My business, boxing,
I think it's a hard business.
And some of these kids that are saved by boxing,
they're already a little hardened
in certain ways of life.
MAN: How many of you have dope houses
in your neighborhood?
TEDDY: Quite frankly, there's a lack of fathers
and direction in this country.
MAN: Nobody cares about these kids, man.
These kids are lost.
MARVIN: My father, like a lot of kids
out there, you know,
my father never really raised us.
TEDDY: So, when you become a trainer,
you become a surrogate parent.
And every day you hope
that you did what you were supposed to,
so you don't betray their trust, quite frankly.
(HEARNS SPEAKING)
We're all like one, big, happy family.
TEDDY: It's a relationship that's as close
to being a parent as anything could be.
But there's a twist to it.
You're taking that kid now, and you're walking him
into a ring where he could get hurt.
That's the twist.
That's the paradox.
That's the thing about boxing.
(BIG BAND PLAYING)
You are about to witness the very exciting story
of a city and its people.
Well, I grew up in the city.
I was proud of it. Love Detroit.
When I was little, it was the Motor City.
Everyone knew us for cars.
People were working in the auto factories,
didn't need a high school diploma
to get a job.
They had not only one house, they had a vacation house.
They had a boat.
MAN: There was a time in the 60s
when Detroit was viewed
as the model city in America.
It wasn't like that in the eighties anymore.
STUART: The Japanese were starting to fabricate cars,
and Detroit was starting to have competition
for the first time.
And poverty hit the city.
NEWS READER: Ford alone has laid off 50,000 men
as car sales fell to their lowest level
in 21 years.
MAN: I'm trying to live the life of a upstanding,
respectable citizen in the United States
and can't get nothing.
No other major American city has been as hard hit.
by what the Republicans like to call
the Carter recession.
COLEMAN: Everything that might be asked for calls
for more money, and there is not more money available
in the city of Detroit.
STUART: Coleman Young loved boxing.
He opened up all these recreation centers
and he put boxing rings in these gyms,
like the Kronk Recreation Center.
REPORTER: And right here at this old gym are a group
of young people who fill all our hearts with pride.
They are the members of the Kronk boxing team,
truly a part of the heart of Detroit.
STUART: The Kronk Gym produced champions
and produced Cadillacs.
You could smell the room before you entered the room.
I mean, this assaulted all your senses.
First was the heat,
smell the sweat.
There were cockroaches on the walls
because of the heat and the sweat.
Then there was the sounds.
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
There was always someone yelling "Fresh meat,
"kick his ass!"
Kick his ass, come on.
JACKIE: I was a journalist.
and I went down there to do an interview.
And everyone's looking at me like,
"Who is this white lady sitting here?"
Double up on the jab.
REPORTER: Emanuel Steward runs the boxing program.
He is part taskmaster, part dream-maker.
Emanuel Steward goes into a blighted inner city
where there's a lot of poverty
and struggle and violence, and he sets up
a refuge for kids.
And, a lot of the cases, the kids have
no fathers home.
So I'm probably the closest image
to a father that a lot of them will have.
He seemed to have an ability
to really connect with fighters.
Tommy is, I think, the best example of that.
PRESENTER: The respective champions can
no longer duck Thomas Hearns.
His unblemished record and 26 knockouts has
finally propelled him into a championship bout.
But it's not Durand he must contend with.
It's WBA title holder Pipino Cuevas.
PRESENTER: For Cuevas, this will be
the 12th defense of his title,
ten of which he's won by knockout.
PRESENTER: Hearns says he not only wants
to win this one for himself,
but also for the fans in the city of Detroit.
Edward, you know, do something
for my hometown people as well as for me, too.
Tommy was the right person to play that role
to give Detroit some hope.
You're unemployed, your family's broke up,
on the verge of being homeless.
But you can go to a Tommy Hearns fight
and boy, for that moment,
you want to think "Tommy can make it, I can make it.
"This is one of us.
"This is a guy from the neighborhood."
EMANUEL: He's aware that
he's more than just a fighter.
He is really representing a lot for Detroit.
It's almost like a movement, a religion or something,
that you can feel that's going on right now.
And, in a couple of occasions, we've had him
step out of the dressing room door
and he'd just look at the crowd
and they'd get so emotional, he'd have
to go back and sit down for a minute
(HEARNS SPEAKING)
JACKIE: This was Tommy's turn
to fight for a world title
and he stepped up.
COMMENTATOR: Oh, man, what a night this could be
with this guy, Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns.
Ladies and gentleman, on my left, from Detroit,
Michigan, Tommy Hearns.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(HEARNS SPEAKING)
INTERVIEWER: Is that one of the sad parts
in your life that he's not here to see you now?
