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By Lyle Fitzsimmons - It’s a good thing we’re not still in 1981.
Because if Twitter and Facebook and know-it-all “Fight Freaks” ruled the roost back then as they do today, the way things appear in the history books would come across a bit different.
Case in point: The welterweight “Showdown” between Thomas Hearns and Ray Leonard.
Lest we forget, Hearns was an unbeaten prospect who’d begun hitting television screens and had made no secret of his desire to land a match with “Sugar Ray” – then the WBC’s 147-pound kingpin – well before he finally got a complementary title shot in Detroit against WBA champion Pipino Cuevas.
In fact, no less an authority than Angelo Dundee conceded that he’d put off the Hearns camp for a bit in order to build heat for the fight, with the intention of turning a good match into a super bonanza.
Hindsight reveals Dundee was spot-on correct.
Maybe the fight itself would have still been as good had it occurred several months earlier, but the event probably wouldn’t have been nearly what it became – which is the source of myriad articles and books and a “Legendary Nights” documentary that’s must-see viewing even 33 years later. [Click Here To Read More]
Because if Twitter and Facebook and know-it-all “Fight Freaks” ruled the roost back then as they do today, the way things appear in the history books would come across a bit different.
Case in point: The welterweight “Showdown” between Thomas Hearns and Ray Leonard.
Lest we forget, Hearns was an unbeaten prospect who’d begun hitting television screens and had made no secret of his desire to land a match with “Sugar Ray” – then the WBC’s 147-pound kingpin – well before he finally got a complementary title shot in Detroit against WBA champion Pipino Cuevas.
In fact, no less an authority than Angelo Dundee conceded that he’d put off the Hearns camp for a bit in order to build heat for the fight, with the intention of turning a good match into a super bonanza.
Hindsight reveals Dundee was spot-on correct.
Maybe the fight itself would have still been as good had it occurred several months earlier, but the event probably wouldn’t have been nearly what it became – which is the source of myriad articles and books and a “Legendary Nights” documentary that’s must-see viewing even 33 years later. [Click Here To Read More]
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