November 13, 1982: The Tragedy of Kim Duk-koo

November 13, 1982: Boxer Ray Mancini, the WBA Lightweight Champion of the World, defends his title against Korean boxer Kim Duk-koo in the outdoor stadium at Caesar's Palace in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. (Kim's name usually then listed as "Duk Koo Kim.")

Kim was 27, had a career record of 17-1-1, and was the Lightweight Champion of the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF). But except for 1 fight in the Philippines, this would be his 1st time fighting outside Korea. Indeed, except for that, and 1 fight each in Pusan and Ilsan, he had only fought in the South Korean capital of Seoul.

In contrast, Mancini, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, and like his father Lenny nicknamed "Boom-Boom" for his hard punching, was only 21, but was 24-1 going into the fight. His only loss was the year before, to Alexis Argüello, who held the WBC Lightweight Championship. On May 8, 1982, Mancini beat Arturo Frias to win the WBA version of the lightweight title. On July 24, he successfully defended that title against Ernesto España, and was looking forward to a rematch and unification bout with Argüello. But, first, he had to fight Kim. And then, the night before Mancini vs. Kim, Argüello lost his piece of the title to Aaron Pryor.

Kim struggled to make the 135-pound weight limit. Before the fight, Kim was quoted as saying "Either he dies, or I die." He wrote the message "live or die" on his Las Vegas hotel lampshade only days before the bout -- which led to a mistaken translation of "kill or be killed" being reported in the media.

On November 26, in fight for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, broadcast in prime time on ABC, Larry Holmes won a unanimous 15-round decision over Randall "Tex" Cobb. The fight was brutal, and it made announcer Howard Cosell, known for his boxing broadcasts, swear never to broadcast another professional fight, a vow he kept until his death.

Between them, these 2 fights led to changes in boxing. The maximum of 15 rounds was reduced to 12. A standing eight-count for any knockdown was required. And any fighter knocked out automatically had his license suspended for 45 days, for his own safety.

Mancini went to Kim's funeral in Korea, and while boxing fans didn't seem to hold Kim's death against him, he fell into a deep depression. To make matters worse, Kim's mother died by suicide 3 months after the fight; and the bout's referee, Richard Green, did so 6 months after that.

Mancini never did fight Pryor, and never got a rematch against Argüello. Officially, he defended his title 4 times, plus won 2 non-title fights, raising his record to 29-1. On June 1, 1984, at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, he lost the title on a technical knockout against Livingstone Bramble, a fighter from the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, the only Rastafarian ever to win a boxing title. He sometimes fought under the name Ras-I Alujah Bramble.

Mancini got a rematch against Bramble, losing a very close, but unanimous, decision. He fought twice more, losing a split decision to former Lightweight Champion Héctor "Macho" Camacho in 1989, and a 7th-round TKO to former Lightweight Champion Greg Haugen in 1992. Mancini retired with a record of 29-5. He went on to become a film producer, and as of November 13, 2022, is still alive.

*

November 13, 1982 was a Saturday. 

Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Georgia beat Auburn, 19-14 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. Georgia won the Southeastern Conference Championship.

* Number 2 Southern Methodist University beat Texas Tech, 34-27 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. SMU won the Southwest Conference Championship.

* Number 3 Arizona State were upset by Number 7 Washington, 17-13 at Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* Number 4 Nebraska beat Iowa State, 48-10 at Cyclone Stadium (now Jack Trice Stadium) in Ames, Iowa. Nebraska won the Big 8 Conference Championship.

* Number 5 Penn State beat Number 13 Notre Dame, 24-14 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. An independent with no conference title available to them, Penn State rose to Number 2, and beat Number 1 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, to win their 1st National Championship.

* Number 6 Louisiana State University were upset by Mississippi State, 27-24 at Scott Field (now Davis Wade Stadium) in Starkville, Mississippi. LSU were invited to the Orange Bowl, where they lost to Nebraska.

* Number 8 University of Pittsburgh beat Army 24-6 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York. As for the other service academies, Navy lost to South Carolina, 17-14 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina; while Air Force had the week off.

Pitt were invited to the Cotton Bowl, where they lost to SMU. With no losses but a tie, SMU claimed the National Championship ahead of 1-loss Penn State, but both the AP and the UPI had Penn State ahead of them in their polls.

* Number 9 Florida State beat Louisville, 49-14 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.

* Number 10 Arkansas beat Texas A&M, 35-0 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

* Number 11 Clemson beat Number 18 Maryland, 24-22 at Byrd Stadium (now SECU Stadium) in the Washington suburb of College Park, Maryland.

* Number 12 UCLA beat Stanford, 38-35 at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California. UCLA won the Pac-10 Conference Championship.

* Number 13 Oklahoma beat Missouri, 41-14 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma were invited to the Fiesta Bowl, where they lost to Arizona State, on ASU's home field.

