Hit Man - Brian Hughes [56]
After the carnage, Hutchings was swift to pay tribute to Mr Hearns and confessed, “I’ve never been hurt like that before.” He proved a better post-fight analyst than a competitor, admitting “My performance was terrible,” before thanking referee Mercante for allowing the fight to be stopped. Hearns merely noted that his punches were not as powerful as the ones he threw to flatten Duran. “My whole body was into those punches,” he said. He used the platform to demand the opportunity to take on Marvin Hagler but requested the chance to defend his title again in November before tackling the Brockton fighter.
Hearns was now at his peak. Having been through the fire of some torrid contests, his early brilliance had been reinforced by experience. He was stronger at the heavier weight, tactically wiser and punched harder than ever. Not even his tangled personal life – he had a one-year-old daughter by one woman and faced a “palimony” suit over the upkeep of a five-year-old son, Ronald, born to a former high school friend, Felicia Dodson – could change the fact that the world lay at his feet.
11 WAR
BACK IN THE early months of 1982, promoter Bob Arum had convened a meeting at which Steve Wainwright, Marvin Hagler’s lawyer, and Emanuel Steward were present. The purpose was to agree a unique three-fight contract which would see Hagler fight three middleweights from Steward’s Kronk gymnasium. First of all, the undisputed world middleweight champion would face the all-action Mickey Goodwin. Next he would take on William “Caveman” Lee. Finally he would pitch himself against Thomas Hearns in the main fight of the trilogy.
The Goodwin fight was to take place in Italy in March 1982, with Arum agreeing that his friend Rodolfo Sabbatini would act as co-promoter. However, a month before the fight, Goodwin suffered a broken hand and Caveman Lee, his tough, hard-punching but less-regarded stablemate, had to step up to take his place. This change of opponent also saw the fight moved from San Remo to Atlantic City, as it was felt the Italian public would not have the appetite for this match after a damning article appeared in the New York Post claiming that Lee had been knocked out by Hearns in a sparring session, a claim disputed by Emanuel Steward. They were astute judges, as Hagler clobbered the Caveman in less than a round.
The rescheduled fight against Goodwin was complicated by the fact that the Kronk fighter struggled to recover from his injured hand, so Steward, Arum and Wainwright elected to go straight to the eagerly anticipated match-up with Hearns on 24 May in Windsor, Ontario. Despite the hype, the fight did not take place, to the frustration of both combatants, who spent the next three years facing a variety of opponents yet still demanding it. Hagler travelled to Italy to dispose of both Bob Arum’s obligation to his co-promoter Sabbatini, and his erstwhile foe, the unfortunate Fulgencio Obelmejias, within five rounds. He then spent the following three years successfully defending his championship against Tony Sibson, Wilford Scypion, Roberto Duran, Juan Domingo Roldan and Mustafa Hamsho. He also made no secret of the fact that Hearns occupied second place on his personal hit list behind Ray Leonard, who had teased the brooding champion before announcing his retirement in 1982, then re-emerging in 1984 to fight the limited journeyman Kevin Howard, who succeeded in knocking the showman down before he was halted in the ninth round. This lacklustre showing immediately prompted a return to retirement and caused Hagler to revise his sights and elevate Thomas Hearns to the top of his list of targets.
The official announcement that Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns would finally meet was made