On March 3, 1987, Thomas Hearns took on WBC light heavyweight champion Denis Andries at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. I vividly remember watching the fight on my color tv in my bedroom on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Jim Lampley was the new boxing commentator for ABC, and he was great from the very start.
Thomas bulked up to 173 1/4 lbs. with the help of Nautilus weight machines, and he looked spectacular. The bout itself had almost a circus like feel to it, since every time you blinked it seemed, Andries was on the floor. He was dropped six times in all, and it was all over in the tenth. Hearns had his third championship belt in three divisions, a huge accomplishment for any professional. He had done exactly as I predicted he should, and now planned to move back down to middleweight to challenge the winner of Hagler vs. Leonard on April 6.
As the world knows, Leonard upset Hagler, and relinquished the belt not long after, saying “I came back for one fight, not a career.” With the title now vacant, Thomas got his opportunity for a fourth championship in four divisions in October vs. Juan Roldan.
I couldn’t find anywhere to see the October 29, 1987 bout from the Hilton in Las Vegas. When I called my brother to see if it was on pay-per-view on his cable station, he said no. With no options, I had to settle on reading about it in the paper the next day.
Thomas was aggressive against the rugged Roldan, and despite being hurt a few times himself, knocked Juan out in the fourth. I watched the replays on CBS not long after, and was thrilled to see Tommy be the first boxer to win four titles in four different weight classes. It was exactly the route I had suggested to myself, and I’ll be darned if he didn’t do exactly that.
I was 27 at the time, and boxing was my whole life more every day. I trained like a pro, and still had aspirations for taking a shot in the ring myself. If I wasn’t watching a fight on tv, I was reading about in the boxing magazines, or dreaming about it in bed. I honestly can say I don’t know what my life would be like with boxing, and I’m glad I never had to find out.
Unfortunately for Tommy, 1988 wouldn’t bring the same results as 1987, and for the most part they were bad.
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