There are, as I’m sure you will agree, fellow fight fans, certain boxers that never get old; at least when it comes to their great fights and the special memories we have of them growing old, as in tired or dull, this never happens. No, with the special ones, the fights, the memories, they burn as brightly today as they did way back when.
‘The Hitman’ Turns 67 — Still Legendary
Speaking of special, the great – the ever so truly, he’d fight anyone, great – Thomas Hearns celebrates his 67th birthday today. Coincidentally, Hearns had 67 pro fights, “The Hitman” walking away, this whilst clutching world title belts that had been won at five weights, with a 61-5-1(48) ledger.
Hearns, right up there in any discussion about the most exciting fighters in history, gave us pure fire, lethal dynamite when he was in his prime and even beyond. And, to this day, some of Detroit’s finest (begging Joe Louis’s pardon), greatest fights send a massive shiver down so many spines.
A Monster at 147, A Master Above It
Hearns was a real killer at 147, with his freakish height and reach for the division, along with his venomous punching power, capable of sending guys down hard, causing them to hit the mat in unusual positions, totally out of it.
But that was the young Tommy, the still (at least a little) green and naive Hearns; a fighter who, though incredible, had not yet fully mastered his craft. Case in point: Hearns had not yet learned how to hold on efficiently when hurt. This would change in time, and it could be argued as venomously as Hearns punched that he was a better fighter, a greater fighter, up at 154, at 160, even at 175 pounds.
Tommy conquered those weight divisions, too. And Hearns did it the hard way, against dangerous and talented fighters in Wilfred Benitez, Juan Domingo Roldan, and up at light heavyweight, Dennis Andries, and then Virgil Hill.
Battles With the Four Kings of the ’80s
Hearns, for my money and perhaps yours, the most admirable member of the legendary ‘Four Kings,’ also gave us many world-stopping super fights – these in encounters with Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and Roberto Duran. Tommy might not have won them all, but he sure fought them all.
As such, the Hearns of today, indeed the Hearns of all-time, are handed the rare and precious flowers not too many ring warriors receive.
How great was Thomas Hearns? If he’s not in your top 20 greatest pound-for-pound fighters in history, well, I have to ask you, why not respectfully?
Happy Birthday, Tommy Hearns, the first man in history to win world titles at four different weights.