RSR Looks Back at Marvelous Marvin Hagler
By Mike Plunkett
I’ve gone on record stating that it was Muhammad Ali that initially piqued my interest in boxing. And while it may be true that the noise he made caught my attention, there were certain other fighters that ensured my hardcore status as a fan long after Ali rode off into the sunset. One such fighter just happened to hail from Brockton, Massachusetts, and while he was the polar opposite of Ali in almost every way, he would prove to be on par with the former three-time World heavyweight champion as a dominating force at his natural weight and as an all-time great.
Marvin Hagler was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 23rd, 1953 and moved with his family as a child to Brockton, Massachusetts after the Newark Riots of 1967, the hometown of former World heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano. As a youngster, Hagler dreamed of one day becoming a professional baseball player, idolizing Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. That dreamed changed about the time Floyd Patterson emerged as a force in boxing, and soon thereafter Hagler wanted to become a professional prizefighter.
Beginning under the tutelage of Goody and Pat Petronelli in 1969, Hagler compiled a fine amateur record, which culminated in a 1973 win of the National AAU 165lb title. Later that same year he turned professional, working for the Petronelli’s construction company by day and toiling in the dark musty shadows of their boxing gym by night. Standing 5’9 with a 75” reach, and fighting predominantly as a southpaw, Hagler was far more than just an ugly duckling relative to preferred stance. He was an adept switch-hitter who over the course of years would blossom into a fluid counter-puncher, able to swiftly switch from lefty-to righty in a mere heartbeat. Making his debut as a solid middleweight, the 160lb. Hagler knocked-out one Terry Ryan in the 2nd round to little fanfare in the Brockton High School gymnasium.
Amassing a fine record of 14-0, Hagler faced his first real test as a pro just fifteen months into his career, against the 21-0 ‘Sugar’ Ray Seales under the hot lights of the WNAC television studio in Boston. After scoring a competitive ten-round unanimous decision over the former Olympic champion, he stopped two additional foes before being held to a ten-round draw by Seales in the rematch just three months later. Regrouping, he went 8-0 before his first major career setback, a ten-round majority decision loss to Bobby ‘Boogaloo’ Watts at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Just two months after that, he experienced defeat for the second time, losing a wide unanimous decision to the well traveled Willie ‘The Worm’ Monroe. Barely three years into his professional career as a boxer, Hagler was 26-2-1, but rather than let the setbacks ruin
his thrust through the middleweight ranks, he re-applied himself with renewed vigor, taking the hard lessons in stride as a learning experience.
By the end of 1977 Hagler’s determination had paid off tremendously; he had gone 11-0, won the vacant North American and Massachusetts World middleweight titles, stopping Eugene ‘Cyclone’ Hart, Roy Jones SR and former conqueror Willie ‘The Worm’ Monroe in both the rematch and their rubber match. Ring Magazine ranked him among the top middleweight contenders of the period in their annual rankings; diligence to his hard craft was finally beginning to pay off.
If 1977 had proven successful, 1978 would eliminate any lingering doubt regarding Hagler’s talent and ranking among the world’s best middleweights. Knockout wins over the undefeated Mike Colbert and Kevin Finnegan positioned Hagler for an August showdown with former World middleweight title challenger ‘Bad’ Bennie Briscoe, a legendary Philadelphia fighter who by then, although somewhat beyond his very best, was considered the division acid test. Cut during a competitive contest, Hagler won a convincing ten-round unanimous decision over the 81-fight veteran, but where that win is widely viewed as a ‘break-out’ performance, his 1st round stoppage of old foe ‘Sugar’ Ray Seales six months later in their rubber match emphatically demonstrated just how far he had come.
On November 30th 1979 Marvin Hagler challenged reigning WBA/WBC middleweight champion Vito Antuofermo. It was the opportunity of a lifetime earned the hard way, in his 50th career fight. After out-boxing the champion over the first half of the contest, Hagler seemed to coast through the later and championship rounds. The result was a disappointment and widely considered an injustice, a fifteen-round draw, thus denying him the championship. If his studied technique and fluidity convinced those watching of his superiority as a ring technician in that contest, his reluctance to press the matter during the later crucial moments of truth failed to sell the judges on his worth as a fighter. From that point on Hagler vowed to remove one critical point of the equation in his future ring endeavors, the judges.