* Number 14 Michigan beat Purdue, 52-21 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Michigan won the Big 10 Conference Championship, but lost the Rose Bowl to UCLA.

* Number 17 Alabama were upset by Southern Mississippi, 38-29 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* As for New Jersey's teams, Princeton lost to Yale, 37-19 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut; while Rutgers played 2 nights earlier, losing to Number 19 West Virginia, 44-17 at Giants Stadium. RU played 3 "home games" at the Meadowlands that year, and all 3 crowds could have fit at Rutgers Stadium, provided they opened the grass hills in the corners.

And in New Jersey high school football, the school I would enter in the 10th grade 2 years later, East Brunswick, lost to Union of Union Township, Union County, 10-0 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.

Baseball was out of season. There were 7 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 112-100 at Madison Square Garden. Kelly Tripucka, a native of Bloomfield, New Jersey who grew up as a Knicks fan, scored 35 points for the Pistons. Isiah Thomas added 30 points, perhaps the first time he drove Knick fans crazy, but by no means the last. Bernard King, as he so often did in those days, led the Knicks in scoring, with 27 points.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 110-100 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Chicago Bulls, 119-115 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. At the time, the Bulls would have been considered at the time to be the Pacers' arch-rivals, at least geographically. They probably should still be, but are not generally thought of that way.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Dallas Mavericks, 140-130 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Alex English scored 40 points for the Nuggets.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the San Antonio Spurs, 107-98 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. David "Skywalker" Thompson scored 32 for the Sonics.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the San Diego Clippers, 112-111 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Eddie Johnson, known as "the Man Who Put the J in 'Jump Shot,'" scored 35 for the Kings.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Atlanta Hawks, 114-101 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Joe Barry Carroll scored 30 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. He did not always show that much effort, which earned him the uncomplimentary nickname "Joe Barely Cares."

There were 10 games in the NHL, with every team except the New York Rangers scheduled to play:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 3-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Quebec Nordiques, 7-2 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks beat their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And in English soccer, Arsenal and Everton, the blue club in Liverpool, played to a draw, 1-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London. 

October 2, 1980: Muhammad Ali's Last Stand

Even in defeat, Ali was the main story,

not the man who actually won the fight.

October 2, 1980: Muhammad Ali, 38 years old, tries to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World for the 4th time.

Sugar Ray Robinson and Archie Moore had been champion boxers in their 40s, but it was a mistake for Ali to even think about getting back in the ring. He is already beginning to show signs of Parkinson's disease, from the poundings he had taken in the ring from 1975 to 1978.

He hadn't fought in 2 years. He has gotten his weight down to 217 1/2 pounds, his lowest since he won the title for the 2nd time, from George Foreman in 1974. But, at the same time, he'd lost too much weight too fast, and it had drained him, as it had Jim Jeffries against Jack Johnson in 1910, and Joe Louis against Rocky Marciano in 1951.

And he was facing Larry Holmes, who was 30, and 35-0, with 26 knockouts. The native of Easton, in northeastern Pennsylvania, was already known as "The Easton Assassin," and had beaten Earnie Shavers, who nearly beat Ali in 1977, twice; Ken Norton, who beat Ali in 1973, lost to him later that year, and nearly beat him in 1976; Alfredo Evangelista, whom Ali beat in 1977; and Mike Weaver, who would later win a share of the Heavyweight Championship.

Caesar's Palace Boxing Stadium

The fight was held at the outdoor boxing stadium at Caesar's Palace, outside Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada. It was a mismatch: Holmes won each of the 1st 10 rounds, and Ali looked like, in boxing terms, a very old man. His trainer, Angelo Dundee, stopped the fight. It was the only time in his 61 professional fights that The Greatest neither won nor at least went the distance.

For the only time in its history, Sports Illustrated put the loser, but not the winner, of a prizefight on its cover, with the headline "THE LAST HURRAH," invoking Edwin O'Connor's 1956 novel about an aging politician in his last campaign. Ali had lost 3 times before, but this was the first time he had truly looked like a beaten man. The expression on his face in the cover photo shows that he knew it. For its article on the fight, SI titled it "Doom In the Desert."

Like the rising Marciano, when he inflicted a similar punishment on the aging Louis in 1951, Holmes was seen crying after his victory. He gained very little from the win, and may even have lost respect from many of Ali's fans. This was unfair: If there's anybody with whom they should have been angry, it should have been Ali, for even trying this fight.

Father Time doesn't always win, but he always wins the rematch. Watching this was like watching Elvis in Omaha in the last TV special.

And still, Ali fought once more, on December 11, 1981, losing to Trevor Berbick in Nassau. It became known as "The Trauma in Bahama." That fight may have damaged him even further. He did as much good as he could in the last 34 years of his life, but Parkinson's severely limited this. He really should have quit after the 3rd fight with Joe Frazier in 1975, "The Thrilla in Manila."

