Thomas Hearns Career: Amateur Start to World Titles

Thomas Hearns was born on 18 October 1958 in Memphis, Tennessee, stood six feet one inch tall and trained under Emanuel Steward. His recorded professional record reads 60 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw, with 47 wins by knockout. This page walks through the main stages of that career.

Amateur years

Hearns appeared in several major amateur events in the mid-1970s. In 1976 he lost on points to Aaron Pryor in a Golden Gloves lightweight bout, and at the national AAU lightweight (132 lb) tournament he beat Howard Jones. In 1977 he moved up to welterweight, outpointed Bobby Joe Young to take the Golden Gloves title and beat Ronnie Shields in the national Golden Gloves semi-finals. At the national AAU welterweight event he beat Young again and was voted fighter of the tournament.

Turning professional

His first professional fight came on 25 November 1977, a second-round knockout of Jerome Hill. He fought often over the next two years, and most early wins ended inside three rounds. Two 10-round decisions in 1979, against Alfonso Hayman and Mike Colbert, were among the few that went the distance in that period, while knockouts of Clyde Gray, Sammy Rockard and Segundo Murillo took longer than usual.

The 1980s: titles and big nights

• 1980: In August he stopped Jose Cuevas in two rounds to win the WBA welterweight title, then defended it against Luis Primera, Randy Shields and Pablo Baez.
• 1981: He challenged Ray Leonard for the world welterweight title and lost by knockout in round 14.
• 1982: A 15-round decision over Wilfred Benitez gave him the WBC junior middleweight title.
• 1984: He kept that belt by beating Luigi Minchillo on points, then knocked out Roberto Duran in two rounds, and later stopped Fred Hutchings.
• 1985: He fought Marvelous Marvin Hagler for the world middleweight title and lost in the third round.
• 1986: More defences followed, including a win over Mark Medal.
• 1987: He won the WBC light heavyweight title by stopping Dennis Andries in round ten, then the WBC middleweight title against Juan Roldan in October.
• 1988: Iran Barkley took the middleweight belt with a third-round knockout, and later that year Hearns beat James Kinchen to win the WBO super middleweight title.
• 1989: A rematch with Leonard for the WBC super middleweight title ended in a 12-round draw.

The 1990s

In 1990 Hearns defended the WBO super middleweight title against Michael Olajide. In 1991 he beat Virgil Hill over twelve rounds to win the WBA light heavyweight title, then lost it to Iran Barkley on points in 1992. After that his fights became less frequent, with a run of mostly early finishes against lesser opposition, until 1999, when a 12-round decision over Nate Miller gave him the IBO cruiserweight title.

Later comeback

An April 2000 bout against Uriah Grant was stopped in the second round because of injury and went into the record as a loss. After a gap of five years Hearns returned in 2005 and won by technical knockout over John Long in round eight. In February 2006 he beat Shannon Landberg by technical knockout in round ten, the last fight listed on the archived record.

Summary

Over three decades Hearns won recognised titles in welterweight, junior middleweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight classes, depending on the body counting them. To understand how those belts relate to each other, see weight divisions explained and how world titles work.