One of the greatest pure boxers of all time. The man was just a freak of nature. He was an incredible force at both Welterweight and Light Middleweight. This beast was a 6'1 assassin with a reach as long as those of Muhammad Ali and longer than that of Mike Tyson. Pound for pound he probably was welterweight's strongest puncher. He was also fast.
Now how many times have you heard somebody say nobody outboxes The Hitman? Well let's see. In his natural best, he only lost to Sugar Ray Leonard who is arguably top 10 GOAT. If you watched the fight, Tommy was outboxing Leonard who himself is considered as slick as anyone. Though he lost this fight, it just showed how brilliant his boxing was. He kept Sugar eating a lot of left and then some right. Tommy showed he also had the footwork to either keep distance or stalk his opponent. Tommy was ahead on the scorecards by the 14th round. Dayum Sugar was a brave man. Not too many could have eaten all those heavy punches and have the guts to take some to dish some. We gotta agree though that Tommy won the rematch.
Tommy also beat another masterboxer in Wilfred Benitez who is widely considered one of the greatest defensive boxers of all time. The man had the reflex of Ali and Pep and was as skilled as anyone ducking, slipping and parrying punches. As good as he was though, Tommy was too much to handle even with an injured hand. Another man who suffered a loss against Hitman is the great Hands of Stone Roberto Duran. It was a total mismatch in physical aspect. Hearns took advantage of his reach advantage not giving Duran a chance at all to make it an inside fight which was Duran's only chance. Nobody destroyed Duran as brutal as what he suffered from the hands of The Hitman.
In my opinion this man would be very hard to beat at both 147 and 154. His great jabs alone would be a huge problem to anyone. His power could end a fight with a single punch. He got the speed at this weight. He had effective footwork. He could be elusive if he chooses too. Maybe Floyd would outbox him? How would May deal with the jabs when he was having trouble with Oscar? How would Floyd land effective counters against a great boxer who can fight in the outside with those long arms? Maybe Pacman? Ahhh I love Manny but he was way too small. Maybe Mccallum with his body punches? How about Tito Trinidad? Man that was have been crazy. I think the best way is if you could turn the fight a brawl. The man with a big heart willing to take and can take Hitman's bombs and get in with his own gets the biggest chance.
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