Hit Man - Brian Hughes [52]
Writer Ralph Wiley also visited Hearns before the Duran fight. He found a complex, sometimes contradictory character, restless to prove himself. “Fighting was Hearns’s single abiding interest,” wrote Wiley, in his boxing memoir Serenity. “He bought a Young Chang grand piano and didn’t learn to play a note. He ordered the construction of an ornate bar in his home, but didn’t drink. He built a glove-shaped pool, but didn’t swim. He talked of becoming a businessman, while talk of business easily bored him. He said he wanted to be an actor, yet his expression never changed. A confirmed bachelor, he drove a gold 500 series Mercedes Benz. But he was not a carouser. He’d rather spar with you than speak to you.”
ROBERTO DURAN WAS a genuine living legend. So when the Detroit Hit Man signed to box “Hands of Stone” for the World Boxing Council light-middleweight championship, boxing fans smiled in anticipation of a classic encounter. It was a fight everyone wanted to see.
Bizarrely, it was initially destined for the unusual location of a beach in the Bahamas, but was relocated to Nevada because of logistical problems and lack of support for such an inaccessible venue. The event was promoted by a consortium of three men with little experience at the highest level of boxing promotion, though one of them, Sheldon Saltman, had been involved with the Ali-Frazier fights of the 1970s. The other two were Bill Kozerski, a close ally of Emanuel Steward, at Gold Circle Productions and Walter Alvarez, who was based in Miami. The promotional establishment of Bob Arum and Don King were quick to scorn their efforts and the bout was dogged by fears over money. Steward later claimed that he was only persuaded not to pack their bags and take Hearns home by a personal guarantee from the president of Caesars Palace.
Hearns stayed in training after the Minchillo fight. He was excited to be facing Duran, who was a figure he had admired from afar for a number of years. The thirty-three-year-old Panamanian legend had a well-earned reputation as a teak-tough warrior with a solid punch and vastly underrated defensive skills. In his eighty-one-fight career he had beaten the very best, including Leonard. He boasted a record of seventy-six wins, fifty-seven by the short route, with only five defeats.
In the months leading up to June, the Kronk was a hive of activity. The 1984 Olympic Games were to be held in Los Angeles, and Steward had been asked to help coach the boxing team. Many of the Olympians trained there for several months, including Frank Tate and Steve McCrory, who were both already Kronk members, while team star Mark Breland was earmarked to join Kronk. They were pitched in alongside top professionals such as Mike McCallum, Milton McCrory and Hilmer Kenty, and all sparred with Hearns, helping to sharpen him up. Hearns boasted that it was the best preparation for a fight he had ever enjoyed and predicted that he would finish Duran within the first two rounds.
Arriving in Las Vegas to conclude his preparations, Hearns had to contend with an unexpected volley of taunts and insults from fight followers. Initially, he couldn’t understand the hostility, as he had always been popular with the Vegas crowd. He had not accounted for Duran’s massive appeal, nor for a horde of Duran supporters from Panama who had pitched up in Nevada to support their idol. Part of his popularity lay in his devil-may-care approach. For instance,