Hit Man - Brian Hughes [98]
IN FEBRUARY 2001, Hearns and Steward appeared in London to launch a new transatlantic venture: the Kronk UK Gym. Situated in the Kentish Town area, it would take over the home of the well-established St Pancras boxing club and was intended to train both amateur and professional boxers. “I started at the Kronk 1969,” said Steward. “I get the same feeling here as I had then. There is a lot of talent in London and Kronk UK is all about finding that talent. This is not about signing professional boxers, this is about finding Olympic champions. When I saw all the amateurs I wanted to take my jacket off and go to work. I saw a lot of effort but boxers everywhere, especially amateur boxers, need top-notch sparring. That is what makes the difference. The Kronk way is the hard way but it is my way and it makes champions.”
He had that right. Steward by then had worked with around thirty world champions, from Kenty and Hearns, his first champs, to Lennox Lewis, Michael Moorer, Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield, Mike McCallum, Aaron Pryor and Leon Spinks: all had been trained by Steward. It was an extraordinary achievement for the former electrician from Detroit Edison. Steward said the UK venture would be a long-term investment and that he planned to be in London four or five times a year to take control of the team and would also take boxers over to Detroit on exchange trips. “My dream will be to get a Kronk USA boxer and a Kronk London boxer in an Olympic final,” he said. Hearns was by his side, dapper as ever in one of his numerous sharp suits, and according to one newspaper “could not resist hitting the punchbag made in the distinctive colours of the Kronk’s yellow and gold.” Also there was Marvin Hagler, and the two kidded around like old friends.
In 2004 a similar venture opened in Northern Ireland. Again Hearns was at Steward’s side, wowing the Irish crowds and signing a slew of autographs, as they arrived to officially open the new Belfast Kronk Boxing Gym. The future looked set fair for the Kronk, described by one newspaper as “the second most recognisable name in boxing” after Muhammad Ali.
That same year, Ronald Hearns turned pro under his father’s guidance after a brief amateur career. Ronald had been discouraged from boxing by his father until he had completed his college education but had always been a talented athlete, representing the American University basketball team as a junior guard. He formally adopted his father’s surname in 1999, a name that obviously carried much resonance in the ring. With Thomas guiding him, he was soon putting together an impressive number of early stoppage wins, shades of the old Hit Man himself.
But Thomas Hearns had not quite hung up the gloves. The “second final fight” Steward had referred to five years earlier finally took place in July 2005. In the intervening period, Hearns had kept himself in decent shape with occasional returns to the Kronk, and during all of that time, his last engagement had been a source of constant irritation. “There’s a lot of fire built up inside of me,” he told the Detroit News. “It’s the same way it was when I started boxing.” He sought to extinguish that flame by stepping into the ring of the Cobo Arena to dismantle the unthreatening Missouri journeyman, John Long in nine rounds. This finally seemed to salve the ache caused by the Grant debacle and he initially declared himself content to slink away into the shadows.
That winter brought the surprising news that Hearns, a dutiful parent, had been arrested and charged with the misdemeanour assault and battery of his thirteen-year-old son. The police had arrived at Hearns’s Southfield house at about 6:45 p.m. on New Year’s Day after receiving a 911 call from his wife Renee, who complained that there had been a domestic dispute. Detective John Harris said the boy, who was not named because he was a juvenile, had a swollen eye and a small cut on his chin. Hearns had apparently told the boy to go to another room; when he refused, there was a scuffle. However, said, Harris, Hearns