Hit Man - Brian Hughes [37]
While fireworks illuminated the Las Vegas night sky, the mood was funereal in Detroit. Over 10,000 tickets had been sold at the Cobo Arena and another 18,000 fans had packed the Joe Louis Arena to watch the live broadcast, whilst a staggering 27,000 had filled the Pontiac Silverdome to see the fight on the big screen. The denizens of the Motor City went into mourning. But even in his hour of defeat, Hearns had words for them.
“Detroit,” he said, “I shall return.”
8 COMEBACK
THE MORNING AFTER the night before saw Thomas Hearns, bedecked in a garish yellow tracksuit with the words “World Champion Thomas Hearns” etched across the back, attend the post-fight press conference. Both he and Leonard hid their emotions – and bruises – behind dark glasses. Hearns made a point of stating that the words on his ensemble should not be used to describe him. “Don’t call me champion,” he said. “When I get it back, then you can call me the champ.” Although he confessed that he was feeling terrible about the result, and planned to quit boxing, it was with the caveat that he would not do so until he had reached his goals. When questioned what these were, he answered without hesitation, “Still four more world championships.”
Just before he left Caesars Palace, Hearns went to see Jackie Kallen, the stunning blonde-haired PR agent for Kronk, who had held his jewellery for safe-keeping. She slipped a gold chain over his head and then handed him a ring, which had the words “World Champion” inscribed on it. Hearns quietly told Kallen, “I don’t need that any more. I’ll put it away until I become a world champion again.”
Once back in Detroit, Hearns didn’t leave his house for weeks. Defeat had hurt his pride deeply, and the inquest was loud and bitter. Boxing Today magazine led with a headline, “Leonard–Hearns: What Happened behind the Scenes?” which was heavily critical of the Kronk preparation methods. Ray Leonard had studied over one hundred hours of footage of Hearns. In contrast, when Detroit NBC journalist Dan Shane had interviewed Hearns prior to the fight, he admitted that he hadn’t looked at or studied any film of Leonard’s fights because “that would only mess me up.” He justified this by suggesting, “He won’t be able to fight me like he did those other guys and I will have to adjust my style to him when the time comes.” This lack of regard for his opponent was a consistent trait. Two days before Pipino Cuevas had defended his WBA title against South Africa’s Harold Volbrecht in early 1980, in his only nationally beamed TV fight before fighting Hearns, Hearns was unaware that the fight was being broadcast. When he was informed, he told Dan Shane, “I probably won’t get to watch the fight anyway, since I’m going upstate to watch my brother John box in the AAU championships.”
There was also some apparent discontent within the camp. Don Thibodeaux, Steward’s assistant trainer, was reported to have said he didn’t like the way training was going in Las Vegas. He believed that Hearns was sparring too many hard rounds. This was supported by a Vegas fight fan named Bob Cerbe, who had watched both fighters’ preparations and admitted that he was surprised to see Hearns spar for fifteen rounds just five days before the bout, at a time when Leonard was winding down his heavy workload. Others were perplexed by Hearns’s tactics in the fight. “It was all kind of silly,” said Duke Durden of the Nevada Boxing Commission. “All Hearns had to do was either stay away, or grab and hold Leonard – spit in his eye, or anything – the rest of the way, and the fight was his.” Countless others wondered why Hearns didn’t stay away from Leonard or clinch. Hearns was also asked why he didn’t fire across more right hands: “You go with what works, and the right wasn