After knocking out Donny Lalonde on November 7, 1998, Sugar Ray Leonard agreed to a rematch with Thomas Hearns. Even though Thomas had struggled in a decision over James Kinchen that same month, June 12, 1989 was the date set for Leonard-Hearns 2 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
I drove my 1985 Pontiac Firebird to the Garden State Pavilion to see this one on closed-circuit, and I was rooting hard for Thomas Hearns to win. Quite a contrast from almost 8 years earlier, when Leonard was by far my favorite. I doubted that Thomas could knock Ray out since he had a great chin, but I would be happy with a decision victory.
The fight was officially a super-middleweight bout, even though both men had agreed on a weight clause, or suffer a huge financial penalty. This was Leonard’s move, since he didn’t want Thomas to come in at 168 lbs., otherwise he would have suffered a huge disadvantage. At the weigh-in, Ray tipped the scales at 160 lbs., while Thomas’s weight was 162 1/2 lbs. As the first round bell approached, my stomach was in the usual knot it always was before a big bout.
The fight was even for the first few rounds, until out of nowhere Thomas dropped Ray with a right hand, sending him the canvas in a delayed reaction. Leonard recovered and fought back, hurting Hearns badly in the fifth. Thomas survived, and going into the championship rounds, I had him slightly ahead. When Hearns put Leonard on the deck for the second time in the eleventh round, I figured he had the decision in the bag. Ray got up and finished the round, but I saw the final round as even, so there was no way Thomas could have lost.
However, it being boxing as it was, the judges somehow ruled it a draw. I was sick in my stomach, and even announcers Tim Ryan and Gil Clancy agreed. It was another crooked night in the ring, and I went home wanting to vomit. Larry Holmes was right to me when he said judges were paid off, and I never have trusted them after all the crappy decisions I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. The way I dealt with it as the weeks passed was simple. Thomas won the fight, and didn’t give a damn what the judges in Vegas said.
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