Not often brought up about this fight, although it was discussed at the time, was that the canvas was very slick — like fighting on ice. You can see it in this fight and in the Randall Cobb-Earnie Shavers undercard fight. The humidity created a layer of condensation on the type canvas that was used that made footing difficult. Thomas Hearns wore rubber-soled shoes (Manny Steward talked openly about this, and was prepared for it because Hearns was fighting at home in Detroit so he knew this could be an issue) that allowed traction whereas Pipino wore his usual leather-soled shoes that resulted in inability to get traction. Not saying Pipino would have won, but conditions favored Hears who had the inside edge of the training knowing this would be the case and having his fighter’s equipment adjusted to the conditions. I’d like to see if it was any different if they had fought in, say, Las Vegas under regular ring conditions. Hearns probably has too many physical advantages, but Pipino could break bones if he was able to plant and launch so you never know.
Manny said the game plan was to go balls-out for the KO the first three rounds, box Pipino for the next three and go for the KO in rounds 7-9. Someone asked what the plan was for 10-15. Steward said there was no plan — no way the fight was going that long before one of them knocked out the other, haha.
That fight was decided barely 10 seconds after it began, when Hearns landed that left hook that knocked Cuevas back on his heels. From that point forward, Cuevas was on the back foot & never really committed to imposing his fight.
