Who saw Hearns vs Cuevas live/on TV at the time?

I think it was a closed circuit fight. CBS showed a replay on that Sunday or the next weekend IIRC.

The result at the time made me say, 'Wow, this guy is for real.' Seeing it (and Cobb-Shavers on the undercard), Hearns probably wins anyway but the canvas was slick as an ice skating rink and Hearns had the proper shoes for it while Pipino doesn't ... he couldn't get his feet set and was troubled by it, making it easier for Hearns.

 

Pipino's fights were becoming a Chicagoland CC attraction (Randy Shields one year prior).

The Latino consensus placed solid faith in Pipino's proven power. He was a true hero.

Shocking indeed was the ease with which this looming, rippling Cobra dismantled him.

 

Top quality comment.

 

Loved it.

It was the same day as another big fight where another old champ got destroyed---Cervantes.

Made a lot gambling that day. Not many thought Aaron would win. More folks were going w/ Tommy of course. Going into that fight, I'd heard about the Hearns corner doing something I thought was extremely smart and I loved it.

The story was whenever Tommy and Pepeino got close to each other w/ press conference or anything, Hearns purposely made himself smaller. Slumped shoulders/bad posture/ clothes that made him appear smaller/etc. They did not want Cuevas to get a read on how big and erect Hearns really was.

You can see it during the announcement where Tommy towers over the guy. He looked like a big middle in there with Cuevas. And Pepino had a look of this is going to be a hard fight and this guy is going to be tough to hit.

And then the bell rang and Tommy get out firing. Not looking to feel the guy out. Firing. Not giving Cuevas any sort of guage in there for the length of those arms and handspeed of his power shots.

Of course, tactics and pre-fight strategy all sound good when a guy wins. But going into a Cuevas bout back then, I thought it was perfect thing to do and win the title. Preperation and it would have made the old master trainers proud.

So, on the same day you had 2 old champs licked and dominated---Cervantes who was never beat up like that before. And Cuevas who was a big hitter and still only about 23 or 24.

 

****

 

My thoughts were it's too bad that Cuevas wore the wrong kind of shoes. He was slipping and sliding all over the canvas while Hearns shoes had good traction. Hearns would have beaten him anyways as he (and only he) had power to match Cuevas and Hearns was a ****load faster than Cuevas.
Still it would have been nice to see a fight on even terms.

 

As stated above, Cuevas was considered a monster at the time. He was a feared puncher that was just brutalizing guys. I remember reading about Hearns in the boxing magazines on his way up but Pipino was the man going in. The result was a huge upset in how it played out.

 

Thought Ray chose Roberto over Pipino Cuevas because of economics.

 

Nothing to do with economics, though that and the fact that Duran was levels above Cuevas would justify him picking Duran. Leonard and Cuevas were signed to fight each other in May of 1980 and Cuevas pulled out about a week later, citing the need for a cut to heal and Duran, mandatory for the WBC, got his shot.

 

the replay on saturday on national tv (cbs?) was hearns' coming out party. incredible exposure for those times (these days, they replay a big fight on pay tv- hbo or showtime).. witnessed by many, young and old.. certainly more witnesses than the current hbo or showtime replays. he was instantly ray leonard's #1 true threat. 'bit of a landmark type fight.

 

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Pipino Cuevas was the most popular fighter of Mexican descent, especially in Los Angeles and the rest of California. With his booming left-hook and crowd-pleasing fighting style, Cuevas was terrific drawing card even in fights against token opposition.

I believe that Cuevas was a very overrated fighter with little in the way of fighting skills during his peak years. It is evident that his management matched him with carefully selected opposition at the time, steering him away from the likes of Carlos Palomino, who had a big edge when came to fighting skills and durability.

I saw Cuevas fight a very mediocre fighter named Bernardo Prada in person at the Olympic Auditorium during 1981. Despite the fact that Cuevas was facing such token opposition, a wild large crowd was there to see their hero knock out Prada in the second round.

The crowd at the Olympic seemed to be on the edge of being out of control well before the Cuevas-Prada fight, which resulted in a decision to not let any more people to enter the building, even those who already had tickets. When certain people realized that they weren't going to be allowed to enter the building to see Cuevas in action, some of them were pounding on one large door on the south side of the Olympic, creating a deafening noise for people who already were inside.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Cuevas was definitely kept away from punchers if his management could avoid it, but to be fair to him, i think by the time both lost their titles, he had fought at least an equal level of opposition to Palomino.

Espada, Gray(past prime) Ranzany, Weston, Shields(the latter of whom exploited a lot of Pipino's flaws)

vs Muniz, Green and Stracey

Pretty comparable with volume going to Cuevas, and the lesser fighters they defended against were of a similar ilk as well.

 

Chilling kayo from Mr Hearns

 

I know Leonard and Cuevas were supposed to fight each other. The fight was promoted during Cuevas's fight with Harold Volbrecht but had the contract actually been signed? Also, I have never heard that Cuevas pulled out of the fight due to a cut. What is the source for that story?