Yes, well-
COMMENTATOR: Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns
in the white trunks,
to the left of your screen
and Pipino Cuevas, the reigning champion
in his 12th title defense.
Big looping left hook by Cuevas.
MAN: The Hearns-Cuevas fight, I didn't have
any idea who was going to win the fight,
because Cuevas was such an established champion
with a great chin.
But Tommy was fighting
for something bigger than a championship that day.
COMMENTATOR: Thomas ducks underneath that.
Off right hand. Oh, big right hand again!
Look at this shot. He's ready to go!
He's got him in big trouble.
Christodoulou having a good look.
Look at how he continues to make Cuevas miss,
even while he's throwing heavy blows.
Wow...
Look at him, looking to drop that big right hand.
(CROWD CHEERING)
He's able to get up.
And he stops the fight. He should.
Pipino Cuevas' legs are shot.
Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns,
the new WBA Welterweight champion of the world.
(HEARNS SPEAKING)
COMMENTATOR: And you have given Detroit
something to shout about.
They need to hero and you're it! Tell us.
I'm very happy to be here to perform for Detroit,
to do things that I have been doing.
As long as I have my mother and the city of Detroit, my
manager here Imanuel Steward, I always will do.
JACKIE: I can't explain how he grew that night.
He just had this look on his face like, "I did it."
(HEARNS SPEAKING)
MAN: The devastation in Detroit
made them more likely to need
and want to grasp on to someone as a hero.
Sports provides heroes for us.
Lord knows politics doesn't.
Good evening.
I'm here tonight to announce my intention
to seek the Republican nomination
for president of the United States.
I cannot and will not stand by
and see this great country destroy itself.
The cities were run down.
There were postindustrial societies.
Here comes Ronald Reagan.
REPORTER: Ronald Reagan is in Detroit now,
only hours away from becoming
the GOP's nominee for President.
(BLOWS WHISTLE)
I accept your nomination
for the presidency of the United States.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
BONNIE: Ronald Reagan, a divorced dad.
He makes himself visible as this sort of symbol
of the American family without irony.
All those aspects of civilized life that
we most deeply cherish,
freedom, the rule of law, economic prosperity
and opportunity.
All these depend upon the strength and
integrity of the family.
What it seems, he wants you to understand that
he believes is in a very
particular version of America
RONALD: Going around this country,
I think that I have found a great hunger in America
for a spiritual revival, for a return to traditions
and values that we once had.
Reagan's hearkening back to a mythical 1950s,
an era of prosperity and growth
before the civil rights movement ever happened.
REPORTER: Go here as everywhere.
The Negro finds himself in the lowest
of all income levels. He and his race have made
a brave struggle to better their lot.
MAN: So Reagan is dog whistling to the people
who are trained to hear it.
REAGAN: Families, as we've always thought of them,
are often not being formed,
and too often the mothers themselves are
only children.
As for the fathers, much of the time,
they're nowhere to be found.
MAN: The 80s is about some notion of wholesomeness.
Those who are winning in 80s understand that,
that New America
is using the morality police to dictate
who gets to have a platform.
That's a very particular character,
that you have to be.
TONI: My one on one guest
is one of the most charismatic personalities
in all of America.
Please welcome Mr. Sugar Ray Leonard.
(ALL CHEERING)
No fighter since Muhammad Ali
has captured the love and affection
of the people like Sugar Ray Leonard has.
He's the best boxer I ever saw.
He's the greatest boxer, ever known.
I just love him to death. He's one of the nicest,
sweetest young people.
LARRY: Ray Leonard had the magic of superstardom.
But when he fought with Durant,
he lost the fight.
When the world says he can be a superstar
and he hasn't actually proved it in the ring,
there are bound to be a lot of skeptics.
They see me sitting here and say,
"The kid's got it made."
But I'm here because of what I have accomplished
and you start from the basement,
you can, like, work your way up to the penthouse.
They used to say, "Well, Ray is a white collar
fighter." I'm far from that.
They have no idea how much work it took
for me to be who I became.
INTERVIEWER: Can I talk to you about the
paternity suit or is that...
Sure, no it's okay.
What happened there?
RAY: Well, I was training for the Olympics,
and I wasn't working.
And we needed some type of...
Cash.
Cash, right to take care of little Ray.
And the only way was to go through welfare.
I think a young lady can't get welfare
unless they don't know
whereabouts of the father.
So you know, we said I'm lost.
She don't know where I'm at.
And that's the way we support little Ray.
The way welfare was set up is that you couldn't
have a man in your house.
If they came in and saw a belt,
a pair of shoes, a hat,
then you got cut off.
RAY: She comes to Montreal to see me fight.
Cameras click and everything,
they put one and one together.
Get home. Boom.
Ray, he left Canada coming back home,
thinking he was gonna have a
ticker tape parade. And man, when he got back
to Washington DC,
the media gave him the blues
for having a baby out of wedlock.