*

October 2, 1980 was a Thursday. Football was in midweek, and the NBA and the NHL were in their preseasons. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Ron Guidry outpitched Jack Morris, and was supported by home runs from Reggie Jackson and Oscar Gamble.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski did not play.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 9-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rookie Rickey Henderson went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs, but no stolen bases.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Seattel Mariners, 6-2 at Royals Stadium (later Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-2 with a walk, and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. His batting average, which had been up to .401 in early September, dropped to .389, and he would finish at .390.

* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Texas Rangers, 6-3 and 4-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* And the New York Mets, the Baltimore Orioles, the California Angels, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Montreal Expos and the San Diego Padres were not scheduled.

September 8, 1974: Evel Knievel at the Snake River Canyon

September 8, 1974: Evel Knievel tries to jump over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho, on a "sky-cycle."

For people too young to remember Knievel (pronounced Keh-NEE-vil), he was the kind of figure who defies description. He was a 1970s phenomenon, a proper coming together of man and moment, hero and hype level. He was the King of the Daredevils, wearing star-spangled jumpsuits, big collars, big belts with big buckles, and making a fool of himself in Las Vegas. Which makes him sound like the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, except Elvis also had some great shows in Vegas.

Robert Craig Knievel was born on October 17, 1938 in Butte, Montana. Of German descent, he claimed he'd adopted the stage name "Evel Knievel" after being arrested for, no joke, reckless driving, and sharing a cell with a man known as William "Awful" Knofel. He made it "Evel" instead of "Evil," and wore white instead of black, because he didn't want anyone to think he was associated with motorcycle gangs like the Hell's Angels.

He participated in rodeos, ski jumping events, and served in the U.S. Army before marrying Linda Joan Bork and starting a semi-pro hockey team. To support his family, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service, and later worked as an insurance salesman. That's right: Evel Knievel was an insurance salesman.

Eventually, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership in Washington, D.C., but faced difficulties promoting Japanese imports. After the dealership closed, Knievel worked at a motorcycle shop where he learned motocross stunts that would later contribute to his daredevil career.

He put together a show featuring other bikers, and called it Evel Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils. He gradually increased the number of cars he could jump over, until June 19, 1966, in Missoula, in his home State of Montana: He tried to jump 12 cars and a cargo van, but his back wheel hit the top of the van, he fell, and he ended up with a broken arm and several broken ribs. But he survived, and that began his legend.

On March 25, 1967, he cleared 15 cars at Ascot Park in Gardena, California. He tried that again on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington. He landed his cycle on the last vehicle, a panel truck, was thrown from his bike, and suffered a serious concussion. He went back there on August 18, and his injuries were more serious.

He recovered and, on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1967, the same day that CBS broadcast the NFL Championship Game -- the Ice Bowl in Green Bay -- Knievel tried to jump 140 feet, over the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He wanted it broadcast live on ABC Wide World of Sports. ABC said no: They told him to film it, and, if they thought it worthwhile, they would buy it, and would broadcast it later. So Knievel got two friends to film it: Actor-director John Derek, and Derek's then-wife, actress Linda Evans.

He did the jump, but he couldn't stick the landing, and was thrown over the handlebars. This was his worst set of injuries yet. But he didn't die. He lived to jump again, and was doing so by March 25, 1968. ABC refused to buy the Caesars film. As his legend grew, his production company rented the film to ABC, which would, eventually, broadcast it -- many times.

On January 7 and 8, 1971, he sold out the Astrodome in Houston on back-to-back days. On the following February 28, he jumped 19 cars at the Ontario Motor Speedway in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, California. Doug Senecal was then 10 years old and living in Massachusetts, and was fascinated. In 2015, using the name Doug Danger, he wore the same costume and drove the same cycle that Knievel used in the Ontario jump, and set a new record, jumping 22 cars in Sturgis, South Dakota, whose annual rally has made it the motorcycle capital of America.

On March 3, 1972, at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco, Knievel made a successful jump, but, because of a short landing area, tried to stop short, and got hurt. He didn't get back to jumping until November 10, 1973. It was on this occasion that ABC finally agreed to put him on Wide World live, for what would be the 1st of 6 such appearances. There were 50 cars stacked at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and he got over them successfully, and landed successfully.

As far back as 1968, Knievel told the media that his dream was to jump from one side of the Grand Canyon in Arizona to the other. But the Canyon is included in the National Park system, controlled by the U.S. Department of the Interior, which denied him every time he asked, no matter what safety precautions he suggested. In 1971, while flying from one stunt to another, he was over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho, and he was struck by its natural beauty. Since the federal government had no control over that, that's what he set his mind on.