Undeterred, Hagler scored two quick stoppage wins, including a 2nd round knockout of former conqueror Bobby ‘Boogaloo’ Watts before getting his second shot at the World middleweight championship. Ten months after the Antuofermo disappointment, Hagler ventured to Wembley Arena in England to challenge newly minted World middleweight champion Alan Minter who had stopped Vito Antuofermo for the title three months previously. Boxing better than ever, Hagler performed a full level beyond that of his showing against Antuofermo the year before, alternating his stance, timing and catching Minter with sharp counter-punches in close before slipping back to the outside. He looked simply marvelous. This went on for two full rounds before referee Carlos Berrocal stepped in to save the bloodied Englishman early in the 3rd who by that time had been literally sliced to ribbons. A chorus of boos under a hailstorm of bottles and trash baptized the new champion and his team as they hastily abandoned the ring, displeased that their countryman was barely even in the fight, losing his title as quickly as he had won it just mere months before.
As the new World middleweight champion ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler promised to be an active champion, willing to face any challenger, and history shows us that he made good on that commitment. In 1981 he turned back the 30-0 knockout artist from Venezuela, Fulgencio Obelmejias with particular precision, shutting him out on the cards before stopping him in eight rounds. After that he disassembled former champion Vito Antuofermo, the man that had denied him his first title a couple of years earlier, in four brisk rounds. Capping the year, he sliced and diced the gritty and talented Mustafa Hamsho down to an 11th round technical knockout, seemingly accelerating ever so subtly as the rounds progressed. His talent and drive equated to dominant showings that caught the attention of not only network television but also cable giant HBO. Hagler had come a long way from his days as an eager blue collar fighter, toiling for meager $200 paydays in the Brockton High School Gym.
In February 1983 Hagler again demonstrated his marvelous counter-punching ability and studied technical precision, switch-hitting England’s heartfelt and utterly befuddled Tony Sibson at the DCU Center in Worcester Massachusetts. As a blizzard raged outside the arena during the proceedings, ‘Marvelous’ Marvin delivered what this writer feels may have been his most complete and polished performance. Looking back, it may have been the tipping point of his title reign and career, as I believe that despite the bigger successes he had yet to experience, he never again displayed that same level of technical fluidity and precision.
Closing out the year Hagler enjoyed the trappings of a long hard career in the prize ring and as a willing champion, taking part in a super fight with great Roberto Duran, then 77-4 and the reigning WBA light middleweight champion. Failing to deliver on the consensus expectation to knockout the rejuvenated three-division champion, Hagler, unwilling to impose himself on the smaller Panamanian, was cut and boxed to a near standstill by the 12th. With the scorecards up for grabs and bleeding, Marvin switched gears during the championship rounds to retain the World middleweight title but received some scathing criticism in the media for what was generally perceived as a less than stellar showing. Looking back, his win was in fact magnificent as an accomplishment given Duran’s extraordinary body of career work, but the disappointment underlines how highly he was perceived as a dominant champion, and the result, while clear cut, was in fact less than dominant.
1984 was a year of curiosity for Hagler. His 9th title defense was a particularly grueling one. Struggling to master the challenge of Argentina’s Juan Domingo Roldan, he was officially floored for the only time in his career, seconds into the first round, and although review of the matter suggests interpretation on the validity of that call, the reality was that he was beginning to look somewhat frayed around the edges. The bout was waved off in the 10th round with brutish Argentinean resembling a Cyclops from one of those old 50’s black and white Saturday afternoon B-movies.
In May former welterweight and light middleweight superstar ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard titillated both Hagler and fans around the world with the prospect of a much anticipated super fight later in the year. Dropped early, the former 1976 Olympic gold medalist struggled to regain a semblance of his old form, posting a less than spectacular 9th round stoppage of a non-descript foe before announcing yet another retirement at the post-fight press conference. Hagler’s anticipation turned to disappointment as he watched his old nemesis, the one man that had essentially trumped his every career move up until that point again vanish off into the ether. But while all of this was happening an intriguing subplot was developing between one man who just a few years before had backed-out on a lucrative challenge of Hagler under questionable pretenses, and the other, old foe Roberto Duran. Their much ballyhooed encounter sent shockwaves throughout the sport as ‘The Hitman’ flattened the former three-division champion in the 2nd round, a feat that not only eclipsed Hagler’s win the previous fall, but a result once thought to be unthinkable.
