ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 29, 1996 TAG: 9611290055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
He's fought some of the most memorable fights in the past 20 years. He has more than $80 million in career winnings. His entourage could fill a city bus. He's the only six-time world boxing champion.
So why has Thomas ``Hitman'' Hearns come to Roanoke for a boxing match tonight at the Roanoke Civic Center?
Maybe it's because of the local fishing holes. Hearns has spent the past two weeks training and running by such landmarks as the Roanoke River and Smith Mountain Lake.
Said Hearns: ``Every day I run past the water and my thoughts go, `Man, I wonder what they're doing in there. I wonder if there are any fish out there. I wonder how big they are.'''
Hearns (56-4-1, 43 knockouts) has bigger fish, or more precisely, arachnids, to fry tonight at the Civic Center (7:30, ESPN2 cable). He's facing Karl ``The Scorpion'' Willis (23-4, 17 KOs) in the 10-round main event of a card dubbed ``The Brawl Beneath the Star.'' (Complete card in Scoreboard. B4)
But why, at age 38, is Hearns fighting a relative unknown 10 years his junior in a town not known for boxing? One reason is to help Roanoke gain some recognition for its boxing. He's supporting the launch of the Roanoke City Boxing Association's youth program. Another reason is to begin his own boxing tour that will visit cities in the United States and perhaps around the world on a monthly basis.
``This fight here is to launch things, to show people we are serious, that this tour is very serious and it's going to work,'' Hearns said. ``It's going to be the biggest thing since boxing started. This thing is going to make boxing hot.''
Hearns has not fought in the past 14 months, but said he always planned on resuming his career. Some say he doesn't know when to quit. He says quitting never was a consideration. ``I never gave a thought, I never entertained a thought of not fighting,'' he said. ``Fighting is my love. Fighting is what gets me up in the morning.
``I'm not concerned. I know what my capabilities are. If I set my mind to it, I can do whatever I want to do.''
``He's a legend,'' Willis said. ``But if you want to be a legend, you've got to beat the legend.''
How legendary is Hearns? First, one must consider he is the only fighter to win world titles in five weight classes. Sugar Ray Leonard is the only other boxer to win five titles. Next, one should look at the legendary bouts Hearns has fought.
* He won the World Boxing Association welterweight belt (his first title) Aug.2, 1980, in his hometown of Detroit with a second-round knockout of Pipino Cuevas.
* He went 14 rounds with Leonard on Sept.16, 1981, before losing the welterweight belt.
* He beat Wilfred Benitez for the World Boxing Council super welterweight belt Dec.3, 1983, in New Orleans.
* He did something no one thought could be done when on June 15, 1984, he knocked out Roberto Duran in the second round to retain his belt.
* The first round of his April 15, 1985, bout against Marvin Hagler generally is considered the greatest round ever boxed.
* Hearns won five more belts before one of the greatest victories of his career, a 12-round decision over Leonard on June 12, 1989, that gave Hearns the WBC and World Boxing Organization 168-pound belts.
Willis arrived in Roanoke around midday Monday without his manager, Robert Moore. Moore wanted Willis to pursue another fight, but Willis relished the chance to get in the ring with Hearns. He faced the prospect of fighting tonight with no one in his corner. On Wednesday, he asked Roanoke's Willard Barbour, the trainer at Victory Gym, to be his corner man for the fight. Barbour agreed.
Willis' strange predicament, however, doesn't mean he should be overlooked. A high percentage of his victories have been by knockout, he has endurance drawn from his roots in kick boxing, and once went eight rounds with former WBC light heavyweight champion James ``Lights Out'' Toney. That fight, held March 20, 1995, ended only because of Willis' excessive bleeding.
``I'm prepared for the worst and I hope for the best,'' Willis said. ``I'm sure this is going to be the hardest fight he's had in his life, and he's fought some great fighters. I believe I can beat him. I know I can.''
Tickets are available at the civic center box office. VIP seats are $150, ringside seats are $90, box seats are $60, $30 buys a straight-on view of the ring and the building's corner seating areas are going for $15 a ticket.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON STAFF Thomas ``Hitman'' Hearns weighs inby CNBat 176 pounds Thursday according to Virginia State Boxing
Commissioner Doug Beavers. Hearns fights Karl ``The Scorpion''
Willis tonight.
2. chart - Brawl Beneath the Star.