to put all but their biggest cards on broadcast TV - either NBC or ESPN. That's how you keep fan interest from getting stagnet and keep the money rolling in. The people who run boxing thought they could just put it all on PPV or premium channels like HBO and the interest would carry over. It didn't.
Now, unless Pacquiao or Mayweather are fighting, there isn't much interest in boxing among the general public. HBO won't even cover heavyweight fights anymore. It's that sad.
Brian.
"You set your own goals for success, and when you succeed it don't necessarily mean that you're going to be a big star or make a lot of money or anything. You'll feel it in your heart whether you've succeeded or not." - Roy Buchanan
I don't look at Tyson as being a very talented boxer. He just plodded towards his opponent when the bell rang and knocked his ass unconscious.
He could hit like a truck with both hands,...very intimidating.
He fought like that later in his career. In his prime? He was incredibly fast, had great head movement, and was extremely accurate with his punches. When he started reading his own press clippings and not training as much, he turned into a guy who relied soley on power instead of technique. Kind of the opposite of how George Foreman's career went.
Brian.
"You set your own goals for success, and when you succeed it don't necessarily mean that you're going to be a big star or make a lot of money or anything. You'll feel it in your heart whether you've succeeded or not." - Roy Buchanan
