Hearns Wins on Finesse : Boxing: He gets unanimous decision over unbeaten Hill for sixth title by counter-punching.

Thomas Hearns, supposedly a washed up, overblown welterweight, won his sixth boxing championship Monday night at Caesars Palace, a unanimous decision victory that ended Virgil Hill’s four-year reign as an undefeated light-heavyweight champion.

Hearns achieved his victory by switching from his reknowned power game to Hill’s game, jabbing and counter-punching.

Hearns, who seemed at or near the end of a long, rich career as long ago as 1988 when he was knocked out by Iran Barkely and then was unimpressive in a victory over James Kinchen, simply negated Hill’s vaunted counter-punching game with his own.

It was a long night for Hill (30-1), who lost his first fight since losing in the gold medal bout at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games to South Korean Shin Joon Sup. In a sense, he wasn’t beaten out of his championship, he surrendered it.

Hill, 27, carried counter-punching to an extreme. Only in the bout’s final minutes did he lead with punches. In the final rounds, his cornermen pleaded with him to “let it loose.” Twice in the fight, Hill had Hearns backed up into a corner and on both occasions he backed off without throwing a punch.

Hearns, 32, during a career that began in 1977, has won the following titles: the World Boxing Assn. welterweight title, World Boxing Council super-welterweight, WBC middleweight, WBC light-heavyweight, WBO super-middleweight and, now, Hill’s WBA light-heavyweight championship.

One ringside judge had Hearns winning by 116-112, two others by 115-114. The Times card had Hearns ahead, 118-110. There were no knockdowns.

Hill, who the 3-1 favorite, earned $1.3 million to Hearns’ $3.5 million. Hill seemed surprised at the outset that Hearns was not only counter-punching but that Hearns’ left jab was more bothersome than Hill’s.

The fight was watched by 8,145, which half-filled the outdoors Caesars stadium. There had been some speculation out of the Hearns camp that Hearns was training to out-box Hill, much as it had been rumored that Hill go after Hearns at the outset, as Hearns normally does to his opponents.

Instead, two counter-punchers showed up, a matchup that ordinarily would put everyone to sleep, and these two nearly did for the first half of the fight. It became apparent Hearns, whose conditioning has failed him in several of his most important fights, seemed comfortable at the slower pace, fending off Hill’s occasional lead jabs or countering them with right hands.

Hearns’ jab, the best he has shown in years, had Hill’s face reddening by the third round. In the fourth round, Hill double-jabbed Hearns, then hit him in the face with a following right hand. Hearns merely smiled in acknowledgement.

Twice in the fifth, Hill scored with right hands but backed off when Hearns seemed vulnerable.

The pace of the fight picked up in the seventh, when Hearns rocked Hill with a left jab and straight right combination at the center of the ring.

Hill created a more intense fight in the final three rounds, apparently aware that his championship was teetering. Hearns seemed bothered in the 11th by a nose injury, but he nonetheless hurt Hill on the ropes with a left hook after Hill had missed him.

Also on the card Monday night, heavyweight Tony Tucker won a split decision over Orlin Norris. One judge had Norris a winner by a 114-113 score, but two others had Tucker ahead, 117-110 and 116-111.

Mexico City’s Humberto Gonzaez, a former light-flyweight champion, won his championship again with a unanimous decision over countryman Melchor Cob Castro.

Troy Dorsey won the International Boxing Federation featherweight championship with a first-round knockout of Alfred Rangel.

Hill, minutes after the fight, wouldn’t concede anything.

“I thought I won, I feel I out-boxed him,” he said. “He stole some rounds. I was flat. I posed too much, and I didn’t listen to my corner.”

It was an expensive defeat for Hill. The North Dakota native had plans to unify the light-heavyweight championship and had even talked of a possible match with heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

Hearns might now seek a seventh title by challenging one of the cruiserweight champions. Said Hearns: “I feel I had a lot to prove tonight, and I proved that Thomas Hearns is not through. And I showed Virgil Hill that I am a full-fledged light-heavyweight.

“I’m still the Cobra, and I’m still the Hit Man.”