Thomas Hearns

Main article: wikipedia:Thomas Hearns

Thomas Hearns
Information
Name:	Thomas "Tommy" Hearns
Nickname(s):	The Hitman Motor City Cobra
Nationality:	USA
Weight Class:	Welterweight Light middleweight Middleweight Super middleweight Light heavyweight Cruiserweight
Height:	185 cm 6 ft 1 in
Stance:	Orthodox
Background
Birth Date:	October 18, 1958
Birth Place:	Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Boxing Record
Total Matches:	67
Wins	61
Wins by KO:	48
Losses:	5
Draws:	1
No Contests:	0

Thomas Hearns (トーマス・ハーンズ, Tōmasu Hānzu) is a retired American professional boxer. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra" and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns became the first boxer in history to win world titles in four divisions. He would also become the first fighter in history to win five world titles in five different divisions.

References in Hajime no Ippo

In Round 2 - Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns.

• In Round 2, Haruhiko Yagi and Genji Kamogawa are watching the Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns match.
  • In the anime, they are watching two unknown boxers fighting instead.
• In Round 16, Ryō Mashiba is shown using the Flicker Jab in his pro debut match. Mamoru Takamura explained to Ippo Makunouchi that Hearns was really good at using it, where he was able to defeat five different weight classes.
  • Note in Episode 9, during the pro test, Mashiba is shown using the Flicker Jab, where Takamura explains the history behind it to Ippo after the pro test, instead of Mashiba's debut match.

Round 15 - Thomas Hearns.

• In Round 67, during the Ichirō Miyata vs. Mashiba match in the East Japan Rookie King Tournament, Minoru Fujii made a reference to Hearns after he saw Mashiba start to use the Flicker Jab.
• In Round 233, Mari Īmura mentions her favourite boxers are Hearns, Leonard, and Roberto Durán.
• In Round 383, while watching Takamura use his speed against Bryan Hawk, Takeshi Sendō noted that Leonard and Hearns have incredible speed, but he thought Takamura was faster than their own featherweight class.
• In Round 1081, prior to the Takamura vs. Richard Bison WBC & WBA unification middleweight title match, the ring announcer mentioned that a Japanese boxer has never attempted to unify the titles of two different organisation in the weight class of Sugar Ray Robinson, Carlos Monzón, Leonard, Hearns have all fought in.
• In Round 1093, Sendō and Mashiba were sharing the same locker. Sendō commented about "Tommy" after seeing Mashiba use the Chopping Right, but Mashiba doesn't know who Sendō was talking about.
• In Round 1097, after Bison entered the Detroit Style, Sendō recognises it as the style "Tommy" uses. Mashiba, wanting to know who "Tommy" is, Kazuhiro Yanaoka explains he is Hearns, the former five division world champion. He adds that one of Hearns' names he was known by was "Motor City Cobra." He further adds that Hearns came out of a gym in Detroit, so some sees Bison as his successor.
• In Round 1128, after Miyata's match against Luisito Ico, Sendō, Ippo, and Takeshi's Teacher head to Coffee Shop Hearns, which is named after Hearns.

Trivia

• Ryō Mashiba's style is based after Hearns, sharing his "Hitman" nickname, and using the Flicker Jab and Hitman Style.
• Richard Bison has a nickname that has a resemblance to Hearns' other nickname "Motor City Cobra", with Bison's being "Motor City Bison".
• Mashiba vs. Ichirō Miyata match is modelled after Sugar Ray Leonard vs Hearns
• Mashiba vs Tatsuya Kimura match was modelled after Hearns vs James Kinchen, where the Dragonfish Blow was modelled after Kinchen's use of the Overhand Blow in the match.^{[citation needed]}