the pair's renowned punching power and the way both men had won their respective fights coming into the bout, it garnered significant media attention and fan interest around the world. It was held at the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 15, 1985. In the United States and Puerto Rico, it was broadcast by HBO (in Puerto Rico, also by Wapa canal 4) with Barry Tompkins, Sugar Ray Leonard and Larry Merchant, while Curt Gowdy served as host. Al Michaels and Al Bernstein acted as commentators for the closed circuit television for Top Rank. In the UK the fight was shown on ITV with Reg Gutteridge and Donald Curry commentating. Hearns received a massage before the fight, much to the chagrin of his trainer Emanuel Steward. In HBO's Legendary Nights: The Tale of Hagler-Hearns, Steward stated that he felt the massage weakened Hearns' legs during the fight and led him to adopt a more aggressive approach than he normally would have. The Fight Round 1 Hagler, normally a slow starter, stormed Hearns from the opening bell, landing with several brutal right hands eventually pinning him to the ropes. Hearns threw his devastating right hand to Hagler's chin, stunning Hagler for a moment before Hagler was able to tie him up in a clinch. Seconds later, however, the two were trading power punches, with Hagler trying to get inside and to pin Hearns to the ropes again. In the process, he succeeded in stunning Hearns with a hard left hand. Hearns tied up Hagler again and tried to slow the pace by boxing rather than trading power punches with Hagler, who was still the aggressor. This lasted for only a moment, however. Before long the two once again started to trade power punches. (During these exchanges Hearns broke his right hand.) The slugfest continued for the better part of the next two and a half minutes as both fighters traded heavy blows with little regard for defense or pacing. Hagler developed a cut on his forehead but didn't slow as he pinned Hearns to the ropes and meted out more punishment, eventually hurting Hearns at the end of the round. Sportscaster Barry Tompkins, doing the blow-by-blow commentary for HBO's broadcast of the fight, yelled out, "This is still only the first round!" as the fighters traded heavy shots at round's end. Al Bernstein remarked, "Perhaps one of the