Hit Man - Brian Hughes [3]
Hearns came out quickly, eager to stamp his mark first. He adopted a side-on stance and his initial punches carried authority and accuracy. His left jab was thrown with speed and with a technique straight from the pages of a boxing textbook. His battle plan, honed over long months in the gym, was a secret no longer. His world title was going to be captured from long range; he didn’t intend to win it in the trenches.
Cuevas’s poker face, the blank, emotionless expression he had adopted throughout his reign, for once betrayed him. He appeared surprised by the tactics he faced. His plans had been accurately gauged by the boxing press who assumed that he would assume the role of aggressor, storming forward and forcing his challenger back, where he could unload his heavy artillery at the lithe body in front of him. For a fleeting moment his eyes registered confusion and Hearns saw it. He had made his decision. He knew what to do. The wily boxing veteran, Angelo Dundee, who was commentating for television also spotted it and counselled viewers, “This will be one heck of a fight. Don’t take your eyes off the action for a second.”
The first round passed in a blur as Hearns’s footwork had kept the champion off-balance and unable to unleash his much vaunted power, especially his fearsome left hook. When the second round began, Hearns moved quickly and continued to carry the aggression. His eagerness contained some unnecessary anxiety and caused him to miss with a left jab and right cross. He recovered his poise and followed through with two powerful left jabs which drove Cuevas even further back into his corner. Cuevas summoned up an animal instinct and threw a right cross to the jaw of the onrushing challenger. The surge of adrenalin coursing through his veins ensured that Hearns showed no effects. Instead he offered a lethal left hook in response. Cuevas acknowledged this blunt-edged riposte with a grimace.
Hearns pawed a left jab at his opponent’s left eye. It didn’t contain any venom. Instead it was merely a decoy. Cuevas moved to catch the punch and missed the straight right cross which followed and fizzed with power and accuracy directly onto his unguarded cheekbone. The impact seemed to shake Pipino right down to his toe-nails. With his momentum carrying him forward, Hearns positioned his feet and delivered a second right cross. The fog which enveloped Cuevas slowed his reactions and although he saw it coming and attempted to protect himself by bringing his guard up toward his chin his body refused to move at the speed he willed it to. The snaking right whipped from the right shoulder and smashed directly into Cuevas’ face and the courageous world champion pitched violently head first straight towards the canvas, his impressive reign as world champion coming to a brutal and final conclusion.
It seemed like the perfect finish. As referee Christodoulou went through the count, the Mexican warrior drew on his reserves of courage and strength and amazingly staggered to his feet before the South African official reached “nine.” He looked dazed and disorientated, the surprise having as devastating an effect as the speed and brutality of Hearns’s assault. Yet despite his legs looking like they were crafted from rubber, his fighting instincts remained intact and he nodded his assent to continue.
Hearns had watched this and his focus was as intense as a laser beam. He stepped forward with an increased menace when Lupe Sanchez, Cuevas’s manager, trainer and a father figure to the Mexican dynamo, sensed the risk to his charge’s welfare and rushed to the ring with the white towel of surrender. Christodoulou intervened between the two men and waved his arms to signal exactly that, after five minutes and thirty-nine seconds of a chilling and calculated attack. Detroit had a new world champion. Hilmer Kenty, Hearns’s stablemate and himself a world champion, was first through the ropes to embrace him, and he held his hand aloft.
Ringside press observers were stunned. They reported to their sports desks that they had witnessed one of