JULIAN JACKSON VS THOMAS HEARNS AT 154LBS

[The Great John L]

FW was probably one of the weight classes where Pacquiao's power was purely near its highest effectiveness. He was big and developed enough to really get leverage under him than he lacked when he was a Fly/Bantam, and he legit hurt Barrera, Morales, and Marquez who were basically his 3 highest quality opponents at the time he fought them (considering what they achieved up until then and afterward). Only now do people realize this since Marquez exploded his blown up LW-WW run.

Fair enough, but Little Red was a monster hitter who didn't have the luxury of the fast hands that allows Pacquiao to land punches flush. Lopez was dreadfully slow and his power showed even when he barely landed.

Of course this is all opinion. Pac certainly was a big hitter @ FW, and has shown good power pretty much at every weight class.

[King Carlos]

Get back at me when Jackson stops a Light Heavyweight cinder block. Tommy was better than Julian at every phase of the sport.

Was Pacquiao a harder puncher at Featherweight than Danny Lopez because he carried his power up the weights better? Some fighters are just built better for weight jumping due to their natural frames. Hearns is a prime example. At 154 or 160 Hearns did not show superior power to Jackson (nobody did, at any weight class). That's where this fight is taking place. Hearns has the Duran and Shuler KO's, whereas Jackson has Drayton, Graham, Norris, etc. Most of Hearns' KO's around these weights were due to accumulation, and his overall winning record was 7 KO's, 5 decisions. Jackson's KO record was much more impressive, and his amount of high level KO's (i.e. one-shotting an opponent to sleep and the like) surpassed that of Hearns.

Admittedly, the Duran KO is as impressive as anything Jackson did, but he didn't have those kinds of deadening KO's time in and time out like Jackson. The quality of the KO's are the best measure of a fighter's power, in my opinion. Even if you disagree, Jackson's KO record was superior as well. So he takes it on both fronts.

Just because Hearns had the ability to box and he used it doesn't mean he lost his power. Even a guy like Geraldo who went the distance with hagler got demolished in one round by Tommy. Juan Roldan was tough as nails and he got face planted.

Geraldo had been KO'd in one by Caveman Lee directly post-Hagler. It's just one of those anomalies that occurs in boxing.

Roldan looked more like he just wilted if memory serves. Took a huge right hand, thought about it, went down and decided to stay there. Also, not that it really pertains to a comparison of punching power, but if anything the Roldan fight proves that Jackson has a good chance of taking Hearns out early. Especially at Middleweight, where Tommy didn't have the legs he did at 147 and 154.

The Duran KO is as impressive as anything Jackson did? It's far more impressive than anything Julian did. Hearns high level KO's came against sturdier chins.

Outside of the bloated Duran, where do you see this? Buster Drayton was a crafty, durable guy who had just fought a 15 round war with one of the division's biggest punchers in Matt Hilton, and Jackson one-shotted him in spectacular fashion (whereas Hearns already had Duran severely shaken and reeling when he cracked him with the right hand heard 'round the world). The Duran KO gets the plaudits, but the Drayton KO is one of the most impressive I've ever seen.

I'm not discounting Julian's power, it was obviously immense. But he wasn't as devastating at Middleweight, plenty of guys stood up to his shots.

Near his prime Tate and the granite chinned (and naturally larger) McClellan are the only ones that come to mind. You could easily say and show the same of Hearns, though.

Agreed on the quality of KO's, that's where Tommy gets the best of him.

If you want to argue the Duran KO, fair enough, but Jackson has the higher quantity of quality KO's. He proved it more often and more convincingly at these weights, in my opinion. The Graham, Norris, Drayton, Powell, and Negron KO's were all sickening.

As for overall record, I consider you too knowledgeable to use something as weak as KO% in a debate. Was Hector camacho a bigger puncher than Ike Williams?

Nah, I agree with your stance on this one. The quality of the KO's is the most telling factor. I was just putting the KO records out there as a for instance if you wanted to argue them.

And yes, Manny Pacquiao was a bigger puncher than Danny Lopez.

Pacquiao is and has always been a cumulation puncher (the odd one-off KO's of Hatton and the like aside). Lopez was a guy who needed just one shot to turn the tide of a fight. That's one of the primary measures of pure concussive power for my money. It's also a reason I rate Jackson so highly.

Edit: This post came out looking a bit odd. I was trying to respond to each point individually.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yeah, I hate the individual responses on their own, like this I'm afraid I can't read it at all. Not that it matters, neither of us is going to read something they don't know or change their mind. Lopez almost always finished off guys with a series of blows. He wasn't really a one shot guy. We seem to differ on what is more important, the quality of the opponent or the visuals.

[Bricks]

REFERENCE Hearns chins...... the shots his chin took when he did actually take them at top level... would have taken anyone out..........what was his problem was his losing concentration and carrying his left hand low and being able to be hit in the first place plus his legs were also quite weak when hit....but his chin....like i say look at the shots Hagler landed one after the next....many of those would have finished the rest of the division long before tommy capitualated....the shot from the bleachers barkley hit hearns with....Tommy still got up somehow .........roldan......?.....SRL wobbled him badly with hard shots in the rematch but he stayed up.....where a naturally bigger man like lalonde was finished.....plus tommy fought at a far higher level than jackson....to go up to 175 and do what he did to a hard as nails tough guy like andries who at the time was considered an old bum by everyone in retrospect looks great...and is the most underrated win of tommys career...andries went on to win the title twice....and fought on till his mid 40s at cruiser and no one ever made him look like a guy who couldnt stand up the way tommy did.....

[barry]

Speed-wise I think Jackson could easily match Hearns! Jackson's left-hook was compact and blisteringly fast, as was his straigh right! Still a toss-up I think! I think Mike McCallum, at 154, would have beaten Hearns!

[tommo100]

id`e have loved to see jj in with hagler,marvelous had major problems with john mugabi,who only ran out of steam cos he`d never been past 6 rounds,jackson was arguably a bigger puncher with both hands as well,id`e like to think he`d have given hagler a nightmare time