Hit Man - Brian Hughes [15]
Nearly eight thousand spectators watched as Hearns had to box past the third round for the first time in his career. He remained composed throughout the fight and watched for a glimpse of an opening. It came after fifty-one seconds of the fourth round when he unloaded a powerful right cross-left hook combination, followed up by another devastating right cross, which duly ended matters.
This was his final contest of 1978 and his fourteenth consecutive inside-the-distance victory. He was declared Boxing Illustrated’s number five welterweight and number six by the World Boxing Council. Boxing Illustrated also afforded him their “progress of the year” honour. Someone had also coined a nickname for him that seemed to fit his sinewy frame and his deadly striking ability: the Motor City Cobra.
WHEN CLYDE GRAY climbed into the ring on 13 January 1979, he was nearing the twilight of a long career. Gray, from Toronto, Canada, was a throwback to the skilled craftsmen of yesteryear. The reigning Commonwealth welterweight champion, he had fought, and lost, three times for the world title. He had first taken the great champion Jose Napoles the full fifteen rounds and had then lost another fifteen-round war to Angel Espada when tilting for his World Boxing Association title. Finally, he had succumbed within two rounds in his third challenge, against the murderous Pipino Cuevas. His record on the night he met the twenty-year-old Hearns was sixty victories from sixty-seven bouts, and he was riding a wave of seven consecutive victories.
A crowd of 11,115 paid the largest indoor gate in Michigan boxing history – $149,909 – to see Hearns prove himself to be a genuine contender in one of the best bouts seen at the Olympic in years. Gray looked to be in serious trouble in rounds five and seven, taking heavy punches on the ropes and bleeding heavily from the nose, but employed all of his vast experience to hang around until the second minute of the tenth round, when Hearns managed to connect with a lightning fast, crunching right cross which dropped him to the canvas. Displaying the courage which had become his trademark, Gray beat the count but referee Arthur Mercante showed him mercy by sensibly waving his arms to save the brave Canadian from a certain knockout.
The performance had a significant impact on a number of different levels. The win was a big psychological fillip for Hearns, who acknowledged that it was his toughest fight to date. “Going ten rounds was the best thing that could have happened. It proved to all the doubters who said I could only go for four or five rounds,” said a jubilant Hearns, even as he stuffed his right hand in an ice bucket, the result of an injury suffered in the early rounds. “Although Gray never hurt me, I’ve never been as tired in a fight.” At the end of nine rounds, referee Mercante and Judge Ken Offert had Hearns winning every round. The Canadian judge, Chuck Williams scored the bout 6-2-1 in favour of Hearns. This victory also made the promoters outside of Detroit really sit up and pay attention to the figures which were being generated by the Detroit youngster. Finally, the trade press also felt that the victory was a watershed and started to seriously tout Hearns to fight for a world title. One reporter remarked that he had “the cold eyes, under the ring arc lights, of a professional assassin,” and someone had coined another nickname for him, “the Detroit Hit Man.”
Gray, who claimed he had wrenched a muscle in his back when he stumbled in the fourth round, was effusive in his praise for his opponent but his words were laced with realism. He acknowledged, “He’s a very good boxer and a really tremendous puncher. I believe he’s good enough to become a world champion, but his people should take their time with him. His left hand gave me a lot of trouble; it stopped me from getting