I think it made better news than it did in Montreal.
But I think they blew it out of proportion.
I think it could've been handled in a more,
you know, private way.
Fame, it's not what it's all cracked up to be,
because you are criticized.
Your so called friends turn against you.
It's true. Leonard was the gold boy.
What you don't see is before that,
Leonard was a kid that had nothing.
You don't see that hardship.
When you do see it, you see it in a ring.
In this sport, majority of us
come from poor beginnings.
You know, I lived in a ghetto, poverty,
what have you. But poverty
it was like middle class to Roberto Duran.
What I saw where he grew up in Panama,
I had a lot of respect for where he's been.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
(CONTINUES SPEAKING SPANISH)
(CONTINUES SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
REPORTER: Roberto Duran was a folk hero
in Panama even before he became
the Welterweight champion of the world.
The Panamanians love him.
In a little country known mainly for its canal,
Duran is a flesh and blood
international success story. Up from poverty
to win a reported million and a half dollars,
when he took the ceremonial belt of championship away
from Sugar Ray Leonard
He told the crowd welcoming him home,
that belt does not belong to him.
"It actually belongs to you," he said.
"My people, for whom I fought."
It was hard swallowing that pill of defeat,
my first loss.
So I told myself, I'm gonna get him back.
I want to fight Duran again.
I really do. My way.
So will he give Leonard a rematch?
Why not?
If there's money.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Carlos Eleta and myself have discussed a rematch
with Sugar Ray Leonard,
and we feel that to have a
rematch would be the best thing
in the world for us if he
really wants this title back,
and I think he deserves an opportunity to get it.
My trainer, who was representing Ray,
made a deal with King,
so he and Carlos Eleta carve up a ton of money
and they offered Duran a decent price,
but nothing what was on the table.
And Duran doesn't want to do it because... he's
partying back in Panama,
and he's outta shape, but they forced him
into the fight.
(DURAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
I studied Duran and I knew he put on weight
very fast after each fight because Duran would go up
from 147 which is Welterweight
to 200 pounds.
ARCEL: You ever see how a dog eats fast?
That's the way Duran eats.
He was a compulsive eater,
because he had denied himself all his life.
(DURAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
I will fight different than the last time,
and I will be much much stronger in this fight.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
I am the champion.
For him to beat me, he gonna have to fight.
It's gonna be a totally different fight.
I have the same desire to win as I always had.
And I really want the title, bad.
Boxing seems to always have a connection
with the battles going on in life,
whatever corner you happen to be in.
The 1980 presidential campaign
is off to a stormy start.
We don't have no black candidates for president,
so it's up to us to choose the right white.
(CROWD CHEERING)
Mr. Carter for me, is the right man.
Top Carter strategists are surprisingly
confident about November, they really believe
that Reagan has dug his own grave
with years of extremist statements,
he's an actor who wasn't
smart enough to be president.
What are you gonna do for us?
I can't do a damn thing for you
if I don't get elected.
Reagan comes along and says, "Your life is falling apart.
"Your family is falling apart," which was true.
Single parent families are
twice as common in America today
as they were 20 years ago.
I didn't have a father. My father wasn't at home.
Male figures are not substantially
important in this family.
PROF WOLFF: But what did Mr. Reagan say was
destroying the family?
Government welfare.
Misconceptions of the welfare program have been
based to some degree on racial thought
that the welfare program
was primarily designed for worthless citizens
who didn't want to support themselves.
In Chicago, they found a woman who holds the record.
She used 80 names to collect food stamps,
Social security, as well as welfare.
What Reagan does, is to say that there are some people
who are finding ways to make it
so that they never have to work,
he was making it sound
as though loose morals had led to this outcome.
I had a single black mother who was on welfare.
You start to see this person who is doing the very best
she can to take care of you
being villainized politically.
PROF WOLFF: The notion that poor people on welfare
and especially non-white ones
were ripping off the system,
had enough resonance to the mass of people,
and the Democrats had no idea what to do.
Let us pledge to each other with
this great lady looking on,
we will make America great again.
Thank you very much
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(CROWD CHANTING) Four more years!
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING)
Next Tuesday is election day.
Next Tuesday, all of you will make a decision.
COMMENTATOR: We are back at ringside in the
New Orleans Superdome.
I'm in the ring and I'm so focused,
I'm so ready for him.
And who sings America The Beautiful?
My namesake, Ray Charles and I glance over at Duran,
I was like, man, you in trouble.
This is America, baby.
COMMENTATOR: ...into the ring, in just one moment.
(SINGING)
(CROWD CHEERING)
MAN: The message seems to be a loss to face
across the country for Jimmy Carter.
