Hit Man - Brian Hughes [63]
Yet the gunshot right hand that had laid out Shuler remained a dominant image of that evening; as hard a punch as any Hearns had thrown before. It would be repeated on television numerous times for several days. Among the cognoscenti, his body punches drew even more praise. “It was as workmanlike a job as he’s ever given,” said co-trainer Walter Smith. Smith explained that Hearns had watched films of Shuler’s fights, and they had decided body shots would bring Shuler’s hands down and then Hearns would switch his attack to the head. “It was a knockout of classic stock,” wrote Shelby Strother in the Detroit News. “But it was boxing smart, on-balance, calculated ring work that put it on the silver platter.”
The likeable Shuler approached Bob Arum after the fight to thank him for the dubious opportunity of facing a legend like Hearns. “What can I say? He’s a great champion – he’s in Marvin Hagler’s class,” he said. Shuler then retreated home to Philadelphia, where he bought a motorcycle with some of his ring earnings. A week after the bout, Shuler was killed after a crash on his new bike. Both Hearns and Emanuel Steward flew to his funeral, and when he quietly paid his respects at the open coffin, Hearns put his newly acquired NABF championship belt inside.
HEARNS NOW WANTED to remain active and stay ring-sharp to be ready for Hagler when the opportunity should arise. Bob Arum was only too eager to oblige and he shepherded over 13,000 spectators into the Caesars Palace Arena to watch Hearns face Mark Medal, a New York Puerto Rican who fought out of Jersey City and boasted a record of twenty-four wins. He had also held the IBF light-middleweight crown for six months in 1984. Despite this impressive pedigree, Hearns appeared to be treating Medal’s challenge in a cavalier manner. When he made his entrance, bedecked in a shimmering gold and red robe, he adopted a casual air, chewing bubble gum as he lazily strolled towards the ring. When he stepped through the ropes, he spurned the chance to throw any warm-up punches but instead glanced at Medal and blew a huge bubble, like a balloon. Some at ringside speculated that it was a new and unusual way of gaining a psychological advantage by looking utterly unperturbed. Others felt that it reeked of complacency and disrespect.
The first round suggested the former. Hearns threw an immediate one-two combination of right hand and a left hook that forced Medal to drop to his knee, but, despite his best efforts, he was unable to finish him off. Before the end of the second round, the crowd appeared to feel cheated by the fact that they had not been treated to a spectacular ending and began to boo. It appeared that Hearns was coping with the 109-degree heat by coasting, though in truth he had once again damaged his right hand (his camp would later deny rumours that it was broken). In the sixth, Medal shrugged off the handicap of having his left eye closed by Hearns’ snaking jab and made him cover up to the head and body. Hearns re-established his almost casual dominance after this and eventually forced the referee, Davey Pearl to stop the fight in the eighth round and award him a technical knockout victory. Some fans cheered sarcastically amid lusty jeers when the Hit Man had his hand raised in victory.
At the ring apron, Emanuel Steward didn’t argue when it was suggested that Hearns’s performance was the worst since he had won the welterweight championship in 1980. “I didn’t like it one bit,” he said, though he did try to offer some mitigation, “The bookies’ twelve-to-one odds on him winning didn’t help his concentration. Medal was not much of an opponent and when Thomas came back to the corner at the end of the first round, he told me that he felt sorry for Medal and suggested that the referee should have stopped the fight right after he had put him