Hit Man - Brian Hughes [29]
The promoters for the Hearns–Leonard fight were Main Event Productions, based in New Jersey. Thirty-seven-year-old Shelly Finkel, a bald-headed rock music promoter and boxing manager, was one half of the team. Dan Duva, a twenty-nine-year-old lawyer, was the other. Duva, who took an extended leave-of-absence from his Newark law firm to work on this fight, ensured that the Duva name would be closely associated with it. His wife Kathy dealt with publicity whilst his sisters, Deanne, Donna and Denise, took care of the box office and all travel arrangements. Dino, his kid brother, was an accounting major and worked on the Main Event books. Overseeing the whole operation was the family patriarch, Dan’s father, Lou, who had been in boxing as a fighter, trainer, manager and promoter for decades.
That Main Events were working on this superfight was entirely down to Leonard’s attorney, Mike Trainer. He liked Finkel and the Duvas and believed they would put on a great show. Moreover, he specifically didn’t want to work with Bob Arum or Don King, and as long as he controlled Leonard, the biggest draw in sports, he didn’t have to. He simply instructed Finkel and Duva to come up with the guarantee of $8 million for Leonard and to satisfy Hearns, and the fight was theirs to promote. “Bob Arum thinks I took the fight from him,” Finkel later said. “The thing was, he never had it in the first place because Mike Trainer would not deal with him and neither would Emanuel Steward.” However, Main Events did agree to bring in Arum and use him to deal with foreign rights sales, and his associate Mike Malitz was employed to supervise the technical side.
In July, they staged the official press conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York, to formally announce the welterweight unification championship bout would take place on 16 September 1981. The two fighters tossed a coin to decide who would speak to the press first. Hearns won and insisted on going first. He appeared nervous before visibly warming to his task. “I’ve waited over two years for this moment,” he said. “I don’t think Ray is a pushover. I don’t think he’s a guy you can walk over. I think he deserves respect. But I do really feel that it’s time Ray Leonard got what he’s got coming.” When he sat down, he received a polite smattering of applause. Leonard ignored him as he bounded up to the podium, smiling broadly and eager to respond.
“I’d like to personally thank Tommy Hearns for those kind words,” he beamed. “I consider this will be the greatest boxing match in history. You’re in for a boxing lesson, Tommy. I’m going to pop your head. You called me a chicken and it upset me. I’m looking forward to it and, buddy, you had better be ready because I have been waiting for this fight.” Leonard then ratcheted up the mind games by claiming that Emanuel Steward had quietly told him that after he knocked out Hearns, he would join his training camp. He then began flicking his left hand near to Hearns’s head in an attempt to rile his impassive foe and show how he planned to use his quick jab. Eventually Hearns responded with a chilling warning: “It’s only gonna take one shot, Ray. You’ll be lying up in the hospital after just one shot. It’ll be short.”
Dan Duva refused to disclose the size of the purse even though it was now common knowledge that Hearns would get $5 million, ten times more than he had ever been paid before. Duva did confirm that the two champions would earn more from the percentages from the various gate and related receipts, pushing the figures higher than anticipated. He also admitted that Leonard would receive the lion’s share of money. Hearns remained unperturbed. “I would have fought him for less than what I’m getting,” he told the press, “I just wanted to finally fight him.”
The two champions then posed for magazine and fight posters. They had previously always shown respect for each other, but now the gloves were off, so much so that