Hit Man - Brian Hughes [42]
Hearns put the Hagler postponement behind him and agreed to box a ten-round contest at the Cobo Arena on Sunday, 25 July. The fight was scheduled to be televised by CBS for a national audience, although it was not broadcast within a one-hundred mile radius of Detroit in order to entice fans to attend. There was a palpable sense of relief by all parties about this return to action. Apart from Hearns, who was simply relieved to be back in the ring again, it was especially welcomed by Steward, who was reeling from the loss of two world championships (lightweight Hilmer Kenty had also lost his title) as well as the embarrassing first-round destruction of his middleweight prospect William “Caveman” Lee by Marvin Hagler.
The Cobo Arena bill was promoted by John Yopp, who had put on several Kronk-dominated tournaments and was a big fan of Hearns. Yopp was thrilled by the prospect of the prodigal son returning to his hometown. His opponent, twenty-four-year-old Jeff McCracken, was based in Los Angeles and was a highly regarded former amateur champion with an undefeated professional record of nineteen fights. Despite this unblemished record, McCracken was something of an enigma. He wasn’t ranked amongst the top middleweights and he refused to attend the press conference called to announce the fight, further heightening the sense of mystery surrounding him. It was revealed that he had once been a sparring partner for Hearns, who confessed that he couldn’t recall sparring with him. Hearns admitted that he had not viewed any recent films of his opponent as he
had been preparing to fight for the past three months. Several opponents had been cited and a number of dates had been changed.
Hearns used the press conference to touch on a number of issues surrounding his future. He admitted that he was still annoyed about the circumstances that caused the Hagler fight to fall through and the subsequent failure of the camps to agree on venues and purses for a rescheduled contest. He also declared that he would not box as a welterweight again but would surrender the division to his friend and stablemate Milton McCrory, who was anointed by Hearns as the next champion. Finally, he expressed regret that a future return bout against Leonard looked to have been jeopardised. Leonard had been diagnosed with a detached retina and, despite surgery to repair the damage, it was looking increasingly likely that he would retire.
Observers could have been forgiven for thinking that Hearns’s mind was not on the job at hand and that he might be dangerously underestimating his opponent, an impression reinforced when McCracken entered the ring. He looked in fine physical condition. He had picked up vital experience as a Marine Corps fighter and was a reputed body-puncher who had won all but two of his professional bouts by knockout, often in the early rounds. Reports suggested that he had a potent right hook and fought out of an exaggerated crouch, with his gloves held at chest height.
However, when the bell rang it was soon evident that he was not in the same class as Hearns and the Cobo Arena crowd was treated to a lesson in accurate, hurtful punching. Hearns dropped McCracken in the second, rocked him in the sixth, bruised and cut his face and eventually forced a technical knockout after one and a half minutes of the eighth round. The referee, Harry Papacharalamabous, was obliged to step in and stop the Hit Man from hammering McCracken, who had staggered, defenceless, onto the ropes. McCracken looked bewildered