REPORTER: It's an astonishing success story
for the man who once described himself
as the Cary Grant of the B movies.
REPORTER: A man brought up on simple
Midwestern values,
a man whose films have good guys and bad guys,
who wore different colored hats.
(SINGING INDISTINCTLY)
Your troubles are over now and mine have just begun.
Well, the time has come.
REPORTER: By a landslide,
Ronald Reagan, President elect...
REPORTER: The Republican challenger
has won a landslide
electoral victory over President Carter.
It is also a major victory
for conservative thought in America.
REAGAN: Those who say that we're in a time
when there are no heroes,
they just don't know where to look.
COMMENTATOR: If that rendition didn't cause a
chill along your spine,
I don't suppose anything could.
When Ray Charles finished singing,
he came over to me, gave me a big hug, big kiss.
He said, "Kick his ass."
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(BELL RINGS)
ANNOUNCER: The action begins.
Leonard already showing more movement
than he showed in the first fight.
Leonard covering, as Duran is the aggressor.
Good fight by Leonard.
Hook right. Stunned Duran.
Duran in a fury.
Now, that's the way Duran wants to get him.
Leonard continues his move.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(CROWD CHEERING INTENSIFIES)
...and Leonard got away from the rope,
with an upper cut,
and Duran trying to keep him against the rope.
Duran trying to fight inside.
I remember sitting in the Superdome in New Orleans
and I had picked Duran to win the rematch.
It was pretty close fight on the cards.
Duran was down on maybe one or two rounds.
COMMENTATOR: It's very tough to score
a fight between these two men.
Duran has not been able to score
the way he did last time around.
I boxed him. I use my hand speed.
I used all my physical attributes,
but he was a great boxer.
He was very elusive.
My brother, Roger.
It was his thought that if I made fun of Duran,
Duran would be really, really mad.
Because when you laugh at a guy like Duran,
you know he couldn't take that
and I played on that.
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING)
LEONARD: The fans were laughing because I was
sticking my chin out,
doing the bolo punches.
Roberto Duran was like a...
was like a like a bully
and a bully would do
one or two things, if challenged.
He will punch you out or he will run away.
COMMENTATOR: Hey, what's happening?
What is he saying?
Duran has quit!
Roberto Duran has quit!
There can be no other explanation.
Pandemonium in the ring.
And the famous Duran has quit
STEVE: You see everybody's head in the press section
turn to the guy next to him,
"Did I just see that?" "Did that really happen?"
The idea that any great fighter
would do that was hard to digest.
But the idea that Duran did it
was even harder to understand.
COMMENTATOR: Well, this puts
a new light on things.
Were you surprised when he suddenly surrendered?
I didn't, because if I kept him confused,
he'd figure me out.
Leonard understood
the strength of Duran's background
could also be the weakness.
From where Duran came from
that's not how you wanna fight.
Ray had humiliated this street kid
and something in him popped.
(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
We're in the dressing room with Roberto Duran
and his interpreter and agent Luis Henriquez.
He got cramps in his stomach
and his upper body
and then his arms and he got weaker.
So that's why he stopped.
He quit the bout.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(CROWD CHEERING)
TEDDY: It is harder to quit than it is to fight.
When you quit, you are confined
to a prison.
You know what the prison's name is?
Regret... And that's eternal.
MAN: I remember very vividly Ray Arcel,
and the look on his face.
It was almost as if he had lost a close family member.
He looked like a broken man
and it was very sad to a man his age like that.
I was absolutely astounded.
I wish I could give you an honest answer
about what really happened.
Well, I appreciate your honesty
in expressing your puzzlement
over the behavior.
I'm sorry it ended this way, Ray.
All right, Howard.
You've always been very kind to us
and we have to tell you the truth
and if I knew more about it,
I'd be glad to relay it to you.
Good luck to you, old friend.
Thank you.
I'd had enough.
And I wrote Duran a letter
and I told him,
"A good book has a beginning
"and there's always an end.
"If you'll retire now,
"nobody can tell me
"that you weren't one of the greatest fighters
I ever saw."
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
There were stories that he was told,
"Don't come home.
"There are people who'll stone you to death."
They'd bet their homes,
they'd bet everything they had.
They had very little...
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
And then you do this?
(CROWD EXCLAIMING)
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MAN: This is pure American history.
(READING)
This is where the pilgrim fathers
first set foot on American soil.
It's also where Marvin Hagler trained.
I think that fighters have to be hungry.
When you have nothing else,
this is the only thing you know.
That is what you gotta be the best at.
Feed the faith
and starve the doubt.
MAN: Hagler is the eldest of six children
raised in a ghetto of Newark, New Jersey.
Abandoned by their father,
brought by their mother to the safety
of Brockton, Massachusetts.
MARVIN: I grew up in a Black community
and we never had anything.
