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had beaten Johnny Gant, who was ranked number eight by the World Boxing Association. In the days preceding the Hearns fight, the Trinidadian told the Detroit newspapers that he was planning “to severely punish” the local hero and cautioned Emanuel Steward “for selecting him as a sacrificial lamb.” His talk certainly did the trick amongst the public as 6,125 fans came to see if he could live up to his hype. Thomas Hearns, however, simply would not allow it. After outboxing Marcelle for the first couple of rounds, he opened up in the third with a dazzling three-punch combination to the body, followed by a searing right cross to the side of the head which put Marcelle on the canvas for the full count. This was an impressive victory and what was more pleasing for Emanuel Steward was the way Hearns was developing his right cross.

ON 1 SEPTEMBER 1978, the secret of Thomas Hearns was revealed to a wider world. Boxing News was a British magazine, but as the only weekly boxing publication in the world, and also the most authoritative, it was avidly read among the international fight fraternity. On page seventeen, Eric Armit, who wrote a regular page highlighting the fight scene around the globe, led his column with the story of the new sensation:

HOTSHOT HEARNS IS CHASING SUGAR RAY

Thomas Hearns is really setting Detroit alight. The 6ft 2in welterweight is now 11-0 with all 11 opponents stopped within the first three rounds.

His recent victory over Eddie Marcelle drew a full house of over 6,000 for Ron Moore at the Olympic Stadium and Tommy was mobbed by excited fans when he knocked Marcelle out in round two.

The Detroit press has also taken to Hearns and he gets plenty of coverage which is helping to stoke the fires.

Hearns’ manager Ed [sic] Stewart will now take his boy on the road for a couple of bouts and the aim will be to take on a few of Sugar Ray Leonard’s victims to try and better the ex-Olympian’s effort. Not that Tommy needs to follow in Leonard’s footsteps: the kid from Detroit looks to be a class fighter in his own right, and rates as good a chance as Leonard, Howard Davis or Aaron Pryor.

It was accompanied by a posed photograph of Hearns stripped to the waist, with his impossibly long arms, a youthful yet vaguely menacing half-smile, and the makings of what would become his trademark laser-beam stare.

It was around this period that one of boxing’s fabled encounters was nearly prematurely delivered. Thomas Hearns was scheduled to meet Sugar Ray Leonard. Leonard’s attorney, Mike Trainer, agreed to the bout and a press conference was arranged to witness the penning of contracts. The purse had already been settled: Leonard, who had fought about the same number of pro bouts as Hearns, was to receive $100,000 and Hearns a meagre $12,500. The venue would be the Providence Civic Center and the date would be September 1978. Although Hearns had never been seen on national television, golden boy Leonard had secured a million dollar deal with the ABC television network, who were eager to broadcast. Before it could be announced, however, Angelo Dundee stepped in to stop the match. The wise old trainer told Leonard and his advisers to be patient and wait for a couple of years. He presciently declared that when these two did eventually meet in the ring, they would earn millions.

Hearns turned his attentions elsewhere. Four weeks after his victory over Marcelle, he was matched with the experienced Bruce Finch of Ohio. The craggy-faced Finch had a record of 14-1-2, which enticed 5,718 Detroit fight fans to the city’s Olympia venue, where they screamed themselves hoarse in support of Hearns. He responded by hammering Finch to defeat inside three rounds. (Finch would prove his pedigree four years later when he fought Sugar Ray Leonard for the undisputed world welterweight championship.) In its next rankings, Boxing News had Hearns as number six welterweight contender to the two champions, Carlos Palomino and Jose Cuevas, based on his “run of quick wins”. Wilfred Benitez was the top contender, while Ray Leonard was number