Hit Man - Brian Hughes [104]
He was a man who could box brilliantly as well as punch with terrific power. It was the textbook boxing that set up the knockouts for Hearns. Tommy was a memorable fighter who was also one of the most exciting fighters of his time.
George Zeleny, former editor of Boxing Monthly and Boxing Outlook:
It’s nearly twenty-five years since Thomas Hearns literally collided with Marvin Hagler at Ceasars Palace, Las Vegas, for three of the greatest rounds in boxing history. That fight tends to define both men, but as Hagler won, his reputation has continued to grow over the ensuing years. Perhaps the same can’t be said of the loser.
It was the era of the Fab Four – Hearns, Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran. They all fought each other in significant bouts. The charismatic Leonard is already regarded as an all-time great. He beat Hearns in a pulsating fight in 1981 but their rematch four years later has often been overlooked. Despite being knocked down twice, Leonard was “awarded” a draw after twelve rounds. To most observers, the Motor City Cobra looked decidedly unlucky. But the Leonard legacy is given, especially as he came out of retirement to beat the formidable Hagler. Meanwhile the brash and aggressive Duran seems to be regarded as everyone’s ultimate fighting man and constantly figures in those regularly compiled lists of The Greatest Fighters Ever.
It is with Duran that the real Hearns legacy lies. In 1984, Tommy defended his WBC light-middleweight title against the Panamanian. Despite being thirty-three years old, Duran was still a remarkable fighter. After losing to the unheralded Kirkland Laing and slick Wilfredo Benitez, the supposedly washed up Duran had won the WBA light- middleweight title against Davey Moore in a huge upset at Madison Square Garden. He then took Hagler to a close fifteen-round decision seven months ahead of meeting Hearns.
But that June 15 in Las Vegas saw Hearns annihilate Duran in a chilling fashion. The final right hand that deposited Roberto onto his face in the second round was a brutal testament to Tommy’s power. It was the only time in his long career that Duran was knocked clean out. Hearns had so dominated his opponent, dropping him twice in the first session, that Roberto looked headed for the knackers’ yard. It is a measure of Hearns’s triumph that five years later Duran was able to beat Tommy’s own nemesis, Iran Barkley, for the WBC middleweight title in Ring Magazine’s fight of 1989.
Both men boxed on for far too long. Only a serious car accident managed to de-rail Duran in 2001 and he retired at the age of fifty. The Hit Man followed a similar course. He managed to win rather meaningless WBU and IBO cruiserweight titles before hitting the buffers in 2006 at the age of forty-eight.
But to recall Thomas Hearns at his zenith, just remember that crunching right hand that rendered old Hands of Stone motionless under the clear Las Vegas sky in the summer of ’84.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Writing a book requires a great deal of research and help. We wish to place on record our sincere thanks and appreciation to Lindy Lindell, Detroit’s most knowledgeable boxing historian. Without his unstinting help, support, advice and, above all, friendship, this book would not have been possible. Most of all I wish to thank Lindy for his friendship over the past thirty years. We also want to offer our grateful thanks to Jackie Kallen for taking time out of her busy schedule to offer her help and kindness.
Thanks also go to our friends Boxing News editor Claude Abrams, former Boxing News editor Graham Houston, Canadian boxing historian Wayne Wilson, George Zeleny, and Peter Walsh of Milo Books, who all contributed towards the book. We also wish to place on record our sincere thanks to Don Thibodeaux, for sharing some of his memories of his time as a coach and corner man to the Kronk Team, the late Walter Smith and Dr. Stuart E. Kirschenbaum.
Finally but certainly not least, this book would not have been published but for the sterling and dedicated support of our families, Rosemarie,