It was business as usual for Hagler later that year as he befuddled the predictions of his critics in October, dropping top contender and old foe Mustafa Hamsho, a man known for having an industrial strength chin and constitution, early, stopping him in the 3rd. The win further created demand for a mega fight with Detroit’s WBC light welterweight champion, a lucrative consolation prize considering the super fight that didn’t happen with Leonard.
On April 15 1985 ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler and Thomas ‘Hitman’ Hearns engaged in one of the most spectacular and brutal prizefights of the modern era. Each stormed out of their respective corner at the first bell. Just seconds into the bout Hagler was stunned during a ferocious exchange. Standing five inches taller, quicker and with superior explosive power in his right hand, the deck was stacked in Hearns’ favor. I believe that at this point Hagler knew he was beyond his very best, and faced with an equally skilled, bigger and more powerful youthful foe, he gambled under the hot lights in Vegas, weathering the right-handed bombs in pursuit of Hearns. Cut badly, Hagler was relentless, imposing his will upon the challenger. Time was called by referee Richard Steele moments into the 3rd round to have the ring doctor examine his cut, at a point where Hearns had switched to full reverse in the hopes of out maneuvering and out-lasting the aging champ. Perhaps sensing that time was short and with his championship and career hanging in the balance, Hagler switched gears and accelerated, moments later stopping Hearns with two very well placed sneaky right hands, seemingly from out of nowhere. Having achieved his greatest win, and masked in blood, Hagler had reached the highest moment of his career.
Eleven months after the Hearns victory Hagler appeared to be battling Father Time as much as the undefeated, 25-0, 25 KO’s John ‘The Beast’ Mugabi. Struggling for control throughout, Hagler alternated from orthodox to southpaw and back over eleven punishing rounds before wearing the powerful Ugandan out with an accumulation of hurt. Despite the win, his twelfth successful title defense, it was clear that had slipped significantly. He no longer resembled the fluid counter-puncher of the Obelmejias and Sibson bouts and it looked as though he was well into the autumn of his career.
Just a few months after the Mugabi encounter, ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard announced his willingness to return to boxing provided Hagler agreed to face him in a lucrative mega event. Quickly accepting the challenge, not to mention Leonard’s countless stipulations such as a twelve round limit and thumbless gloves, Hagler made the biggest purse of his career. By the time the sound of the first bell had faded, and after incurring thirteen additional months of down time, Hagler uncharacteristically tried to match Leonard at his own game, giving away the first four rounds boxing from the orthodox stance. Leonard had managed to get inside Marvin’s head, to the point that Hagler felt the need to one-up his foe, but in doing so, was himself one-upped. Out-sped in close, Leonard stole the rounds with crisp flashy two-handed flurries the last 30-seconds of each round. As the rounds wound down it was clear that ‘Sugar’ Ray had managed to turn back the clock, and more importantly, win the favor of the crowd in attendance. A split decision verdict gave ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard the World middleweight championship and the sort of storybook return America was looking for from its favorite Olympic hero. For Hagler, it was the end.
The early career of ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler is one of hardship, years of gym work and small venue development without fanfare for meager paydays. He was a busy focused prizefighter with no ‘Plan B’. It was always about getting better and going back to the drawing board while more celebrated ‘American Heroes’ commanded the gold medals, unsurpassed media attention and lucrative contracts. His drive to succeed was fueled by his fear of failure and his resentment towards those that eclipsed him. He came up the hard way during an era of iron tough Philadelphia middleweights. Overlooked for years and rebuffed by fate in his first shot at the grand prize, he retooled yet again to become one of the greatest middleweight champions of all-time, amassing a fine record of 62-3-2, 52 KO’s, an old-school throwback to a different era. The saga of Marvin Hagler is indeed a marvelous one, an example of one man willing himself beyond odds.
