“Iran, who hits harder, me or Hearns?”
When a fighter tells you the hardest they’ve ever been hit, is by a guy they didn’t get dropped by, call them on that BS.
I asked Iran, who hit’s harder… Me or Tommy… Without hesitation he said “Hearns”… I said,That don’t make no sense. “You fought him 2 fights and he didn’t even shake you once. I fought you for half a fight and dropped you…”
I didn’t push him on it… It was a car full of us fighters on one of Scully’s excursions to Muhammad Ali’s training camp in Deer-lake, PA. Like my fight with Iran, It all ended too quick.
Anyway.
Muhammad Ali said the hardest he ever been hit was by Ernie Shavers… Shavers had Ali dizzy, but he didn’t drop Ali. Now if Ali said, Henry Cooper, Joe Frazier, or even Sonny Banks, I’d have to agree. Punching power is confirmed by the ability to cease the brain from its most basic and primitive functions.
Like standing up.
The brain ceases to communicate with the body. That’s what punching power does.
So if you get hit and stagger around the ring… wait, let me try this again…
If you get hit and you know you been hit. Or you feel pain, guess what? You really haven’t been hit that hard. Knockout punches go WAY beyond pain. If you get hit in round 1 and now you’re puzzled because suddenly it’s round 5… Or you get hit and you wonder,. “who is this old dude with a bow tie COUNTING EXCITEDLY in my face? … and who even wears a bow tie these days…?
Or you get hit and you can’t see anything… but you hear your mom and sisters scream. THAT, is when you’ve truly been hit.
I got dropped by both Barkley AND Hearns… And I can attest like Whisky and Vodka, they’re definitely different, but same result when they land.
So 9th round Hearns measures me with the left… I should deflect it like Sugar Ray did? Nah, I’m sure Tommy’s just lending me a hand… I KNEW what came next, I just went brain dead and to this day I don’t know why. I’ve watched Hearns fight since forever… I seen him measure Duran and put a 10 count on him… Cuevas… Measure, 10 count. James Shuler (rest in peace), measure, 10 count. When he sticks out that left, he’s like a mortician sizing you up for a coffin.
So now it’s my turn. 9th round. Same left hand, he measures me…
No tell..
That’s what it was… Most fighters usually scrunch up their face, or pull their fist back, alerting you to the incoming. Not Hearns. Not even a hint, you don’t really know until it lands.
Now I wasn’t unconscious on the way down… I saw him loading up another right… I begged myself, “bro, you gotta go down faster.”
He just missed with throwing the soil on my coffin.
As for Iran… Barkley was a marauding puncher… He punched like he hated you.. He was one of those “if he dies-he dies” type fighters, with a high threshold for pain and discomfort… and he wasn’t afraid of dying himself if he had to.
That can come in handy when you fight for a living.
Barkley wasn’t a slasher as much as he was a basher. To me he didn’t punch like a blade. He definitely had under appreciated skills, (He consistently got to Hearns AND Duran… that’s saying a lot!) but there really was nothing surgical about his punches.
Iran was extremely obvious with his intent.
Every single time he got in the ring, it was like putting “Animal” from Sesame Street in front of a drum set. He’s gonna bash something.
The difference between the two? Think of a dentist cleaning your cavity… the really sharp drill hits the nerve (Hearns) The thicker drill bit vibrates the brain. (Barkley)
Remind’s me… Jake Lamotta: In Raging Bull, the movie, he said… “You never got me down Ray.”
It probably would’ve been better for Jake if he went down. Fighters often don’t understand that getting knocked down can be a blessing. And generally if you take a great shot, you tendency will be to take a lot of great shots and that will always come back to haunt you in the middle and especially the end.
As a boxer, it’s best to take a slightly above average shot and work on a whole lotta defensive drills.
Question, Did SUGAR RAY ROBINSON ever drop Jake Lamotta? Said they fought 6 times and Ray supposedly dropped Jake in the 4th fight, but I’ve never seen evidence of that.
Anyone got footage?
100%Silk.