Boxing / Earl Gustkey : Vegas Sage Lets Us In On His Pick of Hearns, His Respect for Spinks

In quest of wisdom, truth and maybe a little edge on the bookies, we set out the other day in search of someone old and smart.

It was a lovely summer afternoon in Las Vegas, about 100 degrees. We wound up in an alley near the corner of Charleston and Main, a neighborhood of muffler and radiator shops, peering through the iron bars on the rear door of Johnny Tocco’s Ringside Gym.

There aren’t any doorbells at Johnny’s gym, and knocking doesn’t work because the bars have sharp edges that tear your knuckles. Besides, everyone’s always in the front of the place. The front door has been locked for about eight years.

So you have to yell: “Hey! Can someone let us in?”

Johnny came to the door with the key, checked us out, and unlocked the door.

Tocco will turn 78 on July 1. He’s been a boxing man all his life. Since 1972, when he turned his bar, the Zebra Room, into a gym, he has been waiting, as is everyone else who runs a boxing gym in America, for a 6-foot 4-inch, 230-pound future heavyweight champion to ask: “Hey mister, could you teach me how to box?”

“I’m still waitin’, too,” Tocco said, easing into a chair. “I’ve worked with three young heavyweights over the last few years who I thought had the tools, kids who had the ability to go places. Kids today . . . I don’t know, the way boxing’s structured today, a kid who can win 10 fights can be in the big money pretty fast.

“But they just won’t pay the price. I had one kid, a 6-7 basketball player who did everything I told him for several months. I thought he might be the guy. Then a sparring partner gave him a big shot in the ribs one day. The kid climbed out of the ring, went out that door and I haven’t seen him since.”

On a big fight week in Las Vegas, as this one is, there are lots of guys looking through the iron bars, yelling, “Hey! Can you let me in?”

According to Johnny, more world-class fighters train at his place than any other gym in the world. He leaned back in his chair and watched Thomas Hearns hit the gloves of his trainer, Emanuel Steward. Hearns will defend his World Boxing Council middleweight championship against Iran Barkley Monday night at the Las Vegas Hilton.

We had come to ask Johnny about Tyson-Spinks, too, but first things first.

Hearns, in red shorts and a red T-shirt with “T. Hearns” on the back, whacked away at Steward’s gloves. Hearns’ once whippet-like body is still long-muscled, but it is broader now, particularly across the shoulders.

And in the hot, dark little gym, Hearns seemed to be performing for not only the 15 or so people who watched quietly outside the ropes, but for some old ghosts as well.

From high on the walls, old warriors gazed upon Hearns from crinkly old fight posters. Larry Holmes, Mustafa Hamsho, Salvador Sanchez, Sonny Liston, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Wilfred Benitez, Muhammad Ali--they seemed to silently ask: Does this guy measure up?

Tocco thinks he does.

“I like this guy (against Barkley),” he said, pointing at Hearns.

“Barkley trains here, too, and I’ve noticed that when Barkley sees a right hand coming, he kind of goes down and covers up. If he does that against Tommy, I kind of think one of those big right hands is going to catch him.

“Tommy’s older, maybe a touch slower, but he’s still got that big right hand.”

What about Tyson and Spinks?

“I give Spinks a good chance,” he said.

“Both Michael and Leon trained here, you know, before either one of them was a champion. Michael Spinks is a very smart fighter--too smart to stand there and let that guy whack him. With Spinks, you’re not looking at some guy standing in there for a big payday.

“Michael wants to win this fight very badly, more than any of the guys Tyson has fought up to now. And he can frustrate Tyson. Before one of his Holmes fights, Michael was in here sparring with James Broad, not a bad heavyweight. Spinks had him so frustrated, Broad got out of the ring and left. He just quit.

“James Tillis went the distance with Tyson. So did Bonecrusher Smith. So the guy is not invincible. Now, am I saying if Spinks gets caught with one of those bombs will he survive it? Of course not. But I’m saying if he can get through seven, eight rounds, I think he can win the fight.

“You’ve got to give him a chance. Here’s a guy who beat every light-heavyweight they put in front of him. They moved him up to heavyweights, and he’s still undefeated.

“The first round will tell you a lot. Did you see Holmes’ eyes, just before the first round (with Tyson)? Fear. I knew he’d lose. Watch the first round closely. That’ll tell you a lot.”

Someone yelled, “Time!” Hearns and Steward left the ring and moved to the next room for some bag work. Johnny got up and was headed that way, too, when a voice from the alley stopped him.

“Hey! Can someone let me in?”