Yet Dennis Andries was not just any fighter. Andries’ amazing courage was on display as usual, but he was totally outclassed by the lanky superstar who had the ability to punch like a light-heavyweight yet still box and move like a light-middleweight.Ī lesser man would have walked away from boxing after being given the ten-round beating Dennis was the recipient of. Though he was moving up from middleweight for the challenge (Hearns, of course, was first a champion down at welterweight), Tommy totally outgunned Andries, dropping him several times and hurting him several more times. J.B Williamson and Tony Sibson (who challenged Dennis before Hearns did) may have been overwhelmed by the Guyana-born slugger, but “The Hitman” was a different proposition altogether – as Andries found out inside The Cobo Hall that March evening. The two had met in March of 1987, with Andries defending the WBC light-heavyweight belt he’d captured the previous April. No doubt, the future for Andries looked as bleak as can be in the moments after his brutal demolition at the hands of Steward’s star fighter Tommy Hearns. Seemingly living the life of a man who has no need at all for the spotlight (surely, Dennis, if he so chose, could regularly pop up on shows such as Sky’s Ringside, or Steve Bunce’s Boxing Hour on BoxNation?), the retired warrior who is now approaching his 60th birthday is nevertheless remembered by those fans who saw him fight.Īnd Andries will surely never forget Emanuel Steward, the man who dramatically turned his career around even saved it. Britain’s Dennis Andries, “The Hackney Rock” is the teak-tough fighter in question, and it is perhaps not all that surprising that the three-time light-heavyweight ruler was not in attendance in Detroit as Andries basically disappeared from public view once his amazing career came to its conclusion back in 1996. “I will miss our time together.As fight fans all over the world will surely know, legendary trainer and corner-man Emanuel Steward passed away last month, and he was laid to rest in Detroit, the city he became synonymous with, yesterday.Ī number of boxing greats Steward worked with were in attendance to say goodbye to the 68-year-old “Godfather of Detroit boxing,” but (in reports I have read), one great fighter Steward worked with was not present. “It is not often that a person in any line of work gets a chance to work with a legend.… I was privileged enough to work with one for almost a decade,” Klitschko said. Klitschko has trained without Steward for his title defense against Mariusz Wach next month in Germany. With Steward presiding over a “168-hours-a-week” training program in which he’d often sleep in the same room and share meals with his fighters, then train, watch film and engage in “talking, talking, talking,” Lampley said, Lewis developed to defeat Mike Tyson in 2002. Many fighters relied on Steward’s wisdom. Losing him from my life, I’m very hurt today.” Emanuel Steward is the man who taught me how to adapt, how to deal with all the different situations. “Through the good times, the difficult times, he was there for me. “I was like the son he never had,” Hearns said Thursday of Steward. In a fight often regarded as the greatest three-round bout in the sport’s history, Hearns blasted Hagler in the opening seconds, but suffered a broken right hand on his first punch, delivering what Lampley described as “the perfect step-over right cross.”Ī hurt and cut Hagler regrouped and rallied for the third-round knockout. “Now you won’t have any legs tonight, so you’ll just have to run at him and try to knock him out,” Steward said to Hearns. Steward returned to find one of the people massaging Hearns’ legs, a “terrible mistake,” Steward recounted to Lampley. In his absence, some Detroit friends entered. Steward left Hearns’ side briefly in the pre-fight training room to tend to some errands. Hearns gained another mega-bout against Marvin Hagler. Hearns was leading on all three judges’ score cards when Leonard launched a stirring rally that concluded with a 14th-round technical knockout. The next year Hearns, who developed under Steward’s hand from scrawny “Motor City Cobra” to “Hitman,” battled Sugar Ray Leonard in a highly anticipated super-fight. In 1980, Hilmer Kenty became Steward’s first champion. “His favorite quote was, ‘Who would’ve thought I’d leave West Virginia to find a gym for troubled, inner-city kids in Detroit and train an Irish middleweight, Andy Lee, and a Ukrainian heavyweight, Klitschko?’” Lampley said.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |