Ronald Hearns (born 19 March 1978) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

and the son of

Thomas Hearns Thomas Hearns (born October 18, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra", and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and oversized arms and shoulders allowed ...

. Hearns fights at both the

light middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

and

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

divisions.

Background

Hearns began boxing as a teenager at Kronk and Butzel Gym’s in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. However, his father, a former world champion had him barred from the gyms in order that he would concentrate on his education. Hearns attended

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

where he graduated with a degree in

Criminal Justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of o ...

. During his time at AU he played for the university basketball team, ''the Eagles''. Following this his father became supportive of his boxing and Hearns Jr. gained a record of 10-0 (10 KO) during his brief amateur career and won the 2004 National Middleweight Championship Title.

Professional career

Hearns turned professional in April 2004 at the

Joe Louis Arena Joe Louis Arena was an arena in Downtown Detroit. Completed in 1979 at a cost of US$57 million as a replacement for Olympia Stadium, it sat adjacent to TCF Center, Cobo Center on the bank of the Detroit River and was accessible by the Joe Lou ...

in Detroit. In his debut Hearns defeated unbeaten novice Alex Black with a first round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

. On March 28, 2009, in a televised bout, he was knocked out by

Harry Joe Yorgey Harry Joe Yorgey (born November 20, 1977) is a former professional boxer. He attended Upper Merion High School in King of Prussia, Pa In 2009, he defeated Ronald Hearns to set himself up for a world title fight. He lost to Alfredo Angulo for the ...

his first professional loss. He faced middleweight champion

Felix Sturm Adnan Ćatić (born 31 January 1979), known as Felix Sturm, is a Bosnian-German professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO middleweight title from 2003 to 2004, the WBA middleweight ti ...

February 19, 2011 and lost by KO in the 7th round.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hearns, Ronald 1978 births Living people Boxers from Detroit American male boxers Light-middleweight boxers