Hit Man - Brian Hughes [90]
The press was in no doubt. “Hearns turned back the clock to his glory days,” said Boxing News. Boxing Monthly called it “a superbly executed win over a younger, previously unbeaten opponent.” Phil Berger of the New York Times suggested, “Virgil Hill must have thought he was fighting a Thomas Hearns impersonator. Hearns was supposed to be a shot fighter yet he bewitched Hill with a consummate display of ringcraft.” Mike O’Hara from the Detroit News wrote, “It was not vintage Hearns but his right-hand leads and vicious left hooks were hallmarks of his brilliant career,” while Mike Marley of the New York Post said, “The youngest old man in the fight game, well-trained and following his new trainer, Alex Sherer’s strategy, treated the champ like his name was Virgil Molehill.” Hearns described it as “my most satisfying night in the ring.” He said that it ranked as his greatest achievement in his long and illustrious career: “I’d have to put this one on top. This one here meant more to me than any other in the world. I opened a lot of people’s eyes in the boxing world.”
His own eyes were also opened when he sat down and reviewed the business side of his new arrangement. Vartan Kupelian, a Detroit News journalist, claimed that Hearns had saved an extra million dollars by terminating his relationship with Emanuel Steward. Paying his staff a salary as opposed to a percentage of his earnings had been a sound financial decision. His Detroit-based attorney, Brian Sullivan, told the press, “He doesn’t do the detail work but he’s not supposed to. He has attorneys and accountants to do that. What I will confirm is that Thomas Hearns is running a smooth, smart and thrifty operation.”
After the fight, Alex Sherer was in demand. “It’s like everything has changed,” he said. “I’m no longer just an amateur coach anymore. One little fight and everybody recognises me.” He was a hot item and other fighters wanted him to work his magic on them. Despite this, he was modestly refusing to accept any praise. “Everybody’s looking at me differently and everybody’s giving me credit. The truth is, I am working with a great athlete. He deserves all the real credit.” Sherer was adamant that he would not tolerate the long periods of inactivity which had punctuated Hearns’s final years at the Kronk gym. He expected his fighter to taste action at least twice more before the year was finished and speculation was rife that Bobby Czyz, the cruiserweight champion, and Evander Holyfield, the heavyweight king, were the two potential opponents. A win against either – highly unlikely in the case of Holyfield, dubious but not impossible in the case of Czyz – would have made Hearns a six-weight world champion. But he had other plans. He had unfinished business to attend to.
THOMAS HEARNS IGNORED all other potential options and insisted that he be granted the opportunity to avenge his loss to Iran Barkley. He had a score to settle and he agreed to offer his recently acquired WBA light-heavyweight championship as the bait to entice Barkley back into the ring. Once contracts were agreed, he announced, “It’s payback time!” Alex Sherer was equally pleased. He viewed the rematch as an opportunity to prove his own credentials and show that he had eradicated the mistakes that Hearns had made in his first fight. “I have watched that first fight against Barkley over thirty-five times,” Sherer said. “Tommy clearly dominated, to the point where Richard Steele was five seconds away from stopping it. Barkley is a tough guy to fight but it will be different this time. You will see left hooks and spectacular counter-punches,” he promised. “I’m sure Iran will try to jump all over Tommy at the opening bell. He’ll try to wage war. So a lot of our preparation has been spent on staying cool, on basic boxing.”
Sherer had no time for those who said the Hit Man was finished. He believed that much of the apparent decline in Hearns was because he had gradually departed from the basic skills