Looks Can Be Deceiving When Hill Is in the Ring Tonight : Boxing: His trainer and his punches pack more power than you might think. Hearns is the latest challenger.

LAS VEGAS —  He is 5-foot-7, wears glasses and his ears don’t look like walnuts. He walks with a limp, doesn’t have multiple eyebrows and doesn’t say “ain’t.”

So when someone who doesn’t know Freddie Roach learns that he is in boxing, the first thought that occurs is that perhaps he works with youngsters.

But when light-heavyweight champion Virgil Hill defends his title for the 11th time tonight, against Tommy Hearns, look at Hill’s corner between rounds. The little guy doing all the talking is Freddie Roach.

It is boxing’s most unlikely matchup. You have a fighter who looks like a world class male model and a trainer who looks like a Little League baseball coach.

But it is one of boxing’s most successful teams. In terms of championship defenses, Hill, 27, is the most successful pro champion from the 1984 U.S. Olympic team that won nine gold medals. Yet Hill, like teammate Evander Holyfield, the heavyweight champion, was not a gold medalist in ’84.

Almost every boxing insider would agree that from the class of ‘84, Hill has been the biggest surprise as a pro. Not much was expected of him after the Olympics. Most figured he would disappear somewhere on the plains of his native North Dakota.

But seven summers later, he owns boxing’s longest championship reign. He is within reach of Bob Foster’s record 14 light-heavyweight championship defenses.

Hill turned pro in 1984 for a $20,000 bonus, little compared to what teammates such as Mark Breland and Tyrell Biggs received. Both Breland and Biggs had disappointing pro careers.

“Virgil’s caught a lot of people by surprise with what he’s done as a pro, because people in the beginning didn’t realize what a technically good boxer Virgil is,” Roach said.

Like a well-known light-heavyweight champion of 50 years ago, Billy Conn, Hill has carried boxing to a level matched by few today. Hill is a counter-puncher who creates opportunities in the ring with his swift feet and one of boxing’s best left jabs.

He doesn’t seem to have great hand speed. But it’s an illusion, says his trainer, who is a neighbor of Hill’s in Las Vegas’ Green Valley neighborhood.

“Virgil hits guys before they see the punch coming,” Roach said.

“The reason is, he doesn’t tip his punches at all. He doesn’t wind up--he doesn’t cock his punches. Virgil’s opponents train to fight a fast guy, but they have no idea how fast he is until they’re fighting him.”

Roach was an amateur light-flyweight who boxed on several U.S. international teams in the mid-1970s. A couple of his teammates on trips to Europe: Sugar Ray Leonard and Hearns.

He was a promising pro super-bantamweight until he suffered torn ligaments in his right hand in 1980.

“It was a bad injury,” he said. “I took a year off and I was never the same after that. I was 27-1 at that point, and when I quit a couple years later I was 41-13. I fought (Hector) Camacho for the lightweight title. I lost, but I made my biggest purse, $13,000.

“When I quit, I was kind of bitter. For years, I’d put so much effort into the sport, and I felt at the end like I hadn’t gotten much out of it. I had no intention of being a trainer. In fact, I wanted out of boxing.”

But Roach walked into a Las Vegas gym one day in 1986 to watch legendary trainer Eddie Futch train James Shuler to fight Hearns. Hill was one of Futch’s fighters at the time.

“I watched Virgil easily handle Shuler in sparring sessions, and also James Kinchen,” Roach said. “I could see Virgil was very good, but he wasn’t getting a lot of attention. Virgil wasn’t real happy. He was 4-0 at the time, but Eddie was spending most of his time with Larry Holmes and Marlon Starling.

“I started working for Eddie, and began working more and more with Virgil. Nothing was ever said, I just gradually became his trainer. We hit it off.

“Finally, before the (Joe) Lasisi fight, Virgil called Eddie and told him: ‘Mr. Futch, you’re the best trainer in the world but you haven’t spent as much time with me as Freddie has, and I’d like to continue with just Freddie.’

“That was a very difficult call for Virgil to make, because he really likes Eddie.”

Roach will earn 10% of Hill’s $1.3-million purse tonight, or roughly 10 times his biggest purse as a fighter. Hearns will earn about $3.5 million. And if a plan Roach has in mind for Hill pans out, both would earn substantially more one day.

“I think Virgil can box effectively at 195 or 200 pounds (the light-heavyweight limit is 175), I’ve seen him do it in the gym,” Roach said. “And I think he’d match up well with Evander Holyfield. Virgil’s filling out, and it’s sometimes tough for him to make 175. But he really does want to unify the light-heavyweight title, so for the time being we’ll stay at light-heavy.”

Roach says Hill’s best weapon is his left jab.

“Virgil’s jab is better than most guys’ right crosses,” he said. “He knocked Lasisi down in the first round with a jab. Marvin Camel had never been off his feet when he fought Virgil, but he went down from a jab. When you can jab like Virgil, your opponent has a lot of problems.”

Roach had been with Hill for every minute of his training, including road work, until the trainer suffered a serious injury.

“We were running one morning two years ago on a farm road outside Carson City, and we were distracted by a horse,” Roach said. “I stepped into a hole and snapped practically every tendon in my left ankle. I had surgery, but it didn’t work. Now I have to go through it all again.”

About two weeks ago, a reporter watched Hill spar eight hard rounds against four sparring partners at his training quarters in Reno. It was an impressive performance, one that indicated to anyone watching that Hill was in superb condition.

But Roach, quietly confident of Hill’s prospects tonight, winked and said: “Remember, Virgil’s not much of a gym fighter. But on fight night, he turns it up a notch.”