ABC refused to broadcast this one, fearing that he was finally going to be killed. Of course, they were already set to broadcast the Heavyweight Championship fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, which had people thinking that Foreman might actually kill Ali in the ring. (Instead, Ali knocked Foreman out.) And Wide World of Sports broadcast all kinds of dangerous events, from cliff diving in Mexico to all kinds of auto races: The Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Formula 1 and Grand Prix in Europe and South America. So who was kidding who?

So Knievel hired boxing promoter Bob Arum's company, Top Rank Productions, to put the event on closed-circuit television, and broadcast it to movie theaters, as if it were a major prizefight.

By this point, Knievel had learned that you couldn't just guess, or do it "by feel." He had accepted that he had to embrace the science of it -- which meant hiring people smarter than himself to figure it out. An ordinary motorcycle wasn't going to be able to do it. He hired aeronautical engineers Doug Malewicki and Robert Truax to build him a rocket-powered vehicle to jump across the Snake River.

On September 8, 1974, at 3:36 PM Mountain Time -- 5:36 Eastern -- the Skycycle was launched at the south rim of the Snake River Canyon, west of Shoshone Falls, Idaho. But the launch caused the drogue parachute to prematurely deploy, resulting in too much drag. The vehicle did reach a point over the north rim, but the wind caught the parachute, and blew it back to the south side of the canyon. The Skycycle crashed into the rock wall, and viewers were sure that Knievel had been killed.

Instead, at that point, crashing into the rock wall was the better option. He survived with only minor injuries. But he couldn't get out of the vehicle himself: His harness had malfunctioned. Had he landed in the water, he would have drowned before the rescue crew could get to him.

He had failed. But he had lived. The spectacle mattered more than the result. And, with Watergate reaching a climax that day with President Ford pardoning former President Nixon, America needed this kind of distraction. Evel Knievel had become the biggest thing in America.

On May 26, 1975, Wide World of Sports broadcast his attempt to jump over 13 buses at Wembley Stadium in London. These were not the "double-decker buses" that London is known for, but they were certainly taller than the kind of cars he was used to jumping. Frank Gifford, who was part of CBS' broadcast crew for the Ice Bowl, and wasn't there at Caesars, had since come to ABC, and had become friends with Knievel, and was the lead broadcaster for this event.

Over 90,000 people saw Knievel take off with not enough speed, and he hit the landing ramp with his front wheel, causing the bike to "trampoline" up, throwing him. His landing would have been bad enough, but the bike, with its wheels still spinning, kept going, and landed on top of him. The spinning of the front wheel burned through his jumpsuit, extending his injuries.

He never lost consciousness. Gifford was among those who rushed to help him. They got him to a standing position, and he took a microphone, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I've got to tell you that you are the last people in the world who will ever see me jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I'm through."

Gifford begged him to get on a stretcher for his ride to the hospital. Despite knowing his injuries included a broken pelvis -- because he'd done that before -- he said, "I came in walking, I went out walking!"

Like a great boxer, of course he couldn't stay retired. Just 5 months later, on October 25, he jumped 14 Greyhound buses at the Kings Island amusement part outside Cincinnati. At 133 feet, it was his longest successful jump. And it was Wide World of Sports' highest-rated broadcast ever. Again, he retired. Again, he lied, and came back, with a successful jump at Seattle's new Kingdome on Halloween, October 31, 1976.

Inspired by the film Jaws, he wanted to jump a tank full of live sharks. On January 31, 1977, he rehearsed the jump at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago. He lost control of the motorcycle, and hit a cameraman, Thomas Geren, and a wall. He broke both of his arms, but heard that Geren had sustained a permanent eye injury.

That was it: He was willing to risk his own life and limb, but not someone else's. He never jumped again. As it turned out, though, Geren regained his full vision. Though relieved, this time, Knievel kept his word, and never jumped again.

The Guinness Book of World Records listed him as having suffered 433 separate breakings of bones. He said he had broken 35 different bones over his career. It all left him in terrible pain, especially in his back.

He turned to painting, a much calmer pastime -- and one he shared with another famous Wide World of Sports crasher, Slovenian ski jumper Vinko Bogataj, victim of the 1970 "agony of defeat" fall. He supported his son Robbie Knievel's daredevil career, addressing the crowds at Robbie's events. On April 14, 1989, Robbie did what Evel couldn't do in 1967: He successfully jumped over the fountains at Caesars Palace. In 1998, also in Vegas, Robbie jumped over 30 limousines at the Tropicana Hotel.

He did safety-themed commercials, telling kids to wear helmets while riding their bicycles, to stay away from drugs, and one on radio for the New York City Transit Authority, telling people not to try "stunts" on Subway trains or buses: "Take it from a daredevil, me, Evel Knievel: Some stunts are just plain stupid."

But his health declined. His many surgeries required blood transfusions that led to Hepatitis C, and he needed a liver transplant. It looked like he wouldn't get one, and, in 1999, he was told that he only had a few days to live. He decided to leave the hospital, and die at his home. On the car ride home, he got a call that a liver was available. Take a wild guess as to how the donor died: In a motorcycle accident. (On the NBC hospital drama ER, the characters called motorcycles "donorcycles.")

