Hit Man - Brian Hughes [65]
Hearns displayed his resolve by repelling DeWitt’s wild follow-up attack. The Yonkers fighter was warned for throwing a low punch in the ninth round but Hearns shook it off and appeared content to stay out of the brawl and notch up a unanimous, twelve-round points victory. He finished nursing a jagged cut over his right eye, while his challenger sported a pair of badly bruised eyes and an argument raged in the background about DeWitt’s liberal use of his head and elbows. “I wasn’t satisfied about not ending it early but I surprised Doug that I could go beyond the fifth round and my boxing performance was excellent.” He praised DeWitt as “a man with a lot of heart and a lot of ability.” DeWitt was gracious in defeat and although he claimed, “I thought I hurt him,” he also conceded that, “In the third or fourth rounds, he caught me in the eye and I couldn’t see very well. I think I gave the fight away.”
In the post-fight press conference, Emanuel Steward sprang a surprise by announcing that Hearns would step up to the light-heavyweight division for his next fight, against either WBC champion Dennis Andries or WBA champion, Marvin Johnson. Steward admitted that a primary motivation for this step was their frustration at waiting for Hagler, who had announced that he was close to agreeing on the terms to meet Ray Leonard, then making the latest in his long list of comebacks. Bob Arum was instrumental in putting together this match and told the press that Leonard was a more lucrative proposition for Hagler than Hearns. Arum had attempted to assuage Hearns by dangling the carrot of Dennis Andries and the opportunity to win another world title before Leonard did. He suggested that the fight be delayed to allow Hearns’s cuts time to heal. “I can’t do anything about Hagler’s reluctance to fight me again,” said Hearns. “But I feel I have the power to move up to the light-heavyweight division and do some damage.” He was keen to remind the press corps that he still hadn’t given up on his goal of winning four world championships in different divisions before he retired from boxing.
DENNIS ANDRIES WAS a quiet man but a rough, tough fighter. He was also a man who lived in the shadows. The WBC light-heavyweight championship belt was a mantle he wore lightly, much preferring to blend into the crowd. The day after he had captured the title, from J.B. Williamson in his hometown of London, he travelled to the press conference from his unpretentious house in Hackney to the West End via the London Underground and carried his newly acquired belt in a carrier bag. He was bemused by the interest in his mode of transport and told the press, “The tube was the quickest way to get here. If I’d have taken a taxi, I’d have been an hour late and a few shillings poorer too.”
He had arrived in England from Guyana as a callow thirteen-year-old, along with his parents and brother. He did not take up boxing as an amateur until the age of nineteen, after a friend had showed him a trophy he had won in the ring. His fought just sixteen times at amateur level and admitted, “I didn’t win them all. I knew that I had to lose some to learn but I loved it.” This learning process continued when he turned professional in 1978. He lost six and drew one of his first twenty-one bouts, giving little indication of his future success at world level. Andries suggested that this was due to bad management rather than a lack of talent. “When I first started out, I was used mainly as a substitute fighter and would take fights on a day’s notice and many of the losses were arguable.” His fortunes began to improve when he captured the British light-heavyweight title from Tom Collins in 1982, which gave him the confidence to extend his unbeaten record to fifteen fights over the next three years. His last fight, six months before meeting Hearns, had caused quite a stir when he stopped the highly regarded Tony Sibson inside eight rounds.
Andries had never fought anyone of the pedigree of Hearns. His purse of $200,000