Hit Man - Brian Hughes [91]
Barkley was also eager for the clash and the opportunity to resurrect his own career, which had gone into reverse after his spectacular and unexpected victory over Hearns. He had been beaten by Roberto Duran, Michael Nunn and Nigel Benn in consecutive showings before he had arrested the slide and scored a quick knockout of IBF super-middleweight champion Darrin Van Horn. True to form, he dismissed Hearns’ reputation as a modern-day legend. “Legends?” he spat, “I want to do away with his legend. When the history books are examined, it will clearly show that only three guys knocked out Tommy Hearns: Leonard, Hagler and Barkley. Next to my name, it will state that Iran Barkley did it twice.”
Barkley entered the ring looking as determined as any fighter ever had. With his shaven head, goatee beard and fierce scowl, he cut an intense figure as he prowled in circles around the canvas, while his trainer, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, maintained a stream of shouts, exhortations and instructions. “With his shaved head, Fu Manchu-style whiskers and eyes squeezed nearly shut in anger, he had the chilling look of a Mongol warrior,” said Sports Illustrated. He had to be restrained from attacking Hearns during the pre-fight instructions, and at the bell he drove into Hearns like a man possessed.
It is an unwritten rule of boxing that rematches are rarely as good as the first encounter but this was turned on its head at Caesars Palace on 20 March 1992. The fight was a classic. One year after being sensationally stopped in the first round by Britain’s Nigel Benn, the thirty-one-year-old Barkley made a mockery of his recent form and maintained a steady stream of pressure on the champion. They fought at lung-bursting pace, with Barkley the aggressor throughout, as his corner spurred him on with shouts of “Fort Apache!” (the nickname of a notoriously dangerous district in the South Bronx). He gained his reward by scoring the only knockdown in the fight, when he dropped Hearns with a left hook in round four. Hearns sprung back up by the count of three but the extra point advantage Barkley gained would prove crucial.
The crowd of about 4,500 remained absorbed as Barkley punched, punched and repeatedly punched the arms, shoulders and most tellingly, the jaw in a bid to weaken the Hit Man. “He’s dead, his legs are gone,” shouted Barkley’s cornermen as he bullied Hearns around the ring, but the Detroit man, who couldn’t seem to find his rhythm or range, absorbed the blows and hung in there. Barkley’s superior workrate proved to be enough to impress the three judges, Chuck Giampam, Jerry Roth and Lou Tabat, who awarded him the fight by a single point, 114-113. When he reflected on his narrow victory, a jubilant Barkley, who suffered a broken jaw and ribs, said, “People said he’d got dead legs. That’s a bunch of bull and I can’t take nothing away from that man, he’s a great champion. I knew Hearns wasn’t going to quit on the night but, hopefully, he will now.”
“The decision could have gone either way,” rued Hearns. “I fought a bad fight. I did not use my style. I fought the way Iran wanted, he knew the inside fight. No excuses, I felt pretty good. I can’t take anything away from Iran Barkley, but if I decide to come back – let’s do it again, baby.”
Detroit boxing writer George Puscas, a longtime admirer of Hearns, lamented his eclipse. “When last seen by his saddened following, Thomas Hearns was the embodiment of a boxing cliché. He stood on the dais, his face lumped and swollen, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, having lost a fight and his world light-heavyweight championship. But, as they say, you shoulda seen the other guy. Iran Barkley, the new champion, choked out a few words, and then his handlers took him to a hospital, where X-rays discovered he was suffering with a cracked jaw and several broken ribs.” Puscas didn’t intimate that