In 2005, to raise relief funds for Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, he worked with Harley-Davidson, makers of all his motorcycles, to lead a group of cyclists on a fundraising ride around Harley's hometown of Milwaukee. But he suffered a stroke shortly before the event, and had to limit his effort to an autograph-signing session.

Evel Knievel may have been on ABC Wide World of Sports 6 times, but what he did was not a sport. He died on November 30, 2007, outside Tampa in Clearwater, Florida -- not due to the effects of any or all of his crashes, but due to lung disease and diabetes.

Maxim, a magazine geared toward men, always with a scantily clad woman on the cover, printed his last interview. He said, "You can't ask a guy like me why I performed. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death."

In 1999, Robbie Knievel jumped a portion of the Grand Canyon owned by the Hualapai Indian Reservation, out of the federal government's jurisdiction. In 2016, stuntman Eddie Braun, working with Evel's son Kelly and Ronald Truax's son Scott, successfully piloted a replica of the 1974 Skycycle over the Snake River Canyon. Braun idolized Evel, and had insisted that the original jump would have worked if the parachute hadn't deployed too soon. He proved himself right.

UPDATE: It took me until 2024 to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There were too many ridiculous distractions from the rotten things going on in the world; and, at the same time, not enough of them.

In a 2026 episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Evel Knievel, against Evan Ferrante, a professional Tom Cruise impersonator, as Cruise.

*

September 8, 1974 was a Sunday. As I said, this was also the day that President Gerald Ford issued a pardon for former President Richard Nixon. I have a separate entry for that event.

These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 11-3 at Shea Stadium, where they were played while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated. Al Kaline, in his last few weeks as an active player, went 2-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBIs. He collected his 3,000th career hit 16 days later.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Tom Seaver went the distance for the win. Lou Brock went 0-for-3, but was hit by a pitch and grounded into a force play, and stole 2nd base both times. That gave him 103 stolen bases for the season, 1 short of what was then the major league record set by Maury Willis in 1962. He would raise the record to 118.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-6 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4. Rookie Robin Yount only appeared as a late defensive replacement.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the next season.) Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 8-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose, Tony Pérez and Dan Driessen hit home runs for the Reds, but it wasn't enough. Johnny Bench went 0-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 11-10 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Willie Montañez went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Bob Boone went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs. For the Cubs, Jerry Morales hit a grand slam.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-4 at Royals Stadium (later Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Harmon Killebrew did not play. Rod Carew went 1-for-5. George Brett went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the California Angels, 1-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Jim Kaat (6 2/3rds innings) and Terry Forster combined on a 7-hit shutout. Frank Robinson appeared as a pinch-hitter for the Angels, but did not reach base. Four days later, he was traded to Cleveland. After the season, he was named their player-manager, the 1st black manager in Major League Baseball.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4.

The NFL opened its season the following Sunday. One college football game was played: Notre Dame, then ranked Number 3 in the country, beat Georgia Tech, 31-7 at Grant Field in Atlanta. 

June 15, 1984: Hearns vs. Durán

June 15, 1984: Thomas Hearns knocks Roberto Durán out in the 2nd round at Caesars Palace, outside Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada, to retain the WBC Super Welterweight Championship of the World.

It was the only fight of the calendar year for both "The Hit Man" and "Hands of Stone." The two of them, along with Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, made the 1980s a golden age for sub-heavyweight boxing.

The referee was Carlos Padilla, who also officiated at Ali-Frazier III, "The Thrilla In Manila."

Hearns, 38-1 going into the fight, was 6-foot-1. Durán, 77-5 and coming off a loss to Hagler, was only 5-foot-7 1/2. Durán was not used to losing at all. Unlike Leonard, who taunted him (as if Durán hadn't done the taunting in their 1st fight), Durán wasn't getting taunted this time: Hearns was all business, and the Detroiter absolutely clobbered the Panamanian, using his big height advantage.

The 1st half of the 1st round was quiet, but then Hearns took control, opened a cut over Durán's left eye, and floored him late in the round. Durán got up at the count of 5, but got knocked down again with 8 seconds left in the round. With 2:01 left in the 2nd round, a vicious right hand practically spun Durán's head, and he fell face-first on the canvas. The fight was immediately stopped.

Durán never sought a rematch with Hearns. That was probably for the best.

There were 4 truly great welterweight and middleweight fighters in the 1980s: Hearns, Durán, Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Durán split 2 fights with Leonard, before Leonard won another late in both men's career, and had already lost to Hagler. Leonard won a very tough decision over Hearns, and won a controversial decision over Hagler. Hagler knocked Hearns out in the 3rd round, surviving a furious fusillade, in one of the greatest short fights ever.

Left to right: Durán, Leonard, Hagler.

