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MAY 2000
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ALL THINGS MUST END
The disappointing outcome of what might prove to be the legendary Detroit Hit Man's final fight should not detract from one of the greatest ever careers in boxing history. GRAHAM HOUSTON on a phenomenon |
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THE WAR WITH HAGLER: Possibly greatest ever three-rounder and middleweight title fight
- Get Big Pic It appears to be over for the great Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns, who
sadly went out with an uncharacteristic whimper last month. But GRAHAM HOUSTON
looks back at the glory days of one of the most exciting and popular fighters
ever. The long, thriller-chiller career of Thomas Hearns — one of boxing’s most
exciting and probably best-loved fighters of any era — may have come to an
end. Certainly it was supposed to end when, on 8 April, Hearns, at the age of
41, made what was billed as his farewell appearance back where it all started,
in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. But, at time of writing, Hearns was pondering whether or not to fight one
more time after losing to Jamaican veteran Uriah Grant on an unsatisfactory, two
rounds retirement in their scheduled 12-round cruiserweight bout (reported in
the May issue). The fighter celebrated as the Hit Man did not want to go out of boxing as a
hobbling loser after twisting his right ankle in the second round and hearing
boos from a hometown crowd of more than 14,000 at the Joe Louis Arena. The anti-climactic affair is reported elsewhere in this issue. Emanuel
Steward, Hearns’s long-time trainer and former manager, has serious doubts
about the wisdom of the Hit Man fighting again, even though he understands the
fighter’s frustration over the events of 8 April. But if Hearns is indeed to go out of the game on such a bitter note, there is
the consolation of many sweet moments to remember, as Hearns himself noted the
next day. In Hearns we have a fighter who was a favourite with fans the world over
because he ducked no one and was willing to trade punches with the best. His war
with Marvelous Marvin Hagler in 1985 was surely the most dramatic three-round
fight in history, as well as being one of the greatest middleweight title fights
ever. The first meeting with Sugar Ray Leonard for the welterweight title in 1981
was another classic fight, with Hearns in front until tiring and being
overpowered in the 14th round. Some might say that the losses to Hagler and Leonard in a sense defined
Hearns’s career as being a fighter who, for all his excellence and his
punching power, could not win the superfights. But there were many great victories for Hearns, who made his professional
debut in November 1977 and was to win titles of varying degrees of significance
in six weight classes, from welterweight (147lbs, or 10st 7lbs) to cruiserweight
(190lbs, or 13st 8lbs). He won major championships (World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association)
in four divisions — welter, junior middle, middleweight and light-heavy. When he knocked out Roberto Duran in the second round in June 1984 it was
arguably with the greatest right hand he ever threw. It was also one of the most
vivid knockouts many of us have ever seen. Equally dramatic was his second-round demolition of the Mexican, Pipino
Cuevas, in Detroit in August 1980, when he won his first title, as a
welterweight. He outboxed a superb stylist in Wilfredo Benitez, scored a stunning one-round
win over the then-undefeated and very well-regarded Philadelphia middleweight
James Shuler (brutal left hooks to the body paved the way for the famed right
hand) and, coming in as the underdog, he outpointed and outgamed the unbeaten
Virgil Hill to win the WBA light-heavy title in June 1991. And although he lost the big welterweight showdown with Sugar Ray Leonard,
Hearns got at least partial revenge when many thought he won their rematch in a
meeting of now heavier, older and slower boxers in 1989. Although it was a
12-round draw, Hearns scored two knockdowns. I was lucky enough to see nearly all of the Hit Man’s big fights in one
form or another, many on TV or closed circuit (then not yet supplanted by
pay-per-view television) but a number on site, too. One I missed was when he beat Virgil Hill. I was in London then, in 1991,
editing this magazine, and there was no British TV coverage. Fans in Britain who
want to see more of the big American fights on TV will no doubt reflect that
things have not changed very much. But, in a way, I was there at the start, when Hearns first emerged as a
fighter who was clearly destined to be exceptional. It was on a chilly Thursday
night in Detroit in January 1979, and I was ringside to cover Hearns in what was
his biggest test up to that point. He proved he was the genuine article with a
rousing, crushing victory in the 10th and final round over Canadian
veteran Clyde Gray, the Commonwealth champ who had been 15 tough, close rounds
with one of the great welterweight champions, Jose Napoles. Hearns’s fight with Gray attracted a crowd of more than 11,000 (there was
no TV) to the famous old Olympia Stadium. It was my first look at Hearns, a
sleek, cold-eyed 20-year-old who was attracting a lot of attention after a
string of 14 knockout victories. Already he was viewed as a fighter to be
feared. He had never been past four rounds, but this proved no handicap as he
controlled the fight against the 31-year-old Gray, a three-time world title
challenger who, although in decline, had won his last seven fights. Gray, lumpy and battered around the eyes, nose bloodied, cut over the left
eye, was smashed to the floor by a big right in the last round. His manager, Irv
Ungerman (best known for handling George Chuvalo, the rugged heavyweight) was
impressed by Hearns. He told me afterwards: "None of the top contenders
wanted to fight him, and I can see why." The Hearns-Gray fight involved no championship, which would be almost
unthinkable today when even fights of little significance are billed for some
title or another — usually one of no meaning whatsoever. I preferred things
the way they were. When Hearns was blasting his way to prominence there were just two sets of
champions, World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association. Old timers
bemoaned the fact that the days of one champ in each weight division had long