Marvin Hagler
Nickname: “Marvelous”
Division: Middleweight
Professional Record: 62-3-2, 52 KO’s
Date Opponent Location Result
1973-05-18 Terry Ryan Brockton, US W KO 2
1973-07-25 Sonny Williams Boston, US W UD 6
1973-08-08 Muhammed Smith Boston, US W KO 2
1973-10-06 Dornell Wigfall Brockton, US W PTS 8
1973-10-26 Cove Green Brockton, US W TKO 4
1973-11-17 Cocoa Kid Brockton, US W KO 2
1973-12-06 Manny Freitas Portland, US W TKO 1
1973-12-18 James Redford Boston, US W KO 4
1974-02-05 Bob Harrington Boston, US W KO 5
1974-04-05 Tracy Morrison Boston, US W TKO 8
1974-05-04 James Redford Brockton, US W TKO 2
1974-05-30 Curtis Phillips Portland, US W KO 5
1974-07-16 Bobby Williams Boston, US W TKO 3
1974-08-13 Peachy Davis New Bedford, US W KO 1
1974-08-30 Sugar Ray Seales Boston, US W UD 10
1974-10-29 Morris Jordan Brockton, US W TKO 4
1974-11-16 George Green Brockton, US W KO 1
1974-11-26 Sugar Ray Seales Seattle, US D PTS 10
1974-12-20 DC Walker Boston, US W TKO 2
1975-02-15 Dornell Wigfall Brockton, US W KO 6
1975-03-31 Joey Blair Boston, US W KO 2
1975-04-14 Jimmy Owens Boston, US W SD 10
1975-05-24 Jimmy Owens Brockton, US W DQ 6
1975-08-07 Jesse Bender Portland, US W KO 1
1975-09-30 Lamont Lovelady Boston, US W TKO 7
1975-12-20 Johnny Baldwin Boston, US W UD 10
1976-01-13 Bobby Watts Philadelphia, US L MD 10
1976-02-07 Matt Donovan Boston, US W TKO 2
1976-03-09 Willie Monroe Philadelphia, US L UD 10
1976-06-02 Bob Smith Taunton, US W TKO 5
1976-08-03 DC Walker North Providence, US W TKO 6
1976-09-14 Eugene Hart Philadelphia, US W RTD 8
1976-12-21 George Davis Boston, US W TKO 6
1977-02-15 Willie Monroe Boston, US W TKO 12
1977-03-16 Reggie Ford Boston, US W KO 3
1977-06-10 Roy Jones Hartford, US W TKO 3
1977-08-23 Willie Monroe Philadelphia, US W TKO 2
1977-09-24 Ray Phillips Boston, US W TKO 7
1977-10-15 Jim Henry Providence, US W UD 10
1977-11-26 Mike Colbert Boston, US W KO 12
1978-03-04 Kevin Finnegan Boston, US W TKO 9
1978-04-07 Doug Demmings Los Angeles, US W TKO 8
1978-05-13 Kevin Finnegan Boston, US W TKO 7
1978-08-24 Bennie Briscoe Philadelphia, US W UD 10
1978-11-11 Willie Warren Boston, US W TKO 7
1979-02-03 Sugar Ray Seales Boston, US W TKO 1
1979-03-12 Bob Patterson Providence, US W TKO 3
1979-05-26 Jamie Thomas Portland, US W TKO 3
1979-06-30 Norberto Rufino Cabrera Monte Carlo, MC W RTD 8
1979-11-30 Vito Antuofermo Las Vegas, US D PTS 15
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
1980-02-16 Loucif Hamani Portland, US W KO 2
1980-04-19 Bobby Watts Portland, US W TKO 2
1980-05-17 Marcos Geraldo Las Vegas, US W UD 10
1980-09-27 Alan Minter Wembley, UK W TKO 3
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
1981-01-17 Fulgencio Obelmejias Boston, US W TKO 8
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
1981-06-13 Vito Antuofermo Boston, US W RTD 4
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
1981-10-03 Mustafa Hamsho Rosemont, US W TKO 11
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
1982-03-07 William Lee Atlantic City, US W TKO 1
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
1982-10-30 Fulgencio Obelmejias San Remo, IT W TKO 5
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
1983-02-11 Tony Sibson Worcester, US W TKO 6
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
1983-05-27 Wilford Scypion Providence, US W KO 4
IBF Middleweight Title
1983-11-10 Roberto Duran Las Vegas, US W UD 15
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
IBF Middleweight Title
1984-03-30 Juan Domingo Roldan Las Vegas, US W TKO 10
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
IBF Middleweight Title
1984-10-19 Mustafa Hamsho New York, US W TKO 3
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
IBF Middleweight Title
1985-04-15 Thomas Hearns Las Vegas, US W TKO 3
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
IBF Middleweight Title
1986-03-10 John Mugabi Las Vegas, US W KO 11
WBC Middleweight Title
WBA World Middleweight Title
IBF Middleweight Title
1987-04-06 Sugar Ray Leonard Las Vegas, US L SD 12
WBC Middleweight Title