Roy Jones Jr has shared his thoughts on an intriguing fantasy match-up between Floyd Mayweather and Thomas Hearns.
Mayweather is widely considered to be one of the greatest fighters to have ever graced the sport, remaining unbeaten throughout the course of his glittering 21-year professional career. He captured world titles in five divisions along the way, racking up victories over the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya to name a few.
As for Hearns, the Memphis native is also commended for his outstanding success, which came during that golden era of boxing throughout the 1980s. He also became a member of the iconic ‘Four Kings’, alongside Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard, winning world titles in five weight classes throughout the course of his 29-year tenure.
Another fighter that had an illustrious career was Jones Jr, who won world titles in four divisions at middleweight, super-middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.
Speaking on All The Smoke Fight, Jones Jr gave an honest verdict on Mayweather’s chances of defeating ‘Hitman’ Hearns, who was naturally a much bigger man and competed as high as cruiserweight. He was, therefore, definitive in his answer.
“Do I think he beats Tommy Hearns? No!”
Jones did however give some plaudits to Mayweather, as he claims there is one version of the five-division world champion that would dominate during ‘any era’.
“At 35? Yeah. At 35 he’d dominate any era.”
Hearns would suffer just a handful of defeats throughout his 67 fight tenure, although he would rack up a number of legacy defining victories over the likes of Wilfred Benitez and Panamanian icon Duran.
His career would eventually come to an end in 2006, making his final ring appearance at 47-years-old against fellow countryman Shannon Landberg.
Mayweather wouldn’t announce his retirement from the sport until a couple of months after he got the better of MMA fighter Conor McGregor in their crossover match-up in August of 2017, drawing the curtain on his career with an unblemished record of 50-0 to his name.