Kids in the ghetto, they'd have to do something
to be able to help provide for your family.
This is what keeps you working hard.
His mother was a single mother
struggling to feed her family
and Marvin had to help her.
He had his first kid when he was 16.
When he got up to Brockton, he met Bertha
and she had two kids from her,
previous relationship.
who Marvin really became a father to.
Marvin Hagler was all around boxing.
He could box, he could slug,
Once he got you hurt,
he was dangerous.
He was hard on himself.
(MUMBLING INAUDIBLY)
It was all about the work for him.
And he and the Petronellis who were his trainers
would get themselves in a position
where it was a Spartan existence
and he would simply work on getting ready
for the fight.
MARVIN: Even when I'm tired,
I have to keep working, keep pushing.
I'd practice and practice and practice right here
'cos on fight night,
everything's got to come out perfect.
He keeps away from his family for a month and
a half to two months.
He doesn't want to see his wife and kids.
That's the deal they have.
If they tried to come down, he just won't allow it.
WOMAN: Back in Brockton, Massachusetts,
there was a family growing up
for long stretches without Marvin Hagler.
He was away when his son Marvin Jr was born,
and he was away three weeks ago
when his wife gave birth to Charelle Monique.
But for Hagler,
this was the price of glory.
MARVIN: I jumped about ten feet in the air
hearing that it was a girl.
And I just really couldn't train right.
You know, I was too happy to train,
if you know what I'm trying to say.
His wife is very nice, Bertha,
and she understand him,
she knows what boxing's all about.
The kids, you know, she knows daddy's out there
making a living.
They do what's best for daddy.
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
Startling knockout by Marvin Hagler.
I think the crucial thing in Marvin's career
is the trust that existed between him and Pat
and Goody Petronelli.
They were very good to him.
He's been with us since he was 15-years-old.
He worked for our construction company.
And it took Marvin quite a few years to realize
that we were for real.
He's not a trusting person.
He's suspicious by nature,
especially with white people.
MARVIN: They're goodhearted people.
They're hardworking people.
They kinda helped raise me in a sense.
They taught me what life was about.
I'm able to open up to them and they're still
very honest to me.
I love 'em like a father
and I asked them just one thing
and that's not to hurt me.
We're the triangle. There's Marvin, there's myself
and my brother Pat.
There's nothing stronger than the triangle, is there?
PAT: Mentally, the toughest fight for Marvin
was his fight with Vito Antuofermo.
To Marvin, it felt right along
that if he didn't win this title,
he would never get the second chance.
We all thought he won it 21 out of 22.
Sports writers thought he won it, but it wasn't to be.
MARVIN: I thought I won the fight.
I thought Antuofermo should
have gave me another title fight,
but instead he fought Alan Minter.
I went back to work,
knocked out about three or four different guys
to put myself in that position
where they could not deny me.
In rather less than six hours from now,
this ring behind me here at the Wembley Arena
will be filled with the
World Middleweight Championship.
Since Hagler arrived in this country,
there's been quite a war of words going on
with some racist overturns in them.
Minter made an unfortunate remark
very early on in training
about not going to have his title taken away
by a Black chap.
He later revised it slightly.
African American men were encouraged to fight
when they were enslaved.
If the master could depend on you to win his bets,
that was a way that you got status,
maybe got a little bit of money.
One of the things of enslavement was about
was stripping men constantly of their masculinity.
Jack Johnson won the Heavyweight
Championship in 1908.
And as a result of his victory,
Jack London, a famous journalist,
issued this call
to wipe the golden smile off this guy's face.
And that became the call for the great white hope.
BONNIE: Jack Johnson, the first African American
World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
The biggest fear of White America
because Black men are supposed to be weak.
He also marries white women, you've done like
the ultimate taboo.
My dad grew up in the segregated south.
There's no way my dad wasn't identifying
with Sugar Ray Robinson kicking some
white man's behind in a ring.
That was the thrill of it
seeing some white guy being pummeled.
MARVIN: I cannot let this guy stand.
I gotta kill him.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
Minter says, "Come on. Fight."
And Minter's hitting nothing but air right now.
Minter is hit, and there's blood over his eye!
It's only the third round and Hagler is all over him.
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
He fought his fight.
When Minter tried to mix it up,
he had no chance at all.
(BELL DINGS)
The fight stopped. It's over that quickly.
The Middleweight Champion of the World
is Marvin Hagler.
That quickly.
Now bottles are being thrown into the ring.
British fans are upset that the fight was stopped.
REPORTER: There's a fight starting over Hagler.
Somebody's attacking him, and there is chaos here.
Absolute chaos.
The worst scenes we've ever seen at Wembley
in any boxing ring in this country.
And these scenes are a shame
and a disgrace to British boxing.
INTERVIEWER: Marvin, congratulations.