I found a photo of Leonard, Durán and Hearns together,

but not one of all 4 of them together.

Despite the various controversies between them, the 4 of them became friends after their careers, as boxers tend to do. There usually is a healthy respect between worthy opponents. Hagler died of a heart attack in 2021, at the age of 66. As of November 25, 2022, the other 3 are still alive.

UPDATE: In 2026, Ronald Hearns, also a boxer, places his father Thomas under conservatorship, as he has begun to show signs of boxing-related dementia. Hagler is not suspected of having had it. Nor is Leonard or Durán.

*

June 15, 1984 was a Friday. The NBA season had ended 3 days earlier, when the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers for the title. The NHL season had ended 26 days earlier, when the Edmonton Oilers beat the New York Islanders for the Stanley Cup.

The NFL was out of season, but there were 4 games played in the United States Football League:

* The Philadelphia Stars beat the Washington Federals, 31-8 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Jacksonville Bulls beat the New Orleans Breakers, 20-17 in overtime at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Arizona Wranglers beat the Chicago Blitz, 36-0 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* And the Los Angeles Express beat the Oakland Invaders, 24-19 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Mike Boddicker outpitched Bob Shirley. Roy Smalley hit a home run, but the Yankees only got 3 other hits.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Walt Terrell pitched 7 innings, Jesse Orosco 2, to pitch a 4-hit shutout. Keith Hernandez and Hubie Brooks hit home runs.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Dan Schatzeder (7 innings) and Bob James combined on a 7-hit shutout.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Rance Mulliniks singled Willie Upshaw home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 0-for-4. Paul Molitor did not play.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. John Butcher pitched a 3-hit shutout. George Brett got 1 of those hits.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Graig Nettles hit a home run, and Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4.

* The California Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Neither Reggie Jackson nor Rod Carew played.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-4.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Al Cowens singled Jack Perconte home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

April 6, 1987: Sugar Ray vs. Marvelous Marvin

April 6, 1987: One of the biggest non-heavyweight fights in the history of boxing takes place. The result is still in dispute.

The 1980s was the last real glory period for boxing, especially in the lower divisions. In the Middleweight and Welterweight divisions alone, there was Roberto Durán, Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler. They are remembered by their nicknames: Respectively, "Hands of Stone," "Sugar Ray," " The Hit Man" and "Marvelous Marvin."

On November 30, 1979, Hagler got his 1st shot at the Middleweight Championship of the World, at Caesars Palace outside Las Vegas, against the Champion, Italian boxer Vito Antuofermo. As a pro, Hagler was 46-2-1; Antuofermo, a similar 45-3-1. The fight went the distance, 15 rounds. Most ringside observers thought Hagler had won. But the judges made it a draw, and Antuofermo kept the title.

Four months later, also at Caesars, Antuofermo lost the title, losing to Englishman Alan Minter on a split decision. Three months later, a rematch was held at the Empire Pool in London (a.k.a. the Wembley Arena), and Minter knocked Antuofermo out.

On September 27, 1980, on Minter's home ground at the Wembley Arena, Hagler beat the hell out of him, and the referee stopped the fight in the 3rd round. The London crowd was furious that the fight was stopped, apparently preferring that their man die than give up. Hagler and his cornermen needed a police escort back to the locker room, as bottles and glasses were thrown at them. Clive Gammon, covering the fight for Sports Illustrated, titled his article, "It Was Blood, Sweat and Beers."

On June 13, 1981, at the Boston Garden, came the fight that people wanted to see: Hagler-Antuofermo II. It was a bloodbath, almost literally: Hagler shredded Antuofermo's face, and after 4 rounds, Vito's handlers threw in the towel.

His fights at "The Gahden" made Hagler possibly the 1st black athlete truly beloved by Boston area sports fans. They admired Bill Russell of the Celtics, Jim Nance of the Patriots, and Jim Rice of the Red Sox, but never really loved them. Hagler became New England's favorite boxer since Rocky Marciano. His fights drew big ratings on HBO. However, their announcers refused to call him by his nickname, Marvelous Marvin. So, in 1982, he had his name legally changed to "Marvelous Marvin Hagler."

On November 10, 1983, he fought Durán, the longtime Lightweight Champion and briefly the Welterweight Champion, at Caesars. For once, it was Hagler who got cut, and after 13 rounds, Durán was leading on points. But Hagler found something in reserve, and won the last 2 rounds, and kept the title.

On April 15, 1985, Hagler fought Hearns at Caesars. The Detroit native had held the WBA version of the Welterweight title, before losing a tough unification fight with Leonard in 1981. He now held the Light Middleweight title, and was moving up in class. He was 40-1, Leonard being the only man to beat him thus far. It was advertised as "The War."

It lived up to the billing. The 1st round was one of the best rounds any fight fan had ever seen, with each man landing some great blows. But it took too much out of Hearns, and despite opening a cut on Hagler's famously bald head, he was wobbly.

