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 …read more

In the mail today I received an advanced copy of George Kimball’s forthcoming book Four Kings. The book profiles the four great middleweights of what the book’s subtitle refers to as “The Last Great Era of Boxing”: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, and Duran. No first names are needed.
I’m usually the first person to dismiss and be angered by baby boomer claims that athletes were different then and that their era of sports was the best. The glorious eighties. Problem is that when I am confronted with their challenge of “well then, whose a great middleweight now?” I can only stammer back …read more

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 …read more