IceJohnScully
09-20-2007, 11:49 PM
I had originally planned to use this tory in my book but decided it wasn't needed in the originally intended chapter...still want people to read it, though. I think it's an interesting one :)
Clearing The Hitman:
So I guess in light of the fact that I have just taken the time to write a chapter clearing myself of any wrong doing in regards to drunken bar fights, and bamboozling strippers I should also fess up myself to actually being a one-time accomplice to an imposter.
Yeah, I think now might be a good time to clear the name of Tommy "Hitman" Hearns who might have been accused somewhere down the line of who knows what stemming from a trip to Las Vegas in November of 1989 that he didn't actually take.
What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas according to some people but I think the statute of limitations is up on this one.
We were out in Las Vegas for Troy Wortham's scheduled WBA title fight with then-champion Julian Jackson (The title fight actually got canceled after we got there because of a detached retina suffered by Julian and Troy ended up fighting future 154 pound champion Julio Caesar Vazquez instead). The camp consisted of myself, Troy, our manager F. Mac Buckley, Hartford trainer Johnny Duke and Troy's second sparring partner, Michael "Knock Em' Out" Bell.
So after we get there we were eating somewhere or something, I forget exactly what, and someone mentioned to us how Michael looked like Tommy Hearns and the more we all looked at him the more we realized that the guy was right (you see where this is going, right?).
What ensued after that was a full week of Tommy Hearns sighting all over Vegas that were bolstered more often than not by me yelling out to him in casinos and restaurants (Tommy, wait up, man!)
One night we were at Caesars Palace for dinner and when we came in someone at the front of the restaurant mentioned how nice it was to have Tommy there for dinner that night. Well, I heard that and it was all I needed. We are sitting at the table eating and I am seeing people out of the corner of my eye as they kind of lean in and tilt their heads slightly to get a better listen of our conversation. I did not disappoint them, either.
"Tommy, now listen, when we sit down with Sugar Ray and everybody tomorrow I'm telling you. If they want a third fight (Tommy and Ray had just fought their 12 round draw five months earlier out in the parking lot of this same hotel) then they're gonna' have to pay up. You gotta' get twelve million, not a penny less. OK??"
When dinner was over we weren't able to leave the restaurant until the cook and some of the other employees could come out and meet Tommy Hearns. Another night saw the two of us in the hotel lobby playing slot machines when I found myself in a conversation with one of the waitresses who asked what brought me to Vegas and with that I said "Oh, well, I'm here negotiating the next Tommy Hearns-Sugar Ray Leonard fight. We're going for twelve million or there's no fight. The meeting is tomorrow. Tommy's right over there, wanna' meet him?"
I had to call out to him three or four times, loudly, before Michael realized I meant him.
Our trip also ended on a high note in the airport as numerous members of that crack squad of airport security they have out there found themselves extremely excited when I informed them that the boxing belt image that was showing up on their x-ray machine was the WBC middleweight championship belt of the man standing right next to me, Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns (if they had bothered to open the case they would have seen it was actually the ESPN welterweight championship belt of Troy "Schoolboy" Wortham, who was also standing right next to me.
If that wasn't funny enough it got even better just moments later when I noticed a curious audience of guys in the mens room who were too shy to speak up (maybe because the Hitman and I were both standing in front urinals at the time). I finished first and before I exited the room I said something like "OK, Tommy, I'll see you out at the gate."
As I was leaving a bathroom full of grown man offered up their well wishes (and hands to shake) to the Motor City Cobra himself. One relentless guy even chased Michael down with a newly bought Sports Illustrated for him to sign.
When we got back home one of our local newspapers found out all about our Las Vegas prank and even did an interview with Michael to get his take on it all. The final question of the interview was "And what would you do if the real Tommy Hearns came up to you out there that week?"
"I would tell him 'How are you doing, Tommy? I'm Michael Bell,'" he wisely said.
Clearing The Hitman:
So I guess in light of the fact that I have just taken the time to write a chapter clearing myself of any wrong doing in regards to drunken bar fights, and bamboozling strippers I should also fess up myself to actually being a one-time accomplice to an imposter.
Yeah, I think now might be a good time to clear the name of Tommy "Hitman" Hearns who might have been accused somewhere down the line of who knows what stemming from a trip to Las Vegas in November of 1989 that he didn't actually take.
What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas according to some people but I think the statute of limitations is up on this one.
We were out in Las Vegas for Troy Wortham's scheduled WBA title fight with then-champion Julian Jackson (The title fight actually got canceled after we got there because of a detached retina suffered by Julian and Troy ended up fighting future 154 pound champion Julio Caesar Vazquez instead). The camp consisted of myself, Troy, our manager F. Mac Buckley, Hartford trainer Johnny Duke and Troy's second sparring partner, Michael "Knock Em' Out" Bell.
So after we get there we were eating somewhere or something, I forget exactly what, and someone mentioned to us how Michael looked like Tommy Hearns and the more we all looked at him the more we realized that the guy was right (you see where this is going, right?).
What ensued after that was a full week of Tommy Hearns sighting all over Vegas that were bolstered more often than not by me yelling out to him in casinos and restaurants (Tommy, wait up, man!)
One night we were at Caesars Palace for dinner and when we came in someone at the front of the restaurant mentioned how nice it was to have Tommy there for dinner that night. Well, I heard that and it was all I needed. We are sitting at the table eating and I am seeing people out of the corner of my eye as they kind of lean in and tilt their heads slightly to get a better listen of our conversation. I did not disappoint them, either.
"Tommy, now listen, when we sit down with Sugar Ray and everybody tomorrow I'm telling you. If they want a third fight (Tommy and Ray had just fought their 12 round draw five months earlier out in the parking lot of this same hotel) then they're gonna' have to pay up. You gotta' get twelve million, not a penny less. OK??"
When dinner was over we weren't able to leave the restaurant until the cook and some of the other employees could come out and meet Tommy Hearns. Another night saw the two of us in the hotel lobby playing slot machines when I found myself in a conversation with one of the waitresses who asked what brought me to Vegas and with that I said "Oh, well, I'm here negotiating the next Tommy Hearns-Sugar Ray Leonard fight. We're going for twelve million or there's no fight. The meeting is tomorrow. Tommy's right over there, wanna' meet him?"
I had to call out to him three or four times, loudly, before Michael realized I meant him.
Our trip also ended on a high note in the airport as numerous members of that crack squad of airport security they have out there found themselves extremely excited when I informed them that the boxing belt image that was showing up on their x-ray machine was the WBC middleweight championship belt of the man standing right next to me, Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns (if they had bothered to open the case they would have seen it was actually the ESPN welterweight championship belt of Troy "Schoolboy" Wortham, who was also standing right next to me.
If that wasn't funny enough it got even better just moments later when I noticed a curious audience of guys in the mens room who were too shy to speak up (maybe because the Hitman and I were both standing in front urinals at the time). I finished first and before I exited the room I said something like "OK, Tommy, I'll see you out at the gate."
As I was leaving a bathroom full of grown man offered up their well wishes (and hands to shake) to the Motor City Cobra himself. One relentless guy even chased Michael down with a newly bought Sports Illustrated for him to sign.
When we got back home one of our local newspapers found out all about our Las Vegas prank and even did an interview with Michael to get his take on it all. The final question of the interview was "And what would you do if the real Tommy Hearns came up to you out there that week?"
"I would tell him 'How are you doing, Tommy? I'm Michael Bell,'" he wisely said.