That was some performance!
Thank you very much.
It's well-deserved, I know that.
Believe me, it didn't come easy.
It was a one-sided beating, a crushing loss for Minter,
and saying the things he said before the fight
and then getting so
summarily destroyed like that
really makes you look like a fool.
INTERVIEWER: What did you
think about those bad scenes afterwards?
Well, they just showed me
how famous that I was. (CHUCKLES)
They hit me three times with bottles,
and they, uh, bounced a couple off my brother.
But we were covering Marvin, going to the dress room
under police protection, and they were calling him
all kinds of names regarding his color.
MARVIN: I'm glad to bring Alan Minter
back down to Earth.
A champion has to keep his feet on the ground.
And that's what it's all about.
Being able to still be the same person that you are.
That's what maintains your goal and, uh,
and will keep you level-headed.
It's almost fitting that
Marvin didn't get a chance to celebrate
the way a champion would
want to celebrate in the ring,
'cause he was dodging bottles.
He didn't get a chance to raise his hand
and do a lap around the ring.
Just, that wasn't Marvin.
This is where it belongs.
(ALL CHEERING)
I wanna be able to keep this belt until I figure
that I'm ready to give it up.
And that's the only way they gonna get it,
is when I'm ready to give it up.
Believe it.
(MAN SINGING) Middleweight champion of all.
Brockton, your town has its flags
All unfurled on your long Hard climb
To be champion Delays you had were a shame
Now we're up, up, up
At the top of the all-high day
(CHEERING)
Marvin! Marvin! Marvin! Marvin! Marvin! Marvin!
Hagler was not a star.
He was recognized as a really good champion,
but he didn't have buzz about him.
There are the four kings, right?
The Beatles. And Marvin Hagler.
He's like Ringo. (CHUCKLES)
MALE COORDINATOR: Wanna take a picture,
have your camera ready.
NEWS PRESENTER: We have gone through
the Rocky Marciano era,
The Joe Louis era, the Muhammad Ali era,
and now, the Sugar Ray Leonard era.
Hey, how you doing huh? Look at how scared are you.
And when we return, we'll take a look at a young man,
who wants to start an era of his own.
Hi, I'm Thomas "Hitman" Hearns.
And I'm here to tell you,
I love my Waterbed Gallery waterbed.
ANNOUNCER: At Waterbed Gallery,
we believe you should, too.
MAN: I think how you respond to
success can be largely
determined by what fuels you.
Tommy was gonna enjoy the trappings of celebrity
because of where he came from.
I always tell the story about when you
bought your first car.
You brought your little checkbook with you.
HEARNS: Yeah.
And drove off in your new Corvette.
I was so proud of you that day.
JACKIE: They were.
MAN: Merry Christmas!
HEARNS: This is your house.
WOMAN: Hi, fool. What is... (CHUCKLES)
You know, this your house.
What? This is not my house!
BOY: She think-- She think this the mayor house.
It was just so wonderful to watch him
enjoy everything that he earned.
He was able to do things
that he never dreamt he could ever do.
For Tommy to drive around in
a Rolls Royce, and having a yacht,
it was like watching a little kid on Christmas
open up all his presents.
I have proved my ability.
So far, just one man I have to fight to
really prove how good a boxer really I am.
And everybody know that's Ray.
Angelo Dundee famously said, "Let it cook for a while,"
and he was right.
JACKIE: So, we had to create that demand for the fight.
After Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard
had fought in New Orleans, Tommy Hearns was there.
He threw a chicken at Ray Leonard, said,
"You're a chicken, Leonard. You won't fight me."
MAN: What Thomas had going for him was, he was seen as,
probably the hardest puncher in boxing.
And you can't help but project,
"What happens if he hits Ray Leonard with
a punch like that?"
You-you can't help but think.
In those days, there were only two championships.
Leonard had the WBC title, Hearns had the WBA title.
They were two young Americans,
tremendous fighters.
All signs pointed to a showdown.
It was just a question of when and for how much.
LEONARD: I'll be more than happy to
accommodate Tommy Hearns
when he reach the same stature and virtue
of a Roberto Duran.
When it gets tangible enough for me to fight,
then we will fight.
I think Tom Hearns is one of
the greatest fighters of all time.
Hitman number one.
Thomas Hearns.
Tommy Hearns.
And Thomas Hearns.
When will Sugar Ray fight Tommy Hearns?
I've been trying to convince boxing critics that
I'm a legitimate fighter.
They consider me, uh, network-made
something that TV made up.
Yeah, I want that title bad.
And going forward, I'm going to take it.
And next will be Mr. Hearns.
Mike, I will do the number on Tommy Hearns.
No, I know reality.
You know, I think that, uh, Ray's had his day.
