Hearns vs. Hagler: the Day After : For Once, a Big Bout Comes Out on Its Feet

The Old Glory gimmick didn’t work, since the huge American flag that was supposed to unfurl down the side of Caesars Palace got hung up on one side, making for a lopsided extravaganza.

The ringsiders had Caesars Palace slave girls, dressed in fetchingly short togas with push-’em-up tops, serving drinks from the bar, but the folks in the cheap seats--$50--had to settle for guys wearing T-shirts selling beer at two bucks a can.

The undercard was half a cut above atrocious.

But the main event was sensational.

That more than made up for the goofs, the gaffes, the gimmicks gone wrong that seem to accompany so many major fights. And if it didn’t make up for all the dreadful mismatches and waltzing contests that have been promoted as major fights, it at least softened the memory of them.

For once, reality was more than a match for hype. For once, the event eclipsed the hoopla. For once, when the people left, they were talking excitedly about what had transpired, instead of disappointedly about what hadn’t.

What had transpired, besides the bare-bones fact that middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler had rendered Thomas (Hit Man) Hearns just that, a hit man, was one of boxing’s little rejuvenators, the kind of punchout that comes along every decade or so and assures boxing’s immortality.

Unfortunately for boxing, it also is one very tough act to follow, which explains, at least partly, why such fights come along so infrequently.

This one was billed, either simply or grandiosely, as The Fight .

It was all of that, and even Hagler, having seen the tapes by Tuesday morning, was impressed.

“I think the scars, or whatever, show that it was a great fight,” he said. “I can’t take anything away from Tommy, because it takes two to tango. That’s what makes a great fight.”

His greatest fear, Hagler said, was that a profusely bleeding cut on his forehead would ruin his fun, and leave him without a title to call his own.

“I was very scared, to be honest with you, in the first round, but I had the confidence that my corner man would take care of it,” he said, adding that the cut had caused him to press the attack for an early knockout.

“The fight was such a sensational fight. I love a good fight and I didn’t want them to stop it.”

As usual, Hagler credited his tough-guy mentality.

“I’m not scared of blood,” he said. “Matter of fact, it turns me on. It gets me motivated. That monster really comes out.”

Still, it was a mellow Hagler who addressed reporters, no longer the snarling assassin working himself into a killing rage.

“Right now I feel as though this is the pinnacle of my career,” he said. “This is the feeling that I wanted to have a long time ago, when I would gain the respect from the media and from the public, and that I would have all the eyes of the world on Marvelous Marvin Hagler.”

He has that respect now, thanks to his stunning attack in a fight that will be remembered with all of the great ones for its ferocity.

Hearns, of course, contributed to that by trading punches with Hagler instead of boxing him. That earned him, besides the $5 million or so that he made--promoter Bob Arum said that Hagler would clear at least $8 million--undying admiration for his competitiveness, if not his good sense.

As Hagler pointed out, however, Hearns still has his super-welterweight title, so everybody came out of this one with something--the fighters, Arum, Caesars Palace. Best of all, though, the paying public went away pleased. That doesn’t happen all that often in big-time boxing.

Lovers of natural beauty, if they were early enough and were seated facing the right direction, even got a bonus. The sun setting behind the mountains was another spectacular, all rosy and gray.

When it came to action, though, The Fight was The Thing .