Hit Man - Brian Hughes [75]
The referee stood over his stricken figure and began to count. Hearns tried to rise but fell back as the seconds ticked by. By a superhuman effort, he tried again and somehow restructured his scrambled senses enough to clamber unsteadily to his feet before the count reached ten. Barkley roared forward and the raw fury of his attack knocked the clearly defenceless champion through the bottom two rungs of the ring ropes, forcing Steele to grab him to stop him falling completely out of the ring, while at the same time declaring the contest over. Barkley was the new champion after two minutes and thirty-nine seconds of a tumultuous, unforgettable third round.
The bout was one of the most exciting of the decade – and was voted Ring magazine’s Upset of the Year – yet because it was on pay-per-view rather than live on network TV, it never reached the audience it should have. “Such is the nature of today’s society,” concluded Jeff Ryan in KO magazine, “that an event has to play in America’s living rooms to have a deep-reaching impact.”
After he had received some lengthy treatment, Hearns responded with magnanimity. He admitted, “I didn’t see the final punch but thought I had slipped it.” He confessed to feeling disappointed but wanted to pay respect to the new champion. He said, “Tonight, Iran Barkley was the better man. I’m surprised he managed to take a helluva shot but he came to fight.” The pictures told a different story to the result as Hearns was completely unmarked whilst Barkley had plasters over both eyes to stem the flow of blood that later required sixteen stitches. The Bronx battler came out with a classic quote when asked about his injuries: “I didn’t care about the cuts because I didn’t have time to bleed.” He dedicated the fight to his brother Alfred and his father, who were both gravely ill with cancer. When he was asked if he would grant his vanquished rival the opportunity of a rematch, Barkley graciously promised, “Any time he wants a fight, he’s welcome to it.”
When Hearns arrived back in Detroit, he was inevitably pressed about his future. He gave an agitated response to Detroit journalist Mike O’Hara, who wrote, “All fighters get creased and old under the searing ring lights that expose every wrinkle in their skills. There is no vanishing cream for a left jab that cannot be released at the right time. No cosmetic surgeon’s scalpel can nip away a halt in the step or tuck the sag in the chin’s ability to withstand punishment. Age is now chasing Thomas Hearns and he is at the point where the glory and gold of boxing have intersected and he is only as good as his last round.” HBO analyst Larry Merchant also weighed in. “I was surprised, though not stunned, by the outcome,” he said. “When Hearns gets hit in the jaw by anybody, it’s like a jolt of electricity seems to go through his legs.” People were writing off the Hit Man.
“Did I ever say I would retire?” responded Hearns. “I have every intention of winning my title back.” Emanuel Steward supported him and offered the view that Hearns should continue boxing because he hadn’t taken a long, drawn-out pounding. “Looking at it logically, Barkley took more than eight minutes of sustained punishment during which Tommy was in complete control. The fight ended with the first solid punch Barkley landed.”
FIVE MONTHS AFTER his shocking third round defeat to Iran Barkley, Hearns set out to claim world title number five. He was scheduled to step back into the ring against San Diego’s James “The Heat” Kinchen for the newly created World Boxing Organization super-middleweight championship. The WBO had been set up by a group of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans who split from the long-established World Boxing Association at its convention of 1988, in what has variously been described as a power struggle and a row over the rules and ratings system. Based in San Juan, it claimed to follow the noble principles of “Dignity, Democracy, Honesty.” The