‘Hit Man’ Hearns Hurts for Ali

Thomas (Hit Man) Hearns says he is haunted by thoughts of the man he calls his idol, Muhammad Ali.

“Seeing him the way he is today, it hurts,” Hearns said. “He went out there one time too many.”

Ali suffers from Parkinson’s syndrome, which has left him shaky, his speech slurred. Hearns, 29, talked about Ali while training for a June 6 defense of his World Boxing Council middleweight title against Iran Barkley in Las Vegas.

“I don’t want to be another man walking around on my heels, who doesn’t know what other people are talking about,” Hearns said. “I say to myself, ‘Thomas, get out of the sport.’ ”

Ali, in his second-to-last fight, in 1980, took a fierce pounding from Larry Holmes.

“There’s a man who has no heart,” the soft-spoken Hearns said of Holmes. “I think he should have been a little easier on him when he knew (he had won).”

Add Hearns: He said he knows what it takes to stay on top of a sport that has left countless casualties.

“You have to know when to attack and how long to keep it up. You have to be taught how to take the punch. But there’s a limit. You only can take so much.

“Boxing is a strange sport. I would not choose boxing if I had to do it over again. I would go all the way through school and then possibly college. I had no idea how brutal the sport can be. The heat in the ring, the hits. I would have played pro basketball. It’s a lot easier.”

Has Hearns met Mark Eaton?

Clay Matthews is a free-agent linebacker with the Cleveland Browns. The Browns may not find him to be a tough customer at the bargaining table.

“I think I’m a Brown at heart,” Mathews said. “Frankly, if I became a free agent in the true sense of the word, I wouldn’t know how to deal with it.”

Apparently, Matthews didn’t take many business courses--or play much poker--at USC.

For a guy who finished next to last in the Kentucky Derby on Purdue King, jockey Kent Desormeaux is pretty confident about his new mount’s chances in Saturday’s Preakness. Desormeaux will ride Finder’s Choice.

“I know I’m on a capable colt,” Desormeaux, the nation’s leading jockey in 1987, said. “He’s got heart. He’s got a nasty kick if you need it. He’s got a shot at winning the race, you’d better believe it.”

Quotebook

Britain’s Eddie (the Eagle) Edwards, who has acquired sponsorships totaling $387,000 a year since finishing last in ski jumping at the Winter Olympics: “Some of the other jumpers are really cool towards me because I am so popular. I think there’s a bit of jealousy from the others.”