CULTURETECHLENSThomas Hearns
VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)
Combined Graph record U-07963 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7091.
Thomas Hearns was born October 18, 1958, in Tennessee — the International Boxing Hall of Fame gives Memphis; the Detroit Historical Society gives Grand Junction — and moved to Detroit as a child, where he began boxing at the King Solomon Gym before moving to Emanuel Steward's Kronk Gym, the Hall records. Known as 'The Hitman' and the 'Motor City Cobra,' he compiled a 155-8 amateur record and was named 1977's Most Outstanding National Amateur Boxer. He turned professional in 1977, won his first seventeen fights by knockout, and took the WBA welterweight title from Pipino Cuevas in 1980. Stopped in fourteen rounds by Sugar Ray Leonard in their 1981 unification fight, he rebounded to win the WBC light middleweight title from Wilfred Benitez in 1982 and knocked out Roberto Duran in two rounds. In 1985 he was stopped in three rounds by Marvin Hagler in one of the era's defining fights; in 1987 he became, the Hall records, the first man to win titles in four divisions, and he later added the WBO super middleweight title (1988) and the WBA light heavyweight title (1991) — five divisions in all, per the Detroit Historical Society. His totals are carried split from the Hall's own page: its narrative gives 61 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw with 48 knockouts, while its totals line gives 62 wins in 67 bouts. Hearns boxed until 2006 and was inducted into the Hall in 2012.
Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text
Thomas Hearns was born October 18, 1958, in Tennessee — the International Boxing Hall of Fame gives Memphis; the Detroit Historical Society gives Grand Junction — and moved to Detroit as a child, where he began boxing at the King Solomon Gym before moving to Emanuel Steward's Kronk Gym, the Hall records. Known as 'The Hitman' and the 'Motor City Cobra,' he compiled a 155-8 amateur record and was named 1977's Most Outstanding National Amateur Boxer.
The record
- Also known as: Tommy Hearns, The Hitman, The Motor City Cobra
Notes
Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0472. Steward disposition (edge deliberately not emitted): Emanuel Steward and the Kronk Gym are documented in both sources as Hearns's trainer and formation, but Steward is built in a sibling lane of this same packet (S8) and is not in the live graph, so no Hearns–Steward edge is emitted from this lane; the relationship is carried here and in the description for the head to wire at merge. Totals disposition (carried split): the Hall page's narrative ledger is 61-5-1 (48 KOs); its totals line reads 62 wins in 67 bouts — the two cannot both be right and neither is asserted alone. Birthplace variance: Memphis (Hall) versus Grand Junction (Detroit Historical Society), both Tennessee, both carried. Firsts disposition: 'first man to win titles in four divisions' is carried as the Hall states it for 1987; the five-division completion is carried attributed to the Detroit Historical Society. The Leonard (live graph), Benitez (live graph) and Hagler (S8-09) connections are bout results in the description, not relationship edges. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Hearns is the Kronk record — a Detroit formation story and a five-division career — and the file keeps his trainer's name on the face of the record even though the edge itself waits for the merge. Photo: CLEARED, CC BY 2.0, 2009 photograph whose Commons file description names Thomas Hearns.
Relationships
- Emanuel Steward — student of
Thomas Hearns was Emanuel Steward's signature Kronk fighter — documented in Hearns's own record (International Boxing Hall of Fame; Detroit Historical Society) and in Steward's. Edge emitted by the head at assembly: the two records were built in sibling lanes and both lanes flagged the wire.
Sources
- International Boxing Hall of Fame. "Thomas Hearns." IBHOF.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
- Detroit Historical Society. "Hearns, Thomas." Encyclopedia of Detroit. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)
Photograph · rights-cleared record, CultureTechLens Photo Rights Log
Thomas Hearns 2
Thomas Hearns 2 — Kaloozer, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source: CultureTechLens · view at source
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Record CTL-E-7091 · Combined Graph record U-07963 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.
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Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Thomas Hearns (CTL-E-7091).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-7091/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Thomas Hearns (CTL-E-7091) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Combined Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-7091/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Thomas Hearns (CTL-E-7091).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-7091/
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