After his loss to Sugar Ray Leonard in September of 1981, Thomas Hearns jumped right to the middleweight division in his next bout. He beat tough journeyman Ernie Singletary on the undercard of the Muhammad Ali vs. Trevor Berbick fight on December 11th. He followed that up with a first round knockout of veteran Marcus Geraldo in Las Vegas on February 27th.
A proposed fight with Marvin Hagler in May never came off when Thomas broke one of his fingers. He instead took a bout with Jeff McCracken on July 25th, and stopped him in the 8th round.
Wilfred Benitez was riding high after his impressive decision win over a come-backing Roberto Duran in January of 1982. He didn’t fight at all the rest of that year, and agreed to defend his WBC super-welterweight belt against Hearns on December 3rd at the Superdome in New Orleans.
I had just started a new airline job that day, after I had lost my previous one the month before when they filed for bankruptcy. It had been a rough first day, and I wasn’t sure if I’d even go back for a second one.
When I got home, I furiously punched the heavy bag I had in my backyard for about 45 minutes straight to relieve the pent up stress and anxiety. After the session, I felt much better and went in my room to relax.
I had no means to watch the closed circuit broadcast, and waited for the 11 o’clock sports report on the local news to get the results of the fight. I was glad to know Thomas had won, even though I liked Benitez too. I was more concerned about my new job to be honest, but will always associate that fight with that Friday night in December of 1982.
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
