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hand in the fifth that staggered Benítez, who placed both gloves on the canvas to avoid going down, which constituted a knockdown. Benítez was officially credited with a knockdown in the ninth round, though replays showed that Hearns had eluded Benítez's punch and fell to canvas after Benítez had stepped on his foot. A right hand injury suffered in the eighth round forced Hearns to fight using only his left hand for much of the remainder of the fight, though he was still able to win by nine points on one of the judge's scorecards (146–137) and five points on another (144–139) to earn the victory.
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was chosen as the site for event and it was expected to draw a crowd of 40,000. However, ticket sales fell well short of expectations and King convinced Benítez and Hearns to take a $ 250,000 pay cut from their original $ 1.5 million purses, while Gomez and Pintor's purses of $ 750,000 were reduced
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The usually aggressive Hearns, who up to that point had been widely renowned for his power with 32 of his wins coming by knockout, managed to outbox Benítez, highly regarded for his defensive abilities, to score a majority decision victory. Hearns scored one knockdown in the fight, landing a right
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would report: "It has been the lot of Thomas Hearns to be regarded solely as a cannon, something to be rolled into a ring to reduce an opponent to rubble. Last Friday night, against
Wilfred Benitez in New Orleans' Superdome, Hearns finally showed that he brings more to boxing than a big bang.
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Following the cancellation of the "This Is It" card, Madison Square Garden officials were still interested in including the Benítez–Hearns fight on the undercard of the rescheduled Ken Norton–Gerry Cooney fight set for May 11, 1981. Despite an offer of around $ 700,000, Benítez and manager
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for his third world title. Benítez would defeat Hope to become the youngest three–division world champion in boxing history at the time. He would then make two successful title defenses against
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A fight between
Wilfred Benítez and Thomas Hearns had been in the works for over two years. In November 1980 it was announced that the two fighters had been booked for a February 1981 bout in
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288:. However the fight card was cancelled two weeks before its scheduled date when promoter Harold Smith was brought up on fraud and embezzlement charges against
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rejected the offer in favor of a less–lucrative fight that would see Benítez moving up in weight and challenging WBC light middleweight champion
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Fighting with only his left hand from the eighth round on after hurting the right on
Benitez' head, Hearns outboxed the master boxer..."
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before an agreement was reached in
October 1982 to face Hearns on December 3 of that year. The Benítez–Hearns fight was promoted by
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that was going to be on a blockbuster fight card billed as "This Is It" that also featured a heavyweight fight between
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with a co–main event featuring a super bantamweight championship fight between
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252:, was a professional boxing match contested on December 3, 1982, for the
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682:, Sports Illustrated article, 1981-02-09, Retrieved on 2022-10-10
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670:, Washington Post article, 1981-02-07, Retrieved on 2022-10-10
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Madison Square Garden will put on a five-fight extravaganza...
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766:, NY Times article, 1984-12-04, Retrieved on 2022-10-24
754:, NY Times article, 1982-12-11, Retrieved on 2022-10-12
730:, NY Times article, 1982-10-08, Retrieved on 2022-10-10
718:, NY Times article, 1981-05-24, Retrieved on 2022-10-10
706:, NY Times article, 1981-02-21, Retrieved on 2022-10-10
694:, NY Times article, 1981-02-18, Retrieved on 2022-10-10
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and a light heavyweight title unification bout between
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wins via majority decision (146–137, 144–139, 142–142)
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Thomas Hearns and Lupe Pintor would like to forget...
742:, UPI article, 1982-10-07, Retrieved on 2022-10-12
658:, UPI article, 1980-11-17, Retrieved on 2022-10-04
704:Benitez Spurns Hearns, Plans to Meet Maurice Hope
1032:December 1982 sports events in the United States
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764:HEARNS DETHRONES BENITEZ IN A 15-ROUND DECISION
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333:by $ 125,000 in order to save the event.
778:"The Hitman Becomes The Hit-And-Run Man"
680:BOXING GETS A SUDDEN CASE OF THE SHORTS
1047:Boxing matches involving Thomas Hearns
1014:
878:
716:Benitez Knocks Out Hope in 12th Round
1037:Boxing matches in the United States
631:"Wilfred Benitez vs. Thomas Hearns"
13:
752:HEARNS IS ANGERED BY FIGHT PAY CUT
166:5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
14:
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169:6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
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776:Pat Putnam (13 December 1982).
