Has anyone on here ever met Tommy Hearns

I admire him, but I never met him. What I have seen in interviews is he is a bit moody yet he does not talk bad about any other fighters. As a matter of fact, it doesn't seem like he follows boxing much so he doesn't make big opinions about other fighters. Even fighters of his era he doesn't put down. Very simple comments. I am surprised a guy who was into boxing knows so little about what is happening. Although I saw an interview with Leonard lately where he said he had not really seen Kovalev fight. So I don't understand these guys not following boxing as much since they were legendary boxers.

 

To add to this. I have never really seen an interview of Tommy which is really interesting. And I love him as a fighter and to me he is underrated if you look at his wins, but once he fought someone he seemed to put it behind him except for his losses, which do seem to bother him-yet in those losses he was to blame for fighting the wrong style. He has interviews, but they don't get into detail. It is almost reaction to him, he does not go far from the normal answers which are very simple.. Hagler, we went to war.. I should have boxed. Leonard, I had that fight. Duran,,, I beat a legend. Benitez-He was tricky. He does not say much more than that. In the ring he was so exciting, but when he is interviewed you are always wanting more and he just does not want to elaborate. I don't think he cares too much about his past fights. His fans care, but I don't think he does. I don't think he thinks about the fights as much as he says. He likes the limelight and he likes to get money for his appearances, but I don't think he cares much about where he is ranked as far as greatness. That is my opinion. He just goes with what is there, yet he likes the money. Maybe not thinking too much about his career helped him forget about the dangers of boxing so he could keep going. He said one time in an interview after someone mention Barkley. " I fought him once" I was thinking, no you fought him twice. And he says Roldan was the hardest puncher he fought yet he was knocked out by Hagler, Leonard and Barkley. I wish he would say more in interviews, but he just doesn't want to.

 

Hey Buddy. What I do love about Hearns also, is that he didn't take any money from anybody when he was and still probably is flat broke. He took care of his family and his people for so long as he couldn't just say no. Very generous guy. Then when the IRS problems really came back to get him. He was offered a lot of money from friends and fans to help pay the debt and he said I'm going to do this myself... He auctioned off all of his memorabila and what not. From the interviews I've seen, it really hurt him when Kronk burned down... to see such an iconic place that so many people took care of for so long to end up like that .. I really believe that the spirit of boxing just sort of faded for him after that

 

Good stuff. And to add to it, let us not forget that Sugar Ray Leonard said the Hearns had a peanut sized brain. So maybe not much should be expected.

 

Good post. I agree. I think boxing was his whole life which is why he kept fighting. He does look like he is deflated a bit. Duran still looks excited. Ray? A little deflated, but still the charm. Hagler goes with the flow and does other things. Tommy just looks like he is going through the motions but he is not really vibrant anymore. Something seems down. What is happening with Kronk now? Are they going to rebuild it that site?

 

You have a good memory. I do remember that comment by Ray in the interview after Kalule. I thought that comment from Ray was rather vicious. Later he said he underestimated him. I do think Hearns is smart. He is just not articulate like Ray is. But In the ring he set up punches and knew what he was doing. He is not the talker Leonard is.. Years ago he was so much more excited. He goes to these autograph conventions which I see on youtube. He meets with Duran and they hug and talk and joke, and he does the same with Ray but life really must not be too much fun compared to before. The most excited I saw him in years was joking with Duran recently on some youtube video at one of these conventions. Hearns and Duran have some inside jokes where they try to tease each other, but it seems to be between them and good natured. I have seen them do this before. But they like each other and that gives them (especially Hearns) a certain energy and excitement they don't have normally. As for Tommy's career years ago, I guess he was fortunate to have had a great career. Tommy was humble also. On some HBO special he said as far as being ranked as great"where they place me I don't care. Because they don't have to place me at all"

 

He is just a nice, modest, quiet man. Him & Duran as people were by far the greatest where it counts of the Fab 4.

 

I agree with Morlock. I think Hearns and Duran were more laying it on the line kind of guys. They lost and both of them lost big at times, but they came back and tried again and again. That takes a lot of inner strength. It was sort of natural for them to fight even after a loss. Losing was not that big a deal after awhile. They wanted to keep fighting and proving. That is why Duran and Hearns used to get the biggest applause at fights in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Ray had to have the control and he controlled everything and wanted to be the big star. He found a way to be the fighter of the 1980s when he didn't fight for many long periods. Hagler? I like him, but he sure acted like a sore loser with Ray. Hagler got his big fights with Duran,Hearns and Ray and he should have been happy, but when he lost to Ray he was bitter. That is ok, but in that fight he took Ray for granted. He came out righty and not aggressive enough. He believed the odds that he would win an easy TKO. I picked Marvin to stop Ray in 5 rounds. I was surprised. I was surprised he gave up his biggest advantage which was being southpaw. I remember reading how at Hearns vs. Roldan at the end of 1987 Hagler and Ray were both at the fight (half a year after their fight) and Ray saw him in the bathroom at the Las Vegas Hilton and Ray put out his hand to shake it and Marvin ignored it and walked on.

 

I just always thought he was more of an introverted type. And having such an extroverted rival like Sugar Ray just made him seem even more quiet.

 

Which is interesting because Hagler was an introvert also. And I remember hearing later that since both were quiet and that Hagler was even quieter than Hearns (I think Jackie Kallen said this), Hearns was the one who became the talker at the press conferences. And he angered Hagler by saying he would knock him out and saying 3 rounds. The fact both were quiet sort of led to them almost disliking each other more before the fight, but after the fight they seem to like each other. The opposite of Leonard and Hagler who were friends before but not after.

 

I saw him fight live in Phoenix, on April 25 1981, when he fought Randy Shields, in defense of his WBA World Welterweight Title. He stopped Randy in the 12th round. He was very tall, everything he threw, connected hard on Shields. Tommy looked great. I also saw Carlos Monzon, as he was passing me, we said hello to each other, when Sugar Ray Leonard kayoed Daniel Gonzalez, from Argentina, in round 4, another very tall fighter. The two all time greats that I saw, looked like they did on television. I also attended the fight between Alexis Arguello and Ruben Castillo, on Jan 20 1980, won by Alexis, TKO11, in defense of his WBC World Junior Lightweight Title, great fighter, and gentleman.

 

A new Kronk was built and reopened a few years back in a different location. Here's a pretty good article from the Detroit News that explains how Manny's daughter made it happen … It's actually pretty inspirational considering Manny passed in 2012

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/2015/07/06/kronk-gym-steps-back-ring/29801409/

 

Manny was a great trainer and man, he is missed, made many a champion. The Kronk Gym is legendary. Great Post.