Referee Richard Steele stopped the fight for a moment to look at the cut, and determined that it wasn't interfering with Hagler's vision. Knowing that the rules meant that another stoppage would end the fight with a TKO in Hearns' favor, Hagler unloaded, and, in the 3rd round, crashed a right hand into Hearns' chin. Hearns got up at the count of 9, but Steele wisely stopped the fight.

On March 10, 1986, Hagler knocked out John "The Beast" Mugabi at Caesars. Finally, the last of the fights that everyone wanted to see was set up: Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, at Caesars, on April 6, 1987. Many great fights have been held on Saturday nights, and Friday Night at the Fights was a popular early TV show. But this was a Monday, and it was the boxing equivalent of the Super Bowl being played on Monday Night Football.

Leonard was 33-1, his only loss his 1st fight against Durán. Due to an eye injury sustained in the fight with Hearns, he had fought just once in the last 5 years, but he thought he was ready to take on the Marvelous One.

Hagler wanted more money. Leonard had conditions for that: A larger ring, 22 feet square instead of the usual 20; 10-ounce gloves, instead of the usual 8-ounce; and 12 rounds instead of 15. Nevertheless, Hagler was favored.

Leonard came out quickly, and was credited with winning the 1st 2 rounds. Hagler changed tactics, and by the 5th round, Leonard was tiring. The round ended with Leonard on the ropes. Steele was referee again, and gave Leonard 30 warnings for holding, but never deducted any points. The fight became more even, but Hagler couldn't put Leonard back in serious danger. When it was over, Hagler celebrated, thinking he'd won. He later said that Leonard told him, "You beat me, man."

The judges told a different story. And all 3 of them stood by their stories. Lou Filippo scored the fight 115-113 for Hagler: "Hagler was doing all the work. The referee, Richard Steele, warned Leonard at least once every round about holding. Leonard fought in spurts. Leonard would run in and grab and hold. He did what he had to do. But I can't see a guy holding that much and getting points for it."

Dave Moretti scored it 115-113 for Leonard: "Obviously, Hagler was the aggressor, but he was not the effective aggressor. You can't chase and get hit and chase and get hit, and get credit for it. Besides, the hardest punching was by Leonard."

And JoJo Guerra scored it... 118-110 for Leonard, his card having given Hagler only 2 rounds. He later said he should have given Hagler 2 more rounds. But that would still have given the fight to Leonard. Guerra said, "Leonard outpunched Hagler, outsmarted him, outboxed him... He made Marvin Hagler come to him. He dictated the fight."

The experts couldn't agree, either:

* Picking Leonard: Howard Cosell of ABC, 117-112; Hall of Fame boxing judge Harold Lederman, 115-113; Michael Katz of the New York Daily News, 117-112; and the boxing correspondents for the Baltimore Sun, 115-113; the Boston Herald, 116-113; the Houston Chronicle, 115-114; KO Magazine, 118-111; the Los Angeles Times, 117-111; the Oakland Tribune, 117-112; the Philadelphia Daily News, 116-112; United Press International (UPI), 116-112; and USA Today, 115-113.

* Picking Hagler: Bob Verdi and Bernie Lincicome, both covering it for The Chicago Tribune, both scoring it 115-113; Ron Borges of The Boston Globe, Hagler's hometown paper, 115-113; Jerry Izenberg of the Newark-based Star-Ledger, 115-113; Al Bernstein of ESPN, 115-113; and the boxing correspondents for the Associated Press (AP), 117-112; the Miami Herald, 116-112; the Miami News, 116-112; Newsday of Long Island, 115-114; the San Jose Mercury-News, 116-115; and the Seattle Times, 115-113.

* Calling it a flat-out draw: Larry Merchant, longtime boxing columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and the New York Post, calling the fight for HBO's crew; Dave Anderson, longtime sports columnist for The New York Times; and the boxing correspondent for The Washington Post, all of them calling it 114-114.

* Even the so-called "Bible of Boxing," The Ring magazine, couldn't agree: Correspondent Nigel Collins called it 115-113 for Leonard; but another, Phill Marder, called it a 114-114 draw.

* Nor could the CBS broadcast crew agree: Tim Ryan, who called over 300 prizefights, and was also an expert on hockey (he's Canadian) and tennis, scored it 115-114 for Hagler; but Hall of Fame trainer Gil Clancy judged it 115-113 for Leonard.

* Nor could Sports Illustrated, whose boxing coverage was extraordinary at the time, agree. One of their main boxing writers, William Nack, also their main horse racing writer, called it 116-114 for Leonard. But Pat Putnam called it 115-113 for Hagler. And Hugh McIlvanney, the great Scottish sportswriter who specialized in soccer, hired by SI for additional coverage, called it 116-112 for Hagler.