We've had to come on the back street
when he was coming down the main street,
but we've still arrived at the same destination.
TV ANNOUNCER: What is expected to be the richest
fight in boxing history
as Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, and "Sugar" Ray Leonard
will be fighting for the sole possession
of the Welterweight Championship of the World.
The anticipation was so great that we had
plane-loads of people
from Detroit that went out there, and a lot of betting
on Tommy.
Just before the fight started.
Thomas Hearns became the favorite
because of the people from Detroit coming in
and actually betting money.
MAN: We've got Hearns as a favorite right now.
Now that takes a great deal of activity,
a great deal of betting on Hearns
to change our price from one favorite to the other.
JACKIE: I wagered a lot of money, a lot of money.
I had no doubt that he was gonna win.
COMMENTATOR: There is "Sugar" Ray Leonard as he
comes down towards the ring
surrounded by his entourage, security people,
the inevitable Angelo Dundee.
Tommy Hearns is now coming down
towards the ring.
His greatest weapons, a tremendous punching power.
Tommy Hearns annihilated his opponent,
just knocked them cold.
Everyone figured that I had no chance against Tommy.
COMMENTATOR: For Leonard, the motivation
of fighter's pride
to establish to the public that he is truly great.
Hearns is desperate for recognition that
"Sugar" Ray Leonard has already banked.
It was a frenzy. Anyone that was anyone was there.
You see all the celebrities.
They trekked down from the mountains, why?
For me, it's because they want a peek.
They want a peek at something real,
and maybe they get hope from it.
Hope that by watching this
that maybe it'll rub off on them.
Maybe they could be braver,
and I think that's the magic of it.
The prevailing wisdom going in was that
Ray was the boxer, Tommy was the puncher.
What we didn't understand at the time was that
Hearns' threat to Leonard was not as a puncher,
but it was as a boxer.
If you look at Thomas Hearns' career,
the entirety of it,
nobody ever out-boxed him.
Those who tried, failed.
(BELL DINGS)
COMMENTATOR: Now, for round one.
Hearns trying to get to Leonard from afar with that
long reach advantage.
Hearns, a little short for this combination.
There's Leonard landing the first good contact
blow of the bout.
Left hook by Hearns got to the ear of Leonard.
(BELL RINGS)
You see that?
Leonard thawing at Hearns' little space after the bell
inciting Hearns' reaction.
All three judges scored round one for Thomas Hearns.
(BELL RINGS)
Round two underway.
He started to box me which to me was like,
I didn't know he could do this.
I dominated him. I showed
Ray what boxing was really about.
(CROWD CHEERING)
COMMENTATOR: Hearns posturing and Hearns caught
Leonard with a good right.
He's controlling the fight with his jab.
Ray's eye is swelling up.
COMMENTATOR: Look at the intensity in Leonard's eyes.
Hearns, the aggressor all the way.
Hearns getting ready for a bolo punch
In the manner that Leonard did against Duran.
(BELL RINGING)
Even though Thomas was slightly ahead
I was never relaxed.
Ray Leonard was a lot stronger
than most people realize.
I knew the explosion was
going to happen sooner or later.
What I like about Leonard is the way he can adapt
to situations.
I'll explain something to him in the next round...
He'll do it
COMMENTATOR: Leonard hurt Hearns.
Leonard's going again. Look at Hearns.
He almost went down.
(BELL RINGING)
Hearns very shaky.
Going back to his corner, he can barely stand up.
A minute or sometimes less that you get
between rounds,
it could be crucial.
You've got to be able to tell him exactly what to do
to save him because he's coming back
looking for some kind advice.
Normally if I hurt an opponent,
I have the ability to finish him off,
but he surprised me.
(BELL RINGS)
COMMENTATOR: Look at Hearns, moving,
trying to be the boxer.
Now Hearns can see him taking charge.
Not the type of fight everyone expects.
Hearns is beginning
to get confident, beginning to get aggressive.
And a strange turn again after Ray Leonard just
had three excellent rounds.
Suddenly he just stopped
and he let Tommy Hearns back into it here.
Scored it easily for Hearns,
as did the judges.
(CROWD SHOUTING)
Can hear some of the crowd in the background
cheering, "Tommy, Tommy,
Tommy", obviously fans from Detroit.
What a different fighter he's become.
The confidence brimming over,
leading the crowd.
(BELL RINGS)
Hearns comes out, sensing he's in charge.
Who would have thought that Hearns might win this fight
as a boxer.
Leonard moves in, adds a front hook.
When you're losing, you're so exhausted
and you're so pounded up. So beat up.
Your lungs are burning.
Your legs are tired and everything.
And you've given up.
Hearns just kicking the shit out of him.
I mean, he's hurting him.
And Leonard's never been hurt.
It's bad.
You can't get out.
That was a hell of a fight, man.
