Hit Man - Brian Hughes [49]
Three months before losing to Duran, Minchillo had won the European light-middleweight championship with a close decision over Louis Acaries. In March 1982, he defended this crown by dominating the former world light-middleweight champion Maurice Hope. He then announced his retirement and declared his intention to return to the police. Only the offer to face Hearns enticed him to return to boxing. “I have the greatest possible respect for Hearns,” Minchillo said through his manager and interpreter, Giovanni Branchini. “He is a great, great champion.” Minchillo was several inches shorter than Hearns and gave away a lot of reach advantage. He argued that this would allow him to get inside his long reach and use his aggression to stay on top of Hearns for twelve fast rounds. The Italian had won forty-two of his forty-six professional fights.
The bout was originally scheduled to take place in Las Vegas but the Katz Sports Syndicate, which was going to televise the fight from Caesars Palace, pulled out of negotiations at a late stage. The fight was switched to Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena instead and the date was changed from 27 January to 11 February. This switch meant that there would be no telecast of the fight in the local area but this mattered little to the champion, who was thrilled to return to his hometown for the third time in over three-and-a-half years since winning the welterweight title from Cuevas. Emanuel Steward, who was also preparing Milton McCrory for a title defence against Milton Guest, suggested that the Hearns fight would be a forerunner for regular monthly tournaments to be held at the Joe Louis and Cobo arenas. He had been working with Detroit Mayor, Coleman S. Young and the arena-owner Mike Ilitich to create a long-term boxing programme. The shows would be promoted by Gold Circle Productions, a new company fronted by Bill Kozerski, a Polish-American ally of Steward’s.
The plan, however, provoked an outcry when Detroit City Council voted, by a close 5-4 majority, to spend $100,000 to become the official sponsor of the Hearns–Minchillo fight. Mayor Young supported the plan as part of his ‘’Do It in Detroit’’ campaign to boost the city’s bleak image, but dissenting councilmen said the money would be better spent upgrading services in a city with appalling social problems. Howard Cosell, the nation’s most recognisable television sports announcer, got in on the act by suggesting that Detroit would be the “laughing stock of the nation” if it spent taxpayers’ dollars promoting boxing matches. Mayor Young argued that the funding was an important part in advertising the city to attract extra tourist and convention dollars.
A crowd of 18,500 fans turned up at the Joe Louis Arena to demonstrate that the drawing power of Hearns in his hometown was still as strong as ever. They watched him take a lot longer than anticipated to win by a unanimous decision over twelve rounds against the brave Italian champion. Despite his pre-fight boasts, Minchillo didn’t seem to have any answers to Hearns’s long, probing jabs and hooks, his right hand leads and sustained sharp body-punching.
Hearns opened with a combination of class and power but early in the second round, he sustained a cut across his right eyelid, which bled profusely until his corner could stem the flow. This was a spur to change up his gears and begin to dictate the tempo of the bout. In the eighth round he connected with a dizzying combination of lefts and rights to Minchillo’s kidneys, forcing him backwards, his face contorted in pain. Minchillo did respond with some solid right hands in close but he failed to deal with Hearns’s longer reach. The tenth round ended in confusion as Hearns thought he had heard the bell and began walking back to his corner. His Italian foe