The Showtime Network’s weekend of boxing began with junior middleweight Ronald Hearns (18-0) taking on Kansan Jose Luis Gonzalez (12-3-1) in the Caribbean splendor of the Grand Cayman Islands. Hearns is the son of the legendary Thomas Hearns.

It is hard not thinking about the father while watching the son.

The Motor City Cobra was in The Chosen One’s corner often taking the advice reins from his son’s trainer. After the fight Thomas had the endearing smile of a proud father. He might have been happier after this fight than he had been for any of his own. It was a touching scene.

Ronald’s lanky body, body shoulder blades, hard punch, easy gait, and facial similarities quickly remind you of Thomas. But sadly Ronald is not the elite level fighter that his father was. Not everyone can be. Ronald disposed of Gonzalez in the 7th when the Kansas fighter’s corner through in the towel after he took in a few rounds worth of pounding blows to the head.

A lot more was expected of Hearns if he was to prove worthy of a middleweight contender. At 29, Ronald isn’t young. When his father was 29 he was 45-2-0, had already beaten Wilfred Benitez and Roberto Duran. The losses, of course, were to Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler.

Is Ronald getting TV time because of his famous name? Maybe, but it doesn’t matter. He’s winning his fights, his offensive skills are entertaining, and the physical similarities he shares with his father elicit a fond nostalgia for a better age. We want to see more of Ronald, at least until his severely lacking defensive prowess is exposed by a more skilled fighter.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Ronald Hearns Opens Showtime Weekend of Boxing

Image details: Ronald Hearns v Robert Kamya served by picapp.com

That’s a headline bound to make any fight fan drool. Aaron “The Hawk” Pryor versus Thomas “Hitman” Hearns. Sadly, a professional rematch of Pryor’s 1976 light welterweight Golden Gloves victory over Hearns never happened. That’s not to say we won’t see those two last names on a title fight marquee sometime in the future.

Tonight at the San Manuel Casino in Highland, Calif. the scions of those two greats, Aaron Pryor, Jr. and Ronald “The Chosen One” Hearns, continue their path to boxing stardom. Interestingly, the two 29-year-olds have taken strikingly similar routes: both were initially dissuaded from the sport by their fathers, both took up basketball eventually earning college hoops scholarships, both couldn’t resist the genetic urge of the sweet science, both earnestly asked for their famous father’s blessing, both then trained at Detroit’s Kronk gym, and both are currently still undefeated.

Both are also expected to sail through tonight’s matches and achieve bigger and better things. The 6′3″ light middleweight Hearns (18-0) faces San Manuel casino regular Alan Velasco (8-1) while the 6′4 1/2″ middleweight Pryor (9-0) squares off against Puerto Rican Devin Lopez (7-2).

The San Manuel Casino is also promoting appearances tonight by heavyweight great Joe Frazier as well as Thomas Hearns. No word on the Hawk. Let’s hope that young Pryor and Hearns avoid the career ignominy of Frazier’s son Marvis who is best known for dual first round knockouts at the hands of Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes.

If you’re in the San Bernardino area tonight fight tickets are $50, $75, and $100. Doors open at 6:30.

Post from: EveryJoe

Pryor and Hearns Fight Tonight