Instead, Sugar Ray just kept coming, throwing heavy shots to the body to set up a beautiful uppercut-left hook combination that had Hearns reeling about the ring again. Now showing little respect for Tommy’s power, Leonard pursued aggressively and early in the round took a huge right from Hearns. If round six was a bad dream for Hearns, the seventh was a nightmare. For the rest of that round a stunned Hearns was battered with power shots, Ray landing vicious hooks to both head and body. But in round six it was Sugar Ray who struck first, connecting on Tommy’s chin with a wicked counter left hand, and the legs of “The Hitman” buckled. These rounds were an agonizing exercise in suspense as the fighters, feinting and jousting and probing for openings, tested each other, the crowd waiting to see what would happen when the stalking “Hitman” finally landed his cannon-like straight right. The first five rounds were razor close but belonged to “The Motor City Cobra,” his 6’1″ height and 78″ reach enabling him to land his jab and control the tempo. Two factors no one anticipated defined the match: not Hearns’ punching power, but Leonard’s not Leonard’s technical boxing ability, but Hearns’. Though not in ways fight fans could have expected. And to everyone’s delight, the dramatic battle lived up to the hype. Millions crowded into closed-circuit theaters around the world while ringside seats sold for record sums. A native of Detroit, his climb up the ranks, while just as fast and impressive as Leonard’s, was also more blue-collar, unaided by constant television exposure and lucrative endorsement deals.īilled as “The Showdown,” Leonard vs Hearns was finally set and few fights in boxing history aroused such anticipation. Hearns was more stoic, soft-spoken, exuding an air of mystery and menace. Sugar Ray, the Olympic gold medalist, enjoyed celebrity status, his dazzling smile selling cars and soda pop. The backgrounds and personalities of the two champions contrasted sharply as well. Hearns was the knockout artist, the fearsome puncher they called “The Hitman.” He boasted a thunderous right hand and 30 knockouts in 32 wins. Leonard filled the former category, his fast feet and faster hands thwarting even the toughest fighters, as all saw in his rematch with the dangerous Duran. It was the classic confrontation: boxer vs puncher. Since the previous fall, when both men won huge fights – Hearns knocking out the dangerous Pipino Cuevas Leonard forcing the great Roberto Duran to quit - this was the biggest match boxing could offer, the contest the whole world wanted to see. In the summer of 1981, only two boxers mattered in America: WBA welterweight champion Thomas Hearns, and WBC welterweight champion Sugar Ray Leonard.
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