He was out of it.
Tommy had beat him to a pulp.
(BELL RINGS)
COMMENTATOR: Ray Leonard needs a knockout
to win this championship.
He closed my left eye. so I could barely see.
Tommy had a heart of gladiator warrior.
He's trying to bomb on me.
Go work on him. Outbox him, outsmart him.
Keep your right hand up. I gotta tell you
to keep your hands up?
(BELL RINGS)
Muhammad Ali told me many years ago.
He said, "Ray, when I fought Joe Frazier,
it was the closest thing to death."
And I couldn't quite understand that
I couldn't digest that.
The fight with Tommy Hearns,
it was the closest thing to death.
The key is having someone who's composed.
And Angelo Dundee was that guy who was in my corner,
who said the perfect sound bite...
You got nine minutes.
When Angelo said, "You're blowing it now,
son, you're blowing it."
I knew what he meant.
He said the right things at the right time.
Angelo was magic in that way.
Every time you say yes, to training a fighter,
you got a kid again.
It's a big responsibility.
Angelo Dundee, he was calm amongst the flames.
That's what made Angelo so great,
he was the protector.
This is it. This is the time, it's now or never.
I got off that stool.
I don't know how it happened but it happened.
(BELL RINGS)
COMMENTATOR: Leonard's left eye
in terrible condition.
Leonard trying to get back. And it's Hearns!
Hearns, ready to go.
I hit him, I hurt him, and never let up.
COMMENTATOR: Hold on, he's going to go.
Hearns is ready to go.
And he indeed he goes, to the ropes.
He said, that was no knockdown.
Hearns is through Leonard's defense.
You can talk all you want about pretty boy
and the rest with Ray,
at heart he was a mean, nasty mf.
People didn't like him because they thought
he had an easier path.
But that was happenstance.
The Hearns fight proves he was more than that.
COMMENTATOR: The ropes keep him up.
Five seconds left.
(BELL RINGS)
Suddenly, from nowhere, embarrassment for
Sugar Ray Leonard.
That's it! Sugar Ray Leonard has won by
a technical knockout
in the 14th round, if ever a man
proved himself.
I don't believe this.
I don't believe that either,
Hearns was way ahead on points,
It was too great a fight for him to be stopped.
I was devastated.
Tommy was devastated.
All of us were in disbelief.
We cried. I mean, we actually cried.
We couldn't believe what we were seeing.
The fans. I mean, they were...
Some of them were pissed.
This is a tough sport. When you win,
everybody's on your phone, at the door,
but when you lose, you lose everybody
It was the first and only time that
we had emotional problems between us, Thomas and I.
You know, every time I look at that fight,
it makes me sick.
Nothing personally including death, in my family,
hurt me as much as that fight.
I brought it up for my guts,
you know, from the bottom of my heart,
I knew I had pulled out
because I have a lot of people.
Not only around the world, but especially at home,
it won't be losing so bad.
I had to do this and I had
to do this for real, and I did it.
That was one of the best fights of his life.
We all thought Ray Leonard still have plenty to give,
and he certainly felt it.
You know, that's the thing about boxing.
It's the thing about these four Kings.
You just never know.
But after the Tommy Hearns fight, his eyes busted up.
And, of course, a few months later, we find out suddenly,
because of the injury he had,
Ray Leonard would never compete again.
At that moment, it looked like the end of Ray Leonard.
MAN: The charismatic and cocky Leonard walks away
with eight million dollars,
and America's heart.
Champions tend to have some kind of deeper reserve.
Leonard certainly had it where that came from,
that deep well of resolve,
it's hard to say.
There was something else beneath all that flash,
the good looks.
There's a Pitbull dog hidden in there.
You know, we just, we never saw a Pitbull dog that
smiled like that.
That was that handsome.
I, Ronald Reagan do solemnly swear that I will faithfully
execute the office
of president of the United States.
In a context where morality is being used
to create a new America,
playing a role becomes important, and that role
doesn't always align with how you actually are.
I was Sugar Ray Leonard.
I had the money and the fame, everything,
but I was a lousy dad.
I didn't know how to be a father,
didn't know how to be a husband.
There was a void in my stomach, in my heart.
I couldn't explain it I couldn't articulate,
because I kept everything to myself.
The only time I didn't have low self esteem
was in that ring.
I think it was kind of a
split personality, if you will.
I'm Sugar Ray in the ring,
outside the ring, I'm Ray Leonard.
I never think that
a guy's capable of defeating them.
I think the only person capable of defeating
Ray Leonard is himself.
Hard times Spreading just like the flu
You know I caught it Just like you
Price is going up The dollar's down
You got me falling To the ground
Turn around get ready Check out the tide
Get ready all people For the future shot
Hard times, hard times
To the grave
I get funky