Folks, I'm reviewing my 1986 tape of Tommy Hearns vs. Mark Medal from Las Vegas...... For a main event, this fight sucked....... I'll take the undercard of "McGuigan-Cruz" and "Duran-Sims" any day over the stinky "Hearns-Medal" match......... Tommy Hearns started fast by dropping Mark Medal 2 X in the opening stanza, but then he kinda' just laid back and went into a sparring session type affair with Mark Medal... Oh, don't get me wrong, Hearns was busting up the average Medal as the rounds wore on, but it was not classic Hearns at all......... Hearns ended up getting his 9th round TKO win, but it was not an epic perfomance at all by "The Hitman." Later in '86, October to be exact, Hearns would struggle again on Showtime with Douglas DeWitt...... Hearns won a 10 rounder there... It was during this time that Hearns secretly had a hurt / tender right paw dating back to his loss to Hagler in in '85....... Hearns claims he popped a bone in his right paw in the 1st round on Hagler's dome...... Anyway, aside from all that crap, "Tommy Hearns vs. Mark Medal" was a stinker and I get bored with the reviewal somewhere around round 5...... MR.BILL:-(deal
Bill I see you been reviewing fights. I also like to reminisce over this card. I only read about this fight in the paper until a friend brought his tripple hitter down Cruz-Mcguigan was the best. Barry expended so much energy in the heat he became frazzled late and hung on just to survive. Too bad about his sudden decline It looked like Duran couldnt deal with the heat either as he fizzled out the last two rounds. Hearns didnt look strong at this weight alltho he scored quick kd. Medal a poor choice for opponent and very weak offensively. As usual, picked out by Steward
I thought Duran was capable of beating Sims, but Duran looked soft and slightly bloated at 159 pounds......... Had Duran been in better shape, he'd have gotten a draw or close decision over Sims...... Duran always battled the scales more so than his opponent...... "McGuigan-Cruz" was a great fight in high temps......... Mark Medal sucked...... I never liked that guy's style or fights........ MR.BILL
The Mark Medal fight came after the brilliant performance against Shuler and I don't think the drop in weight did Tommy any favours. He seemed to get bored as well - don't think he was really up for the fight.
I recall Hearns' camp stating that T.H. hurt his right hand knuckles in that opening round where he ALMOST had Medal done with, so he eased up and went along with the beatdown TKO..... Hearns did break some bones in his right paw against "Benitez and Hagler." NOTE! Duran would've gotten a draw with Sims had he not been penalized by that low blow in round 8..... Sims got lucky there........ MR.BILL:bbb
I remember Hearns postfight comments. He said he felt something in his hand after the first round so he decided to save the right hand and use his jab, which is how the fight was stopped when Medal's eye was swollen. Tommy won easily. It was a ridiculously hot day earlier June 23, 1986 and he was just being conservative. But he did win easily. Medal was a champ a year or so before.