gone. They could hardly have envisaged what was to come, with a confusing array
of so-called world titles available. But the proliferation of sanctioning bodies
allowed Hearns to add to his collection of championship belts. The bombs-away meeting with Hagler was perhaps the violent (though losing)
high point in his career, but there were other short but dramatic fights. I was
in Las Vegas for two of these: Hearns’s fourth-round knockout over Argentine
slugger Juan Domingo Roldan for the middleweight title in 1987 — a fight in
which it seemed either man could go at any moment — and his stunning loss in
the third round to Iran Barkley in 1992, when the Hit Man had his opponent hurt,
bloody and ready to fall, only to get hit by a blockbuster right-hander in the
third. When Hearns knocked out Pipino Cuevas at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on 2
August 1980, it was exciting, too, but in a one-sided way. Hearns towered over
the Mexican fighter, who looked beaten mentally before the fight started,
despite his reputation as a powerful puncher. I was there and can still remember
thinking, as the crowd roared for Hearns and jeered Cuevas, that this match,
which had looked so even on paper, was going to have only one winner. So it
turned out, with Cuevas outboxed and outclassed before two big rights, one after
the other, pitched him to the floor. Although Cuevas got up, his legs were rubbery. The referee, Stanley
Christodoulou of South Africa, seemed to be on the verge of waving the fighters
to continue, but Cuevas’s manager, Lupe Sanchez, got up on the ring apron,
signalling frantically for the bout to be stopped. He did not wish to see Cuevas
destroyed, which is what would have happened. The crowd erupted in a thunder of
noise when Christodoulou criss-crossed his arms in the signal that the fight was
over. Happy times in Motown. The fight with Sugar Ray Leonard was one of the most anticipated in decades
in the lighter weight divisions. No one had a clear idea of who would win.
Although Hearns lost, he showed his boxing skills in this fight, weathering a
couple of rocky rounds in the middle of the fight and building up points with a
left jab that had Sugar Ray’s left eye swelling and closing from underneath.
Leonard’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, made his famous "You’re blowing
it" between-rounds remark. It brought forth Leonard’s big rally that
culminated in a wilting Hearns being rescued by referee Davey Pearl in the 14th
round. Hearns was in front on points. In today’s era of 12-round title bouts,
he would have won. But the loss that hurt Hearns the most was the one to Hagler that, as with
the Leonard fight, was outdoors at Caesars Palace. Hearns told the Detroit Free Press in an interview shortly before the
"farewell" fight that the loss still haunts him. It is, he said, a
fight he believes he should have won. "It’s the one that got away,"
he lamented. The fight was, of course, unforgettable. In round one, so many big punches
were landed by both fighters that the late Harry Mullan, then editor of Boxing
News, later told me: "I was praying they’d ring the bell, because I
thought I was going to have a heart attack." Yet as an amateur, Hearns was known as a polished boxer rather than a big
puncher. The power came later, as he matured. It was a hard road for Hearns, though, as one of nine children raised by
their mother, Lois Hearns. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised on
Detroit’s East Side, where he resisted pressure to join one of the
neighbourhood gangs. Hearns did not like trouble or street fighting, he said.
"After I became a boxer, they left me alone," he told Pat Putnam of
Sports Illustrated. When Hearns was mowing down opponents in Motown he brought big-time boxing
back to Detroit, although he will say modestly that other Detroit fighters —
including the lightweight, Hilmer Kenty, who beat him to a world title — had a
part in it, too. Hearns was not given to boasting, but when he said something, you had no
doubt that he meant it. Before his fight with Cuevas, he told Michael Marley of the New York Post
that when he hit the Mexican, he would definitely hurt him. So he did. Yet we easily overlook what a masterful boxer Hearns could be. As, in fact,
when he outboxed the gifted Wilfred Benitez to win the WBC light-middle title at
New Orleans in December 1982. Hearns said afterwards that he hurt his right hand
(two bones were dislocated, subsequent examination revealed) in the eighth
round, so he jabbed and hooked his way to the decision over 15 text-book rounds. But Hearns’s great nights were inevitably followed by the disappointing
ones and the shakily achieved victories as he fought on when there were many who
believed he should have retired years earlier. British fans saw a pale shadow of the once-wonderful fighter when Hearns
scored a desultory points win over Nate Miller at Manchester in April of last
year, when the Hit Man picked up the International Boxing Organisation cruiser
title. Emanuel Steward blamed Miller’s defensive tactics. As for the slurred
speech of Hearns, it is Steward’s contention that a long-time nose injury is
the cause. Steward knows how much Hearns loves to fight. The millionaire father of four
finds it hard to walk away. But Steward also knows that enough is enough. Hearns’s
wife, Renee, is totally against him fighting again, Steward believes. He told the Detroit Free Press that Hearns wanted to go out for the third
round and fight on one good leg against Grant. "That’s what the man is made of," he said. "That’s why we
have to think real hard about where he goes from here." Where Hearns should go from here, I believe, is retirement. He apparently has
the opportunity to get into promoting with the Detroit casino that backed his
fight with Grant. This would allow him to stay in the sport. If Hearns does decide to call it a day he will leave with a record of 59
wins, five losses and a draw (46 KOs). And the loss to Grant he can dismiss as a
fluke. All things considered, it would be best, surely, if he now makes his exit,
even on such a sorry note as the affair with Grant. He will, after all, always
have the memories of his glorious nights of years past. So will we. For further coverage of the Hit Man’s thriller-chiller career and of his
final fight, see the May issue of Boxing Monthly. |
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