Bit Players Take Seats; Stage Set for Rematch : It Takes Hearns Just 73 Seconds to Put Things Right Once Again

It looked pretty much like the same right hand that landed on the chin of Marvin Hagler a bunch of times last April.

You remember those rights--the ones that looked lethal enough to put a heavyweight on the deck--those rights that Hagler kept walking through until he knocked Thomas Hearns out.

But that wasn’t Hagler’s chin Thomas Hearns unloaded on Monday night at Caesars Palace. It was James Shuler’s. The fearsome right that had dismantled so many of Hearns’ opponents put Shuler on his back, where he was counted out at 1:13 of the first round. He couldn’t have beaten a 30-count.

Hearns, looking broader across the shoulders and more heavily muscled at 160 pounds than he did at the same weight for Hagler, barely raised a sweat in winning the North American Boxing Federation title, a $1-million check and, more importantly, a second chance against a bad bald guy named Marvin.

Hearns jabbed with authority at the outset at the advancing Shuler, who threw a few ineffective jabs of his own. Hearns landed two hard left hooks to Shuler’s body, and bounced a hard right off his chin just before the one minute mark.

Then, in a neutral corner, he caught Shuler flush on the jaw with a medium length right that ended it.

“I’ve landed harder rights than that,” Hearns said afterward. “I got with him two rights. I think the first one got his attention, he bobbled a little bit.”

Training for Shuler, he said, required considerable concentration.

“Since the Hagler fight, there hasn’t been a day, there hasn’t been a minute when I haven’t thought about Hagler. It was hard at times (in training) to get my mind off Hagler and concentrate on Shuler. Really, it was difficult.”

Shuler, who entered the ring with a 22-0 record and who earned $250,000, said Hearns’ first right hand deceived him.

“With the first right, I thought: ‘Shoot, is that it? I’m gonna take it to him.’ Well, when it (the knockout right) came, I was trying to pull away from it and also to go over his right with a left hook . . . he just caught me, that’s all.”

Emanuel Steward, Hearns’ manager, said Shuler’s trainer, Eddie Futch, made the mistake of instructing his boxer to come after Hearns as if he were a reincarnation of two former Futch heavyweights.

“I think Eddie made a mistake by having James come after Tommy, like he was Joe Frazier or Ken Norton. James isn’t a Frazier or a Norton. He’s a skinny middleweight. The key to the fight was the two left hooks to Shuler’s liver. They brought down his hands a bit and set up the right.”

Retorted Futch, later: “That’s ridiculous. You build a strategy around what your fighter does best. The reason James lost was inactivity. He’s had four fights in the last two years. You can’t be that inactive and be competitive in a world championship fight.”

Futch was asked about Hagler-Hearns II.

“It’ll come out the same way,” he said. “The last time, Hagler took Hearns’ best shots, took his heart away, then demolished him. I don’t see how it would be different when they meet again.”

Steward also chose Monday night to issue a news bulletin about a “leg injury” Hearns supposedly suffered in training for Hearns-Hagler I.

Already, the hype.

“When Tommy fought Marvin the last time, his legs were in a weakened state due to something that happened in training camp. Tommy punches with great snap off his pivot and because of something that happened in training, he . . . well, that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

For Hagler-Hearns II, Steward and Hearns agreed, the same strategy.

Steward: “Tommy can punch harder than Marvin, he’s physically stronger and there’s no reason to fight him any differently than he did the last time.”

Hearns: “I’m stronger now than I was last April. I cut down on roadwork for this fight, and put more time in on the heavy bag than I have in four years. I’ll fight him the same way the next time, except I’ll win this time. I’m ready tonight.”

Shuler lost twice to Hearns Monday. There was a noisy squabble at the 8 a.m. weigh-in over the amount of gauze in which Hearns was allowed to wrap his fists. The dispute was over a rule interpretation and the Nevada State Athletic Commission, later in the day, allowed Hearns an extra one-quarter roll of gauze.

“If he gets extra gauze, I may not fight,” Shuler shouted.

At that, Bob Arum, the promoter, threw a tantrum of his own.

“Nobody is going to threaten me that they’re not going to fight on the day of the fight, nobody!” Arum shouted. “There are people buying tickets for these fights all over the United States today.”

Shuler’s father stepped in at that point, calmed his son and nodded to Arum, indicating Shuler would fight regardless of the result of the gauze flap.

Said Arum: “See? James Shuler’s father has more sense than anyone in that camp.”

Later in the day, of course, Shuler was temporarily separated from whatever senses he had, in 1 minute 13 seconds.

So half of the script was written, for Hagler-Hearns II. Later, though, Hearns sat at ringside and watched some huge John Mugabi punches bounce ineffectively off Hagler’s iron chin.

Like Eddie Futch said, it’s enough to break a hard hitter’s heart. Even the Hitman.