By Gerardo Granados: One of the greatest fighters of all times, one who was feared, one of the meanest and bravest who ever laced a pair of gloves turns fifty three years old today.

It seems like it was a long time ago since the last time boxing fans got the chance to enjoy a prize fighter who had the size, boxing skills, speed & power, and most important the will to engage against the best contenders available to prove to be the best.

Boxing living legend Thomas Hearns / W61 (48)-L5-D1, aka “Motor City Cobra” and “The Hitman” was born in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A. What a delight it was to watch these mean son of boxing inside the ring. He looked like a true ring warrior, his messy long hair was the ideal frame for his killer eyes, a mean mad look with his eyes wide open staring at his opponent. To deny it would be rather unbeliebable because Hearns was really intimidating during his prime, I will always remember his stare down with Marvelous Marvin Hagler. He faced a couple of hall of fame members and other candidates too, his longevity puts him above the average fighters because he conquered the IBO cruiserweight title at the age of forty years old.

Notables: Bruce Curry WBC light welter / W3(1)-L1*; Saensak Muangsurin WBC light welter / W10(7)-L2*; Angel Espada WBA World welter / W2-L4*; Eddie Gazo WBA World light middle / W4(1)-L1*; hall of fame Pipino Cuevas WBC welter / W12(11)-L1*; hall of fame Sugar Ray Leonard W10(8)-L2-D1 ; hall of fame Wilfredo Benitez WBA World light welter, WBC welter & light middle / W8(2)-L2*; Murray Sutherland IBF super middle / W1-L3*; hall of fame Roberto Duran WBA World lightweight, WBC welterweight, WBA World light middleweight, WBC middleweight champion / W16(12)-L7*; hall of fame Marvin Hagler WBC – WBA World – IBF middle / W13(11)-L1-D1*; Mark Medal IBF light middle / W1(1)-L1*; Doug DeWitt WBO middle / W2(1)-L2*; Dennis Andries WBC light heavy / W6(3)-L3*; Iran Barkley WBC middle, IBF super middle & WBA World light heavy / W3(2)-L6*; hall of fame candidate Virgil Hill WBA World – IBF light heavy & WBA World cruiser / W24(7)-L5*; Lenny LaPaglia IBO light heavy / W1*; Karl Willis IBO super middle / W1*; Nate Miller WBA World cruiser / W5(5)-L3*; and Uriah Grant IBF – IBO cruiser / W2-L4*.

From all the current organization champions from welterweight up to the cruiserweight division, whom of them could defeat these boxing monster? I believe he would have done great against almost all of them.

I am sure that at the welterweight division there is no one who would stand a chance against him. WBA champion Vyacheslav Senchenko? IBF Champion Andre Berto? They would have no chance to survive more than five rounds. IBO champion Chris Van Heerdan? I have never heard of him, but he has no chance. WBC champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. would be too small to compete against Hearns because of the size, height and reach advantage, the speed and power would be too much to handle for “Pretty Boy” who is a master of defensive style but he would not be able to avoid been conected with several solid hard rights from the “Hitman”. WBO champion Manny Pacquiao is not only too small to compete against Hearns, due his agressive style and his poor defense he would end up dominated as Duran was.

At the light middleweight division. WBO – IBO champion Zaurbek Baysangurov and IBF champion Cornelius Bundrage does not have the tools to defeat him. WBA champion Miguel Angel Cotto would be too small to compete against him, if Margarito beat him up badly Hearns would do the job in less rounds. WBC Saul Alvarez has never faced top opposition and if he dared to fight Hearns the lucrative business that he represent would come to an end by knockout.

At the middleweigth division things start to get interesting because Hearns would not have the size edge. WBA champion Felix Sturm has the experience to compete against him and this would be a good fight but I´ll give it to Hearns. IBF champion Daniel Geale lack of experience might make him tailor made for Hearns. WBO champion Dimitry Pirog has good power and could make this fight one worth to watch but I believe Hearns would be the favorite to win. WBC champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has a lousy defense, he might end up not only knocked out but even could get injured because of his good chin that could led him to take innecesary punishment. IBO champion Avtandil Khurtsidze would not be a true test for Hearns. The real middleweight champion southpaw Sergio Martinez would battle Hearns and could even defeat him just as Hagler did if he is able to land a solid left.

Can you imagine Thomas Hearns taking part in the super six super middleweight tournament to win his fifht division title? At this weight division he could defeat WBO champion Robert Stieglitz and IBF champion Lucien Bute. Against WBA champion Andre Ward and WBC champion Carl Froch he would not have a good time and maybe it would be up to the fight judges to decide the winner. IBO champion Thomas Oosthuizen simply is not in the same league.

At the light heavyweight division the size of the WBO champion Nathan Cleverly, IBF champion Tavoris Cloud, WBA champion Beibut Shumenov allows them to compete, but the ring smarts and boxing skills of the experienced Hearns allowed him to defeat a solid candidate to the hall of fame prime Virgil Hill (1991), so Hearns would have a real chance to defeat the previously mentioned. Hearns also defeated two time WBC light heavyweight champion Dennis Andries back in 1987 to conquer his then fourth division world title. The WBC champion Chad Dawson is not the legit champion but he would not be a tough challenge for the Hitman.

At the cruiserweight division, Hearns was old and no longer in his prime but he managed to defeat former lineal WBA World cruiserweight champion Nate Miller to pick his sixth division belt the IBO cruiserweight. He did not defeat any of the major organization champions (WBO Johnny Nelson, WBA World Fabrice Tiozzo, WBC Juan Carlos Gomez and IBF Vassiliy Jirov), but he did defeat a good fighter instead of fighting against a young unknown twenty one years old inexperienced tailor made suplent on a week notice to fight for the title.

Due his age he could end loosing but the current cruiserweight champions are no hall of fame material. WBO champion Marco Huck, IBF Yoan Hernandez, WBA Guillermo Jones and WBC champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk have the youth and strenght to defeat him but I would still give Hearns a chance to win. The newly crowned IBO champion Antonio Tarver won the title at forty two years old and that fact gives Hearns a real chance against any of the current champions.
Hearns may not be considered as the greatest of all times, but he must be listed on the personal greatest top ten list of many boxing fans. Hearns was blessed by god with outstanding boxing skills and it might take a long time before we get the chance to see a fighter that resembles him, and perhaps could take much longer to see a fighter willin to take a high risk fight.

Happy Birthday Mr. Thomas Hearns, wish you the best on regards of your loyal fans.