Hit Man - Brian Hughes [48]
10 THE HIT MAN UNLEASHED
WHILE THE NEW champion’s broken hand was taking longer to heal than expected, Emanuel Steward was delving deeper into the internecine world of high-level boxing politics. Steward entered initial negotiations for future fights with Don King, someone he had previously vowed he would never do business with again; Steward had worked with King when promoting his boxer Milton McCrory’s fight against the Welshman Colin Jones for the world welterweight title and found the experience deeply unpleasant. At the same time, he met with Bob Arum, King’s nemesis. Steward and Arum had previously tried to put on the match between Hagler and Hearns. What did surprise most fight observers, however, was the unlikely alliance between Steward and Mike Trainer, who joined forces with him to enhance the career of Tommy Hearns.
Trainer was the Maryland lawyer who had orchestrated the career of Ray Leonard and helped make him a multi-millionaire, an American idol and the most popular sports figure in the country. Steward had been impressed that Trainer had been behind the two extremely lucrative Leonard–Duran fights and was equally impressed with his ability to cut through bureaucracy to arrange the Leonard and Hearns fight, which was then the richest fight in history. Steward was most impressed, however, by Trainer’s ability to turn the tables on the powerful promoters. Rather than allow them to select the fighters and make the matches, he chose the promoters he wanted and made them bid against each other to elicit the best deal for his fighter. It seemed obvious for Trainer and Steward to enter an alliance. Trainer explained that his role was to go to the networks and secure a regular schedule of fights for Hearns, which would allow the Kronk team to be more independent. “When Tommy got his purse cut by King before the Benitez fight, he didn’t like it,” he said. “Hearns is one of the brightest fighters out there and the networks are out there looking for fights. It makes sense to facilitate the two parties.”
The superfight of 1983 was to be Marvin Hagler versus Roberto Duran, but even before it went ahead there was more speculation about a Hagler–Hearns bonanza in 1984. Hearns needed to keep winning, but his only bout in 1983 was a disappointing ten-round points victory over the light-hitting Murray Sutherland in July. Sutherland, who had twice fought for the light-heavyweight title, was a late, over-the-weight substitute for James Green, who was to have challenged Hearns for his light-middleweight title. Some ring rust was inevitable after Hearns’s lengthy layoff through injury and he received criticism for not blasting out the Michigan Scot, even though he landed some heavy shots and was in control throughout. “Many in the crowd booed the verdict but this seemed more a matter of sympathy for the underdog than anything,” reported Boxing News.
Hearns knew that after being out of the public eye for so long, he needed to begin 1984 with an impressive performance. Various opponents were suggested and rejected for a variety of reasons until the name of Luigi Minchillo, known as the “Italian Warrior,” came up. Minchillo had won the Italian amateur welterweight title and participated in the 1976 Olympic Games. After the Montreal Games, he was offered the opportunity to turn professional in America but he declined because he wished to remain in Pesaro with his wife and two young children. He had joined the police force at the age of eighteen and forged a respectable career within the ranks whilst boxing in his spare time. He had put his police career on temporary