Hit Man - Brian Hughes [102]
Hearns was forced to make his mark in other ways, which he did, by winning the WBC middleweight title in another blaster, against Argentina’s Juan Domingo Roldan. Then Hearns went to super-middleweight to capture another belt and twice at light-heavyweight he was crowned world champion, beating a classy boxer in Virgil Hill and Hill’s opposite, the clumsy but incredibly brave and strong Dennis Andries. Winning “world” championships in six divisions is a remarkable achievement (although Hearns claims at cruiserweight are to be taken less seriously) but it’s the fights Tommy was in rather than what he accomplished that left an indelible impression on his admirers.
Aside from the above mentioned bouts, there were three particularly destructive nights I shall never forget, two-round demolitions against Roberto Duran and Pipino Cuevas and a first-round annihilation of the then-undefeated James Shuler. Hearns’s punching was faultless against Duran, who had never been knocked out. But “Hands of Stone” was sent flat on his face, out for the count, from a right to his bearded jaw that reverberated through the speakers of my television set as though someone had fired a gunshot.
Against Cuevas, when Hearns won his first belt, it was different. This was an announcement to the world of what Hearns was about. Cuevas was respected, fearless and a long-reigning champion. He was renowned for his durability. Hearns’s telescopic right had his legs dancing frantically from a blow to the chin.
And then there was the Shuler dissection. Shuler was a touted former amateur, a disciple of the late great trainer Eddie Futch. This was Hearns’s first fight after losing to Hagler a year earlier. Many saw Hearns as a stepping stone for Shuler. How wrong they were. I recall watching this one on the big screen via closed circuit. The cameras went to Hearns’s dressing room beforehand. He’d cut off those fancy curls and looked an imposing, menacing figure – all business. That’s precisely what Hearns was about. He set about Shuler with remarkable confidence and poise, giving an exhibition as to how to fight a taller man and break him down to the body before finding the eye of the needle with a straight right. The finishing shot was so perfect that Shuler crumbled on to his back and was counted out. That was 1986 and the commotion that followed, with Hagler beating John Mugabi on the same show, was for Hearns to face Hagler again. But Hagler had other ideas. Marvin talked rematch again later in 1987, after Hearns had bombed Roldan to defeat in four rounds, but I suppose Hagler couldn’t get motivated. He wanted Leonard.
Nonetheless, Hearns, whether winning or losing, went on to feature in some classics, like the first fight against Iran Barkley, who Tommy hit with everything and busted up badly on the way to what seemed an inevitable stoppage before walking on to an amazing right that finished him. Barkley was one man Hearns just couldn’t get the better of – I was ringside for their rematch in 1992, nearly four years after the first clash.
I also saw Hearns when he outpointed Michael Olajide at super-middleweight in 1990, though in truth the Hit Man wasn’t the fighter he once was. That spark had disappeared. The moves that once flowed so effortlessly were now being forced. Still, it’s evidence of his prowess and great talent that Hearns could still conquer at the highest level, though it saddened me to see him fighting on long after his best.
I prefer to remember him in those welterweight/light-middle/middleweight days. He was an expert marksman and craftsman. If ever a nickname fitted it was the “Hit Man,” but Hearns had another side to him that was underappreciated and Tommy knew it.
For a short period he went back to pure boxing, which was how he established himself in the amateurs, and dropped the Hit Man moniker for the “Motor City Cobra.” He wasn’t as exciting, but