I was a senior in high school, and, having watched him on TV since I saw him in the Olympics when I was 6, I was predisposed to want Leonard to win. (Me being a Yankee Fan, and Hagler being from the Boston area, home of the Red Sox, had nothing to do with it.) But I had never seen the fight in full until I wrote this post. I wanted to know what I was talking about before I wrote my result.

I went against the usual story, and gave Hagler Round 1. I also gave him Rounds 3, 7, 9 and 10. I gave Leonard Rounds, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11 and 12. However, I took a point off Leonard for a low blow in Round 4. I called Rounds 4 and 9 ties. Overall, I scored it 114-112 for Leonard. In my now-fully-informed opinion, Hagler was not robbed, and JoJo Guerra was right: Leonard controlled the fight, as much psychologically, from beginning to end. 

On the tape, Gil Clancy kept calling Hagler "slow," saying he wasn't fighting his own fight, fighting orthodox-style (righthanded) instead of his usual southpaw (lefthanded); and suggesting that Hagler's best chance to win was to go for the knockout, instead of trying to "outbox" Leonard.

Nobody ever outboxed Sugar Ray Leonard. Even in his 1st fight with Durán, which Leonard definitively lost, Durán outpunched him and out-thought him, even taunting him. Leonard learned from that, and turned the tables on Durán in the rematch, and played mind games with Hagler. Which isn't surprising: Leonard's trainer, from the beginning, was Angelo Dundee, who had also trained the master of mind games, Muhammad Ali. At times, Leonard even seemed to be doing "The Ali Shuffle" around the ring.

Feeling robbed of his title, Hagler shook his head, "No," as he left the ring. He told Tim Ryan of CBS, "I beat him. I beat him, and he knows it. Everybody knows it." 

He had nobody to blame but himself: If he had fought a Marvin Hagler fight, he would have won. Instead, he let Leonard dictate the fight and get in his head. He blew it.

He wanted a rematch. Any sensible boxing observer had to admit that one was called for. But Leonard chose to retire. True, he had little left to prove, but it did make it look like Leonard was ducking him.

A year later, Hagler retired. But Leonard came out of retirement. How cynical can you get? I lost a lot of respect for Leonard.

In 1990, Leonard finally offered Hagler a rematch. This time, it was Hagler who turned it down. He had moved to Italy, and gone into acting in its film capital of Milan. "After I had nothing to prove to myself, it was the best thing to walk away," he said. He was one of the few boxers who stayed retired the first time. His record: 62-3-2.

The Ring magazine named Leonard their Fighter of the Year in 1979 and 1981. They gave Hagler that honor in 1983 and 1985. Boxing Illustrated named him Fighter of the Decade for the 1980s.

There were 4 truly great welterweight and middleweight fighters in the 1980s: Leonard, Hagler, Roberto Durán and Thomas Hearns. Leonard split 2 fights with Durán, before winning another later in both men's careers. Leonard won a very tough decision over Hearns, who absolutely destroyed Durán. Hagler knocked Hearns out in the 3rd round, surviving a furious fusillade, in one of the greatest short fights ever.

Left to right: Durán, Leonard, Hagler.

I found a photo of Leonard, Durán and Hearns together,

but not one of all 4 of them together.

Despite the various controversies between them, the 4 of them became friends after their careers, as boxers tend to do. There usually is a healthy respect between worthy opponents. Hagler died of a heart attack in 2021, at the age of 66. As of November 25, 2022, the other 3 are still alive.

UPDATE: In 2026, Ronald Hearns, also a boxer, places his father Thomas under conservatorship, as he has begun to show signs of boxing-related dementia. Hagler is not suspected of having had it. Nor is Leonard or Durán.

*

April 6, 1987 was a Monday. It was Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Rickey Henderson doubled Claudell Washington home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning, making Dave Righetti a winning pitcher in relief of Dennis Rasmussen. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4. Don Mattingly went 0-for-5.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Larry Sheets drove in the winning run, Rene Gonzales, with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th. Eddie Murray went 1-for-4, and Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-3 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 11-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Robin Yount went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett hit a home run.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Mike Scott outpitched Orel Hershiser.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Chili Davis singled Jeffrey Leonard home with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.

* And the New York Mets, the Atlanta Braves, the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals, the California Angels, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners each opened their seasons the next day.

There was more baseball news. Late that night, ABC's news program Nightline dedicated its show to the 40th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers desegregating MLB. (The anniversary was on the 15th). One of the guests was Al Campanis, general manager of the now-Los Angeles Dodgers. He made remarks inappropriate to that occasion, or to any occasion. I have a separate entry for that event.

Football was out of season. The NHL was between its regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-101 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 110-105 at The Omni in Atlanta. Dominique Wilkins scored 41 points.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Dallas Mavericks, 118-110 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Utah Jazz, 110-104 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 135-112 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Houston Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 114-108 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.