Sugar Ray put some hits on the Hitman ABC Sports Online

Sugar Ray Leonard
To unify the title was major. Even though I had beaten (Wilfred) Benitez, regained my title against Roberto Duran, I was given respect, but not totally. Critics saw me as a white-collar fighter and Tommy Hearns as blue-collar. So to beat Tommy was the one that would take me to the next level as far as true acceptance, total acceptance.

	Sugar Ray Leonard was trailing on all scorecards when he knocked out Thomas Hearns in the 14th round.

There was I time when I said to myself, "What have I gotten myself into?" Tommy's punches were explosive. He would get so much leverage behind his punches that he would totally blow guys out of the war. I mean he would just knock guys out. I knocked guys out, but the guys would just fall straight. Tommy hit guys, the guys would fall 15 [LAUGHS], 20 feet across the ring. Tommy was that explosive. He had some of the most beautiful and dramatic knockouts in boxing history.

ABC Sports
Big, tall, lanky, strong guy. This was another big challenge for you?

Leonard
It was a challenge against a guy who was a freak of nature. Tommy was big, fast, and powerful. Tommy had every physical attribute that would make a fighter feared. He would put fear in a guy. When you stand in the middle of the ring and you're given instructions by the referee, you realize what you're up against, you say, "Holy cow, where'd this guy come from?"

ABC Sports
The script was written even before you guys stepped into the ring. Sugar Ray Leonard, the artist, the boxer, against Tommy Hearns, the puncher, the knockout artist. But the way that the roles flip-flopped is incredible. Do you feel that this plays to why that fight is so memorable and such a classic?

Leonard
The ebb and flow was incredible. I had no mirror or a crystal ball to tell me what was going to happen. I knew I would win. And Tommy felt he would win. I study a fighter's personality, his pet peeves and whatever, and I play off that. I knew the first few rounds Tommy would be tight, both of us would be tight, but also quicker. My plan was to box him the first few rounds, and to make him loosen up. And I was doing that. The first round I kept playing and playing, keeping my hands up, moving away from him. He couldn't really hit me with a big shot. So when the bell sounded for the first round, I said, "Gotcha". I tapped him on his forehead and he kind of punched me in my chin. I figured he was hurt and I said, "Oh, I got you now," and I was really trying to throw him off. I really was trying to frustrate him, make him mad. That was the key, making him mad.

ABC Sports
By the sixth and seventh round, you drilled him. You landed him with some of your biggest punches ever.

Leonard
When I finally became more flat-footed I rocked him with a left hook. I realized I was punching just as hard as Tommy. He realized that, too and I just chased him down. I just chased him down and that's when he became a boxer. That's when he displayed that he's more than a puncher, a slugger, but he was a boxer -- a pretty good one too. Very elusive, very difficult to catch up with because he was so tall, so lanky, so quick with his hands.

ABC Sports
Were you surprised at that point, that for four rounds he was up on his toes, sticking, jabbing and moving? Were you surprised by that?

Leonard
I don't know if I was surprised, but I knew he was capable of doing those things. I was tired in the middle rounds and the late rounds. We were both fatigued, we threw a lot of shots. We took a lot of shots, and the weather was also a factor. It was hot. It had to be over a hundred degrees in the rain. So, after five rounds, six rounds, seven, eight, that's when it's getting about heart. And Tommy showed big heart, like he always has in the past. It was a tough fight.

ABC Sports
Did you know that you were losing the fight going into the 12th round?

Leonard
Did I know if I was losing? I knew it was a close fight. I had moments of good, solid punches, connection and combinations thrown. Tommy threw some good shots so, I didn't really know. All I wanted to do was end the fight. But at one point Angelo Dundee did yell to me, he said, "You know, you're blowing it, son, you're blowing it," because there were times when Tommy came on too strong and I would not retaliate. So I knew that it was too close for comfort.

ABC Sports
Did Angelo strike a chord with you, did you know that you had to go out and do something special in the few rounds that were left?

Leonard: Oh, yes, he very much put in perspective. I sat there exhausted, spent, hurting. My lungs were burning. My legs were tired. I just wanted to take a nice nap. I was so tired and weary, but I was so determined. I looked up at Tommy and Tommy was spent, too. But he kept coming back. Tommy had his moments also, so it was a tough fight. It was just one of those fights that no one's giving up. I knew he wouldn't give up, and he knew I wouldn't give up so it was just a matter of pushing forward.

ABC Sports
Where do you find that reserve again?

Leonard
I think we all possess that extra hidden reservoir of strength. We all have that. But I think, the difference is what activates it. Angelo Dundee activated it. When he said to me, "You're blowing it, son", that precise moment, [SNAPS FINGERS] triggered that activation and made me go. I threw a lot of punches after that point. I threw a lot of punches.

ABC Sports
Now in the 14th you hit him with a big right hand along the ropes and he was just staggering. You wanted Davy Pearl to stop it. You were waving at him.

Leonard
I actually got that from Ali. When Ali used to hurt a guy, Ali would tell the referee, "Come on, come on, stop this fight, stop this fight." I got it from him. And, because Tommy was not committed or punching back, I was throwing body shots and I was ripping shots to his mid-section. But you know what, Tommy still was in the fight. But it wasn't until I got him into to the ropes and threw a combination that from the head to the body to the side, that Davy Pearl just said this is it.

ABC Sports
It was in one of those two rounds there that Howard Cosell yelled it out. "Sugar Ray Leonard. Some media creation, huh?"

Leonard
I heard that. I've seen the tape a thousand times. But, that fight there gave me the stamp of approval that I was indeed a real fighter. That I was indeed a guy who could get knocked down and come back strong, a guy who could come back after being handicapped with a shut eye or whatever. I was a real fighter that had heart. I had toughness.