Hit Man - Brian Hughes [50]
Although it was a commanding display, Hearns – who would later say it had been his toughest fight, tougher even than Leonard – did show some flaws. Occasionally, Minchillo was able to easily trap him on the ropes, where he was able to nullify the long reach and get close to causing damage. Hearns was almost too eager in his desire to throw right leads off his front foot, instead of positioning his weight behind them. Still, he emerged as a big winner on all three judges’ scorecards: Mexico’s Abraham Chavarra scored it 120-110, Guy Jutras of Sweden had it 118-109 and Puerto Rico’s Cesar Ramos scored it as 120-109. Hearns declared himself satisfied. “I am pleased with my performance and the fact that my right hand held up all the way. Minchillo is a person who is able to take a lot of punches,” he said. “I landed lots of shots and he just kept taking them all.” Emanuel Steward, however, was not so easily pleased. He told aides that Hearns had lacked stamina and his legs were gone in the last five rounds. And he told Hearns that he would need to improve before he faced Roberto Duran in the summer months, a fight for which negotiations were already well advanced.
Before he could face Duran, Hearns had to deal with a more complex and ultimately more damaging battle which would rumble on for many years. In May, the Detroit News headlined, “Michigan Claims Hearns’ Unpaid Taxes Are A Knockout.” Pete Waldmeir, an investigative journalist, had been digging around in the fighter’s finances and claimed that he owed $103,000 in unpaid taxes. His piece said that that Hearns’s handlers insisted it must be some sort of a “mix-up,” but records on file in Wayne County show that a personal corporation, Thomas Hearns Enterprises INC., that the boxer headed and controlled owed the state of Michigan the money in unpaid withholding taxes. Emanuel Steward declared the allegations to be “news to me.” He also said, “Thomas doesn’t know anything about it, either. He pays a ton of money in taxes. In fact, every time we turn around, it seems, he’s giving the Government taxes.” Soon afterwards, another article by Waldmeir alleged that Hearns owed the Friends of the Detroit Library $36,000 after he had pledged $2 from every ticket sold for his fight against Minchillo to the fund, which was intended to keep the Detroit Public Library open. This time Waldmeir went for the jugular, under the headline “Hit Man Hearns is far from a hit as a human being.” He called Hearns “a deadbeat” and drew unflattering parallels between the fighter’s millionaire lifestyle and the poverty of much of Detroit, asking why the fighter couldn’t “come up with a few bucks to keep a promise to a bunch of needy kids.” Hearns blamed the fight promoters and claimed, “They told me to stand up and make that promise but I never intended to give [the money] for every ticket sold.”
Partly in response to the bad publicity, Thomas Hearns granted Tommy George, a journalist from the Free Press Sports, exclusive access to his world during the build-up to his fight with Roberto Duran. Hearns was generous in his hospitality and open with his views on boxing and beyond. He opened the doors to his extravagant Southfield home, a secluded oasis hidden by towering trees and a six-foot-high fence, where he proudly parked his gold Mercedes alongside his silver Rolls Royce. Inside, standing next to a golden suit of armour, were several tributes to Elvis Presley, including a huge photograph of the “King” and an ornate, black baby-grand piano. There were few reminders, however, of the sport which had afforded him such luxury. Hearns casually explained that he had grown tired of seeing his boxing belts, trophies and other items of memorabilia, so either gave them to friends