Presented by MCCAULEY GROUNDSKEEPING.
This Day In Sports…April 15, 1985, 40 years ago today:
In Las Vegas, two of the greatest fighters of the era meet when middleweight champion “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler defends his title against WBC light-middleweight champ Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns. It was Hagler’s 11th title defense since 1980. For Hearns, the bout represented a rapid rise through weight classes, from welterweight to junior middleweight to middleweight. Hagler was known for conditioning and absorbed only one knockdown in his career, while Hearns earned his “Hit Man’ nickname for the force of his punches, having won 30 of his 32 bouts by knockout.
After a ferocious first round in which both boxers landed tremendous blows, Hearns went back to his corner with a broken hand. The back-and-forth barrage still has boxing historians regarding it was the best round in the sport’s history. Hearns returned for the second round with what Sugar Ray Leonard, on the announcing crew ringside, called “rubbery legs.” One theory, at least from Hearns’ people, is that a pre-fight massage he received caused it. The pace was slower in the second round, but it ended with Hagler pinning Hearns against the ropes and pummeling him.
In the third round, there was a sense or urgency for Hagler, who had a cut on his forehead. It opened up, and referee Richard Steele sent Hagler to his corner to have it checked. The action continued, but Hagler knew if it got any worse the fight could be stopped. So he went on the ultra-offensive, flooring Hearns with three vicious rights and prompting Steele to stop the bout with 59 seconds left in the round and declare Hagler the winner.
There were so many stars in the sport back then—Hagler and Hearns were two of them, and they each had to go through other stars to get to their showdown. Both boxers had defeated Roberto Duran in title bouts, and Hearns also had a loss to Leonard and a win over Wilfredo Benitez. Hagler would hold the middleweight title for two more years, until he was finally dethroned by Leonard in 1987 via a controversial decision.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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