Hit Man - Brian Hughes [12]
Two thousand of Detroit’s more ardent boxing followers watched with interest and surprise on the rain-swept evening of 25 November 1977 when Hearns, the latest member of the Kronk production line of amateur champions, made his professional start in the Olympia Stadium. It was a “no-name” card, showcasing aspiring youngsters and debutants. Hearns faced Cincinnati veteran Jerome Hill and despatched him with ease inside two rounds. Although Hill was regarded as a suitable journeyman opponent who would not extend Hearns too much, the manner of victory was impressive. From being perceived as a fleet-footed boxer who relied upon pure boxing skill and finesse, he appeared to have added another string to his bow by developing his two-fisted punching power. Emanuel Steward would later say that he used $2,000 life savings, took a second mortgage on his house to get another $2,300 and borrowed more from his grandfather and some friends in order to stage this first promotion. It would turn out to be a very wise investment.
Hearns’s second contest took place shortly before Christmas at a $50 dinner-boxing tournament at the Hillcrest Country Club in Mount Clemens, Michigan. He had little trouble disposing of Jerry Strickland, who had a decidedly modest record of seven wins, one draw and twenty-four losses. Hearns made it twenty-five by finishing the hapless Strickland in three rounds. Nine days later he added another win by stopping three-fight novice Willie Wren, from Toledo, inside three rounds.
In January of 1978, Hearns travelled to Knoxville, in his birth state of Tennessee, where he was matched against Anthony House from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. House had fought in the ill-fated, scandal-ridden United States Boxing Championship Tournament which had been promoted by Don King. He had boxed professionally fourteen times and had lost three of his last four bouts inside three rounds. It was no surprise when Hearns flattened the gun-shy House in two rounds.
Steward was eager to keep his latest protégé active, and less than two weeks later, 2,058 fans turned out in Detroit to witness his burgeoning punching power. He didn’t disappoint, achieving another third round stoppage against Philadelphia’s Robert Adams, who had a record of five wins in ten fights. For Hearns’ next outing, Steward personally selected Milwaukee’s Billy Goodwin. Goodwin had an unspectacular win-lose-draw record of 13-20-2 but, standing at six feet two inches, with a long, ranging jab, he represented a new challenge for Hearns to master. Two thousand eight hundred fans saw the eager pupil settle to his task and solve the puzzle in two rounds. Steward was impressed by the adaptability of his charge. Another bonus was that the Michigan boxing fans were beginning to get right behind Hearns and his Kronk teammates.
The fights kept coming at a dizzying pace. In Detroit’s Cobo Arena, Ray Fields was stopped in two rounds – and afterwards declared that he would never fight again. Philadelphia’s tough ‘Skinny’ Jimmy Rothwell, the Pennsylvania area welterweight champion, was next up and the local boxing press mused that he would offer a tougher assignment on the learning curve. Rothwell had even been chosen as Prospect of the Month by Ring magazine but Hearns breezed past him with nonchalance, ending the contest within one minute and forty-nine seconds of the opening bell.
Hearns was quickly acquiring admirers and the clamour to see his fights grew. Raul Aguirre, a tough, seasoned Mexican with a respectable record of nineteen wins in thirty-five, was brought in as a warm-up before Hearns faced Trinidad’s Eddie Marcelle two weeks later. Aguirre was routinely dismantled in three rounds. Marcelle watched the fight with interest.
Eddie Marcelle was a fighter who had mixed in world class. Although he had lost to the highly rated Jo Kimpuani and the hot prospect Scott Clark, he