Hit Man - Brian Hughes [69]
Crude but very powerful, he was eventually spotted by Argentina’s leading manager, Amilcar Brusa, and was recruited as a sparring partner for Brusa’s star, the great middleweight champion Carlos Monzon. “He was as strong as a beast,” said Monzon, “but he was very young, not experienced.” Roldan toiled away, learning his trade, until he sprang to international recognition with a kayo of Frank “The Animal” Fletcher, a win that earned him a number one contender spot. His first crack at the middleweight throne failed before the cruel fists of Marvin Hagler, but not before he became the first man to knock the fearsome Hagler to the canvas, with a left hook – Hagler claimed it was a slip. He had since won twelve fights on the trot, and had rejected the possibility of meeting Iran Barkley, as he felt Barkley’s name did not carry enough kudos. Instead, he had begged his manager to line up the scalp of Hearns for the vacant title.
Emanuel Steward was reluctant to accept the fight. “Roldan is one mean motherfucker,” he told Hearns, recounting a well-worn story about Roldan once fighting a wrestling bear in a carnival for $100. He felt that dropping back down the weight divisions to meet such a durable opponent would be an unnecessary risk, but Hearns was unmoved by this reasoning and dismissed fears about losing weight. “Although I felt really strong as a light-heavyweight, I feel just as strong as a middleweight,” he later said. He argued that his fight with Andries had been more of a risk. “It is true that fighters grow into heavier weight divisions and don’t always carry that vital increase in power,” he said, giving the examples of Roberto Duran and Alexis Arguello, who had no longer hit with effect once they took on bigger men. However, he was dropping down to a lighter division and would bring his potency with him. Finally, he was dismissive of the threat the Argentine posed and reminded his mentor that he possessed advantages in height, reach, power and boxing ability. Roldan’s most effective weapon was a vicious, chopping right which he liked to throw frequently but which was telegraphed. Hearns believed that this would make it an exciting contest with relatively low risk, as long as he avoided the eagerness to brawl which had cost him so dearly against Hagler.
Bob Arum’s well-oiled publicity machine swung into action. The major theme was Hearns’s attempt to make history and become the first fighter to win four world championships. The veteran promoter pointed to his victories over Cuevas, Benitez and Duran, saying, “He has enough Latino scalps hanging in his tent to cure baldness.” To mobilise the South American community, he reminded them that Argentine great Carlos Monzon had owned the middleweight title for so long that Roldan had a duty to win it back. He said that it was a clash between “the pride of Argentina and the gringo who knocks out all their heroes.” The fight was scheduled to take place at the Las Vegas Hilton and half of the 11,000 tickets sold were snapped up by Argentinians.
Apart from the difference in their purses – Hearns was receiving $1 million and Roldan $250,000 – Hearns also possessed a significant height advantage over the five feet seven inches Roldan. He also had a huge reach advantage of seventy-eight inches against Roldan’s sixty-nine inch span. This prompted bookmakers to establish him as a 4-1 favourite. Yet Roldan’s confidence was contagious. He reportedly placed