By Andrew Schweitzer – For some fights, desire for a rematch is created the moment the fight ends (Pacquiao/Marquez I, the Vazquez/Marquez trilogy). However getting from desire to reality is another matter.
No greater example for that argument could be made than the rematch between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns for the WBC Super Middleweight Championship.
In 1981, the two met as welterweight champions in a unification bout at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
In the blue corner, you had Sugar Ray Leonard (30-1 with 22 knockouts). An Olympic gold medalist of the 1976 Montreal Games, Leonard became an instant star with his charming personality, good looks and brilliant boxing ability and seemed to be the heir apparent to Muhammad Ali, as to who would be the face of boxing.. With the help of Ali’s trainer Angelo Dundee, Leonard fought his way to the welterweight championship after knocking out undefeated Puerto Rican champion, Wilfred Benitez. In 1980, seven months after winning the title, he would face former lightweight champion Roberto Duran back at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Angered by Duran’s taunting of him and his family, Leonard went toe to toe with Duran and lost a close 15 round decision. In a quick rematch five months later, Leonard’s tactics inside the ring frustrated Duran into quitting. A brief stop in the Junior Middleweight division to win the title from Ayub Kalule, Leonard dropped back down in weight to face the man he today calls the toughest opponent of his professional career.
In the red corner, stood a boxing anomaly. A six foot, malnourished looking welterweight with arms that could reach across the room, Thomas Hearns made quick work of 30 out of his 32 opponents. Trained under the guidance of Emanuel Steward in the legendary Kronk Gym in Detroit, Michigan. An outstanding amateur in his own right, Hearns missed out on the Olympics and immediately turned pro the following year. From there the fighter they called the Motor City Cobra tallied up knockout after knockout after knockout. In 1980, Hearns took his 28-0 record into the Joe Louis arena against WBA Welterweight champion Jose Pipino Cuevas. After an impressive first round for the challenger, Hearns landed two right hands on Cuevas. The first one shook his body all over, the second one dropped him. With Hearns the new champion it seemed inevitable that he would eventually meet up with Leonard in a fight for the ages. On September 16, 1981, the Showdown had finally arrived.
In one of the most highly anticipated bouts in boxing history, Hearns began by stalking the dancing Leonard while trying to land his quick jab when given the opportunity. In the sixth round Leonard was able to get on the inside and land a left hook that had Hearns wobbly and holding on for dear life as Leonard continued the attack. In the later rounds, Hearns was able to bounce back by outboxing Leonard, putting him comfortably ahead on the judges’ scorecards. Feeling a sense of urgency Leonard rallied in the 14th round and scored a technical knockout.
From there the two fighters took different yet equally interesting paths. Because of a detached retina, Leonard retired the following year and started a new career as an analyst for HBO Boxing. But watching the action wasn’t satisfying enough for the 27 year old Leonard. In 1984 he launched a comeback against journeyman Kevin Howard and found himself knocked down for the first time in his career. Leonard got back up to win in the ninth round but felt that he no longer had what he did when he fought Duran and Hearns and quickly announced his retirement following the fight. It wouldn’t be until 1987 when Sugar Ray Leonard returned to the ring to challenge Marvelous Marvin Hagler for the Middleweight championship of the world. In what many consider the upset of the decade, Leonard won a 12 round decision over Hagler; a decision that remains controversial to this day. Another retirement and comeback later, Leonard found himself in the ring with Donny Lalonde for both the WBC Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight world titles. Despite being knocked down in the fourth round, Leonard was once again able to get back up and knock Lalonde out in the ninth.
After his loss to Leonard, Hearns began campaigning in the Junior Middleweight division. In December of 1982, he met Wilfred Benitez for the WBC Junior Middleweight Championship and won a 15 round majority decision. After a series of defenses, the most impressive being a 2 round knockout of Roberto Duran, Hearns jumped up to the middleweight to challenge Marvin Hagler. With high expectations and boxing supremacy below the heavyweight division at stake, Hagler and Hearns through all technique out of the ring and turned the boxing match into a street fight that left those at ringside in awe. After three violent rounds Hagler was able to knock Hearns out and cement his legacy in 1985’s Fight of the Year. Now known more for his two losses than his 40 wins, Hearns decided to embark on a goal that would separate him from his peers; he would become the first person to win titles in four different weight classes. Two years after the Hagler fight he jumped up to the Light Heavyweight division and faced Dennis Andries for the WBC Light Heavyweight title and dominated him to a tenth round TKO.
The match between Hagler and Leonard quickly followed and Leonard’s upset put Hearns in an interesting position. With the title made vacant by Leonard’s retirement, Hearns dropped back down to Middleweight and faced Argentina’s Juan Roldan. Despite early domination, Hearns found himself rocked and on rubbery legs in the fourth round. Knowing that history was in his grasp, Hearns ended the fight that same round.
With four titles under his belt and boxing immortality obtained, things finally seemed to be going just how Thomas Hearns wanted.
But it didn’t last.
His first defense of his new title put him against Iran ‘The Blade’ Barkley. Despite having severly cut and puffed up Barkley’s face, the challenger was able to land a right hand that dropped Hearns and quickly ended his reign as champion.