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214:No. 1 Ranked Super Welterweight
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728:Benitez to Fight Hearns Dec. 3
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155:24 years, 2 months
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1027:1982 in sports in Louisiana
203:Super Welterweight Champion
158:24 years, 1 month
10:
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692:Garden Eyes Hearns-Benitez
256:light middleweight title.
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562:Super Bantamweight titles
326:The Carnival of Champions
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206:3-division world champion
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549:Light Middleweight title
324:in a fight card dubbed "
180:154 lb (70 kg)
177:152 lb (69 kg)
74:Super Welterweight title
575:light heavyweight title
249:The Battle of Champions
20:The Battle of Champions
282:Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
50:New Orleans, Louisiana
1042:Boxing in New Orleans
980:Hearns vs. Barkley II
965:Leonard vs. Hearns II
286:Matthew Saad Muhammad
266:Madison Square Garden
118:San Juan, Puerto Rico
61:Title(s) on the line
484:Light Welterweight
471:Willie Edwards (c)
425:Super Bantamweight
393:Light Middleweight
330:Louisiana Superdome
46:Louisiana Superdome
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970:Hearns vs. Olajide
960:Hearns vs. Kinchen
955:Hearns vs. Barkley
945:Andries vs. Hearns
930:Benítez vs. Hearns
925:Leonard vs. Hearns
849:vs. Jeff McCracken
782:Sports Illustrated
668:Garden Scraps Card
457:Light Heavyweight
352:Sports Illustrated
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1057:Caesars Superdome
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994:Important figures
950:Hearns vs. Roldán
940:Hagler vs. Hearns
920:Cuavas vs. Hearns
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867:Murray Sutherland
863:Succeeded by
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824:vs. Roberto Durán
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558: For WBC and
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363:Confirmed bouts:
284:and WBC champion
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123:Detroit, Michigan
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935:Hearns vs. Durán
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860:3 December 1982
847:Preceded by
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821:Preceded by
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808:"BoxRec - event"
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788:on 14 March 2016
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141:Pre-fight record
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79:Tale of the tape
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37:December 3, 1982
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410:Wilfred Benítez
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92:Wilfred Benítez
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144:44–1–1 (26 KO)
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604:United States
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511:Middleweight
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464:Pete McIntyre
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401:Thomas Hearns
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369:Weight Class
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310:Roberto Durán
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306:Carlos Santos
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280:title holder
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243:Thomas Hearns
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580:Broadcasting
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302:Maurice Hope
298:Jimmy Jacobs
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274:Gerry Cooney
263:
248:
247:
246:, billed as
237:
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147:35–1 (32 KO)
109:"The Hitman"
70:
16:Boxing match
792:5 September
641:5 September
519:Doug DeWitt
443:Lupe Pintor
322:Lupe Pintor
290:Wells Fargo
196:Recognition
136:$ 1,250,000
133:$ 1,250,000
1016:Categories
635:boxrec.com
617:References
500:Pat Duran
492:Jimmy Paul
359:Fight card
270:Ken Norton
260:Background
106:"El Radar"
857:'s bouts
833:'s bouts
571: For
545: For
514:160 lbs.
487:140 lbs.
460:175 lbs.
428:122 lbs.
396:154 lbs.
346:Aftermath
337:The fight
637:. BoxRec
587:Country
560:The Ring
314:Don King
191:Orthodox
188:Orthodox
114:Hometown
103:Nickname
71:The Ring
568:^Note 3
555:^Note 2
542:^Note 1
382:Method
372:Weight
913:Fights
601:
450:14/15
418:15/15
388:Notes
385:Round
229:Hearns
223:Result
174:Weight
163:Height
125:, U.S.
533:6/10
524:def.
506:6/10
497:def.
477:5/12
468:def.
439:def.
406:def.
185:Style
130:Purse
88:Boxer
42:Venue
865:vs.
794:2024
643:2024
573:NABF
503:TKO
474:TKO
447:TKO
412:(c)
377:vs.
320:and
308:and
272:and
241:vs.
68:and
54:U.S.
34:Date
609:HBO
547:WBC
530:KO
435:(c)
415:MD
278:WBA
254:WBC
211:WBC
200:WBC
152:Age
66:WBC
1018::
780:.
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292:.
52:,
48:,
898:e
891:t
884:v
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796:.
645:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
