granberry wrote:
Hearns was a nightmare to fight as a welterweight because of his height, but his flaw was the same physical structure.
In addition his trainer Emanuel Steward was a disaster, overtraining Hearns for the 1st Leonard fight
and then DOING THE SAME THING for the Hagler fight.
When Leonard had a completely closed eye in the first Hearns-Leonard fight, Steward didn't know enough to tell Hearns to step to that side and punch, where Leonard would have been at his mercy.
You know I agree with you that Steward was/is a disaster as a trainer. I never understood why he let Hearns go toe to toe with Hagler. For me Steward is extremely over-rated as a trainer and as commentator too.
Steward ran around the country from TV fight to TV fight and raked in the money. He was never around in Detroit long enough to train anyone.
The worst case is what he did with Caveman Lee against Hagler.
..the reason hearns went toe to toe against hagler was because hagler just forced him into it. her charged right after hearns as soon as the bell started round one, and didn't give hearns a chance to box from a distance. plus, the warrior in hearns came out and he returned fire in kind. hearns never did learn how to hold on when he was in trouble...either tactically or psychologically.
there was one exception. when leonard went for the kayo in the final round in their rematch he did keep leonard tied up. i'm sure at that point he was sure he had the fight one and all he had to do was finish. alas....winning the fight and winning the decision were two different things and he had to settle for a ridiculous draw.
granberry wrote:
Patterson was a slowed down journeyman pro in comparison by the time he fought those you named. His KO of Cooper showed he still had a punch. He knocked Cooper down and out for a ten count, while Ali in comparison never knocked Cooper off his feet.
as a ten year old even though I was a shill at the shrine of Ali, I recognised how Patterson bested Ali's efforts against our 'Enery