With his career almost in ruins, Hearns moved up in weight to challenge James Kinchen for the WBO Super Middleweight title. After a 12 round majority decision in his favour, Hearns once again made history by becoming the first boxer to win titles in five different weight divisions. Despite the victory, ringside observers felt that the Hit Man no longer had what made him such a great fighter. The fourth round knockdown he received from Kinchen had Hearns holding on for dear life. Trainer and commentator Gil Clancy even approached Hearns and told him to retire but the Motor City Cobra wouldn’t budge. Now he had a chance to avenge the first loss of his career.
Billed as ‘The War’, most saw this as an easy fight for Sugar Ray, now 35-1. Observers and experts felt that Hearns, now 46-3, no longer had the legs or the stamina to last twelve rounds. Fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco described the fight as a battle between two sinking battleships. Once again, boxing fans crowded to Las Vegas to watch Sugar Ray Leonard fight Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns.
Both fighters came out more aggressive than in the first fight. Instead of Leonard doing his best to avoid Hearns, he now came charging at the Hit Man hoping to end the fight early but Hearns took Leonard’s punches and landed his own.
After getting the better of Leonard for two Hearns went into round three hoping to prove that this would be harder fight for his opponent than most expected. Halfway through round three Hearns landed a right hand on the chin of Leonard which backed him up. Knowing that he had to capitalize on the moment, Hearns got closer and after a quick jab and a grazing right hook, Sugar Ray Leonard was dropped for the third time in his professional career. For the rest of the round Leonard played defense on unsteady legs while Hearns continued to land punches. And for the rest of the fight he knew that Tommy Hearns was not going to go down easily.
With the first four rounds going fairly better for Hearns than anyone had expected, Sugar Ray Leonard now had to rise to the occasion to prove that he wasn’t going to let anyone take this seemingly easy fight away from him. Halfway through the fifth he was able to land a left hook that sent Hearns rocking with Sugar Ray in pursuit. Once again, Hearns’ chin was his undoing as he desperately tired to fight off Leonard and clinch not suffer another knockout loss. After almost two minutes of punishment, the bell rang to end the round. In the corner Emanuel Steward encouraged his fighter that he wasn’t done yet in this bout.
“This is what makes a great fighter,” shouted Steward. “This is what will make you great.”
Hearns rose to the occasion by taking over the sixth and seventh rounds and fighting on equal ground with Leonard. The once lightning quick superstar seemed be getting tagged very easily by jabs and right hands. As the fight wore on, both combatants started to slow down with their punch output. Fearing that their man might be starting to lose focus, the Hearns corner pleaded with him to throw more right hands before going into the 11th round.
“Thomas, listen to me,” said Hearns corner man Walter Smith, “jab, right hand left hook. You can knock him out with a jab, straight hand left hook!”
Knowing that he couldn’t afford to ignore any advice from his corner, Hearns quickly set up the combination. After a short jab he followed it up with two right hands. Leonard avoided the oncoming left hook and tried to fire back but the Hitman quickly tried again. After twice repeating the right hand-left hook combination Thomas Hearns dropped Sugar Ray Leonard for the second time in front of a hyped up Las Vegas crowd who couldn’t believe what they were seeing. For the first time in his memorable career, Leonard looked close to being knocked out.
Just as he did eight years earlier, Sugar Ray Leonard knew that he was behind on points. Hoping to give the judges something to think about, Leonard began a violent rally in the 12th round, after getting tagged early in the round. With referee Richard Steele watching Hearns closely as stood against the ropes, gassed, holding on to survive and time slowly ticking away, it looked like history might be repeating itself. But like in the fifth, Hearns was able to survive the 12th and final round.
Both fighters were raised into the air and held their hands high in victory however the crowd seemed to have already picked Hearns as their winner. Finally, Michael Buffer delivered the verdict.
“Jerry Roth scores the bout 113-112 for Thomas Hearns,” the announcer declared, followed by a sounding roar of cheers.
“Tommy Kaczmareck scores it 113-112 for Sugar Ray Leonard!” A loud chorus of boos erupted. They did not go away when Buffer spoke again.
“Dalby Shirley scores it 112-112…this bout is a draw, ladies and gentlemen!”
The audience felt that Hearns had been ripped off by bad judging and began chanting “Bull-shit! Bull-shit!” to voice their displeasure with the verdict.
Both fighters stated that they felt they had done enough to win the bout but had nothing bad to say about each other.
“I thought I won the earlier rounds,” admitted a smiling Thomas Hearns. “But he was able to come back. I can’t say anything negative about Ray. It was a great fight, I got to give him his props. I was hoping for a win but…you know how it is.”
“He showed what he was made of tonight,” said Sugar Ray. “He got his redemption.”
Talks of a rematch floated around for several years but nothing ever came of it. There would be no third fight between these two great warriors to see who was really the best. From there both fighters took different directions.
Leonard fought only three more times. In his final bout with Roberto Duran the same year, he earned a boring 12 round decision. Two years later he came back only to be humiliated by Terry Norris. Six years later at the age of 40, he made another ill-advised comeback against Hector Camacho and was knocked out in five rounds. Sugar Ray Leonard retired with a record of 36-3-1 with 25 knockouts.
Thomas Hearns continued to fight well into the nineties and even into the twenty-first century, winning both the Light heavyweight and Cruiserweight titles before temporarily retiring in 2000. Five years later he made a comeback vowing to fight for a major title in the Cruiserweight division. Hearns last fought in 2006 but he has not officially announced his retirement as of this writing. His record stands at 61-5-1 with 48 knockouts.
But no matter what happened afterwards, 20 years ago today, Emanuel Steward’s words rang true for both Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns: “This is what makes a great fighter.”