Three rounds of mayhem: Remembering the Hagler-Hearns fight

It really was three rounds of mayhem. Two boxers going toe-to-toe, throwing everything they had at each other until someone succumbed from the punishment.

I will always remember that fight between Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns and “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler.

Not ready for prime time
By 1985, boxing had undergone a bit of a metamorphosis. When I first started watching it, fights were on TV live. I recall watching Muhammad Ali fighting Leon Spinks and Larry Holmes battling Ken Norton, live as it happened.

That would soon change with the advent of cable TV and pay-perview, where promoters saw it could make way more money.

So, my exposure to boxing lessened, as the fights were way less accessible on peasant vision.

In fact, the only place to watch any boxing, other than to go to town and watch it some place that may have cable TV, was on “CTV’s Wide World of Sports” and “CBC Sportsweekend”. Even then, those shows both aired on Saturday, so the fights were days, or even weeks old, and their outcomes were already known.

That was how I ended up seeing Thomas Hearns fight Marvin Hagler.

The fighters
Thomas Hearns had come to my attention in a much anticipated fight with “Sugar” Ray Leonard. “Sugar” Ray was a boxer my friend Mike liked and talked about on the school bus, because he had seen him box in the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics.

When I saw him, I thought he was kind of loud and cocky. He didn’t seem to have any humility, and I was raised to appreciate winners who didn’t brag. “Sugar” Ray bragged. He probably had good reason, because he was the World Boxing Council Welterweight champion.

Thomas Hearns was from Detroit, boxed at a gym called “The Kronk” and just exuded toughness. I was really intrigued by “The Kronk” because it seemed like a family and a brotherhood. He was successful, working his way to a title fight where he won the World Boxing Association Welterweight title.

That made a fight to unify the titles that much more compelling.

When Hearns was set to fight Leonard, I really hoped he’d win, and shut Leonard’s mouth once and for all.

That didn’t happen. Leonard outlasted Hearns to win that with a late technical knockout. However, in the process, he took a beating from Hearns. I saw Leonard come out for a press conference the next day, and he was sporting sun glasses to cover up a black eye. It turned out, “Sugar” Ray had a detached retina. It was surgically repaired and he would go on to fight again.

Hearns was left to re-group.

On the other hand, I had not heard much about “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler. Pretty much everything I knew came from my friend Mike Schaber, who loved Hagler. Mike told me Hagler was tough, relentless and had learned to box in prison.

But that was all I knew.

The fight
Hearns would actually move up a weight class to fight Hagler. Initially, they were scheduled to fight on May 24, 1982, but Hearns had a hand injury and the fight was postponed.

The two would now meet in the ring at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas on April 15, 1985. The fight was called by Al Bernstein and Al Michaels.

The first round was toe to toe action. Hearns stunned Hagler early and opened up a cut on the bridge of Hagler’s nose. Hagler countered, working the body, trying to get Hearns into a corner and pound him. When he did, Hearns boxed his way out, but took some shots late in the round and was staggered just before the bell rang.

Bernstein called it perhaps one of the best rounds in the history of the middleweight division, while Michaels said that was an entire fight accomplished in three minutes.

The second round saw Hearns try to box more. Hagler started getting through Hearns' right hand, taking shots but continuing to work the body. Towards the end of the round, Hearns legs looked “rubbery” according to Michaels. Bernstein said Hagler was trying to turn the fight into an alley war, landing a couple low blows on Hearns as he got him up against the ropes. The two exchanged shots at the end of the round, but Hearns already looked to be reeling.

In the third round, Hagler continued to attack Hearns. However, the cut had re-opened and blood was pouring down Hagler’s face. Referee Richard Steele called time out and sent Hagler to see the ring doctor. They said said the last thing Hagler wanted was the fight stopped because of that cut. He didn’t have to worry because the fight resumed right away. Hearns appeared hurt, and they said when he is hurt, he resorts to boxing, as he had in the “Sugar” Ray Leonard fight. Hagler continued to work him. Then he hit him, and Hearns turned his back. Hagler chased him, landed a shot and knocked Hearns down. He was on his back and did not look like he would beat the count. He did, barely.

But referee Richard Steele stopped the fight.

Hagler had won by technical knock out in the third round. Earlier, Hearns boasted he would win in three rounds.

He was right about one thing – the fight lasted three rounds.

The aftermath
The Hagler-Herans fight was the talk at school the next day. Obviously, I had not seen it.

It was later that I finally watched the fight a few weeks after on “CTV’s Wide World of Sports”

One other thing I saw later was on “Entertainment Tonight”. It was a pizza commercial with Hagler taking a bite out of a piece, looking into the camera, and saying, “I wonder what the other guy’s eating? Probably soup.” It was filmed before the fight, but may have been prophetic.

Parting thoughts
“Ring Magazine” voted Hagler-Hearns the fight of the year for 1985, and for good reason.

When I was in Vancouver, I was talking about boxing with one of my spouse’s cousins. I said Hagler-Hearns was probably the best fight I have ever seen. I asked him if he saw it, and he had, on YouTube.

So, I just re-watched it – hence all the detail in the description of the fight. It is embedded above.

So often, memories change as I age. As they introduced the fighters, I wondered if I mis-remembered how good the fight really was.

Not a chance, especially that first round.

Looking at it almost 40 years later, with Hagler dead and Hearns eligible to collect a pension now, it is still one of the best fights I have ever seen, especially that first round.

One of the criticisms of the “Rocky” movies is that real boxing isn’t that action packed. They don’t trade punches like that in real life.

In the Hagler-Hearns fight, they did.

It really was three rounds of mayhem.