• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 981 0

in December 1984 at the same Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York which had been used two years previously to promote the same fight. As the sole promoter, Bob Arum oversaw the event and watched both fighters guardedly greet each other. Arum announced that both men would earn in excess of $5 million. In the New Year, the three central figures embarked on what Hagler dubbed the “magical mystery tour” as they visited twenty-two cities in just two weeks to promote their clash. The fighters insisted on travelling in separate corporate jets and would only meet at the press conferences. Caesars Palace provided a state-of-the-art Gulfstream G-11 and Arum leased the second jet, a Falcon, which was slightly less luxurious. In order to satisfy the demands of the two egocentric warriors, it was agreed that Hagler would use the Gulfstream whenever the parties were flying west but they would switch planes when flying back. However, when they reached Las Vegas, Hagler’s co-managers, the brothers Pat and Goody Petronelli, told Arum that their man was threatening to return home if he couldn’t remain in the splendour of the Gulfstream-11. When Arum explained the situation to Emanuel Steward, he told Arum that Hearns would follow suit if he wasn’t granted access to the same jet that Hagler had used. This impasse required Arum to lease an identical plane, so that both boxers could have identical modes of transport for the remainder of the tour.

Although neither fighter claimed to be a polished public speaker, Hearns, along with the rest of the Kronk boxing team, had received some tuition in speaking and elocution from Steward’s resident PR adviser Jackie Kallen. A former entertainment journalist, Kallen had Hearns tutored to maintain eye contact with interviewers, to smile a lot and to avoid saying man all the time. She also taught Hearns to pause and digest questions fired at him before answering. This was evident in press conferences, where Hearns would now begin every response with the words, ‘Well, basically…’ in order to buy himself some extra thinking time. Hearns still succeeded in angering Hagler every time he opened his mouth, with what Hagler claimed were blatant statements of disrespect towards him.

This was a tactic that Hagler employed before all of his fights. He would convince himself that he hated his opponent and would look for any perceived slight to support his jaundiced view. Hearns was the latest to feel the force of Hagler’s antipathy as every word he uttered about the fight built up a well of animosity between them. Steward tried to take the sting out of the simmering enmity by claiming, “Tommy’s trash-talking is strictly business to increase the pay-per-view figures. People must understand just how out of character it is for Tommy to do that.” This cut little ice with his shaven-headed rival, who sneered, “This tour has done me good. I may have had a little respect for Tommy Hearns before I spent time with him but now I only hate his ass.” He promised to exact his retribution in the ring. “I’m going to do to him what I did to Alan Minter. He had that same kind of attitude.”

Hagler planned to stick to the training regime he had employed for his previous twenty-five fights, which included a period of isolation in Provincetown, Cape Cod, before moving to Palm Springs a month before the fight. Goody Petronelli managed to convince him to alter this plan and head straight to the Californian desert, where the Americana Hotel offered him the run of their premises and would allow him to adapt to the searing heat. Although he agreed to a change of location, he maintained the same iron will and steely determination that had kept him at the top of his division. He sparred with Bobby “Boogaloo” Watts (one of only two men who had beaten Hagler, although this loss was later brutally avenged in a second round knockout) and Jerry Holly, both tall, rangy fighters like Hearns, and also with Larry Davis, who had to leave the camp after the first day of sparring when Hagler burst his eardrum with a left hook.

Hagler also based himself