WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia recently suggested how Terence Crawford might perform against the legendary Thomas Hearns in his prime.
Crawford secured his sixth world title across five weight classes when he beat Canelo Alvarez in September — a feat that came 37 years after Hearns first achieved the same milestone.
Hearns is celebrated as one of boxing’s most prolific knockout artists, with 48 KOs in 61 victories across six divisions. In 1988, ‘The Hitman’ captured the inaugural WBO super‑middleweight title by outpointing James Kinchen.
Similarly, Crawford entered the five‑division club for the first time in 17 years by dethroning Canelo, becoming the first post‑War boxer to hold undisputed championship belts in three weight classes.
Consequently, ‘Bud’ is now widely regarded as one of boxing’s all‑time greats, and with his retirement, he is finally receiving the acclaim his remarkable career deserves, often placing him among pound‑for‑pound legends.
Nevertheless, in a Daily Mail Sport interview, Garcia stated that he would still favor Hearns in a hypothetical bout, citing the Detroit legend’s size as a potential advantage.
Garcia later said he would pick Hearns to defeat Floyd Mayweather, while acknowledging that Sugar Ray Leonard would likely have bested Hearns in their primes; a situation Leonard himself admitted after their 1989 rematch ended in a disputed draw.
