Thomas Hearns believes he had far superior skills to eight-weight king Manny Pacquiao.
‘Hitman’ Hearns would look to halt Pacquiao in his tracks if the pair ever met inside the ropes during their careers in the sport.
In what would be an amazing fantasy match-up, Hearns aired his strategy for taking out Pacquiao in a super-fight for the ages.
Speaking to Lem Satterfield for Ring Magazine in a historic interview, the Kronk legend answered the question of how he would have dealt with the dangerous Filipino.
“Manny Pacquiao, I think that he’s a pretty good fighter. I think that he would do well. He would do OK (against me). I think that he would do pretty good,” Hearns told Satterfield to RingTV.com.
“He would definitely have to come to me. I would probably box him and keep boxing him and look for the shot.
“Yeah, definitely, I would box him and look for the opening. I would give him a good boxing lesson.”
Quizzed on whether either Pacquiao’s rival Floyd Mayweather or the eight-weight champion had a chance to beat him, Hearns added: “Listen, they’re good fighters.
“Can’t take anything away from those guys. But you know anybody who was in my weight division. You know, I would give them hell.
“They would have to be really fighting hard and be ready to absorb a lot of punches to beat me. Because, you know, I ain’t going to let anybody just come in and beat me.”
Manny Pacquiao Thomas Hearns
Pacquiao is renowned, like Hearns, as one of the best boxers of his generation. ‘Pacman’ claimed world titles from 112 to 154 pounds.
The 43-year-old currently gets linked to one last swansong in the ring. Who that final fight will be against is up in the air.
After losing the Presidential election, Pacquiao is on holiday with his family. In the coming weeks, an official announcement could get made on his boxing future.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
