After his loss to Sugar Ray Leonard on September 16, 1981, Thomas Hearns returned to the ring three months later on the undercard of Muhammad Ali’s last fight vs. Trevor Berbick in Nassau, the Bahamas. Thomas moved up to the middleweight division to take on the tough veteran Ernie Singetary. Hearns planned on challenging Marvin Hagler for the middleweight belt in 1982, and began that quest by winning a ten round decision over Singletary. He weighed in at 155 lbs., and at 6 foot 1, could easily carry the weight. To see this card, I had to order something called WHT, where for 50 bucks, they came to our house and put a small antenna on the roof. You would get movies starting at 7 o’clock at night, but I only ordered it to see Ali fight, and got rid of it after a month.
On February 27, 1982, Tommy traveled to Las Vegas, and knocked out Marcos Geraldo in the first round at the Aladdin Hotel. I saw this one on CBS, and after just two wins at middleweight, a May 24th fight for Hagler was signed. I quite frankly thought Hearns was nuts, and that there was no way he could beat Hagler. The bout never came off then because Tommy broke a finger, and pulled out. Marvin fumed at the missed opportunity, but that’s boxing.
He fought a guy named Jeff McCracken in July instead in his hometown of Detroit. He stopped him in the eighth, and decided to drop down to the junior middleweight division of 154 lbs., and challenge the champion Wilfred Benitez instead.
The December 3, 1982 fight with Benitez took place at the Superdome in New Orleans, and was broadcast on HBO. That day was my first at a new airline job I had started, after the previous airline I worked at filed bankruptcy in November. This new job was 40 miles away from my house, and after one day, I wasn’t sure if I was going back for a second. I went home and punched the heavy bag I had in our backyard furiously for about 45 minutes to work off frustration, and decided I’d give this new place a chance.
Thomas won an impressive 15 round decision, and hurt Benitez on several occasions. I didn’t see it until years later on VHS tape, but it proved how great a boxer Hearns could be. He had his second belt as a professional, and his future looked as bright as a clear summer morning.
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