TMZ usually isn’t wrong with this stuff. Former Middleweight Champ Marvelous Marvin Hagler Dead at 66
Absolutely loved watching him fight. Hagler/Hearns round one is amazing Marvin Hagler vs Tommy Hearns Round 1 | GREATEST ROUND OF BOXING | ON THIS DAY - YouTube
RIP
His name is Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
One of the best middleweights of all time. During the 80s he was considered the toughest man in the sport. Unfortunately he is also remembered for his final fight, a controversial loss to Sugar Ray Leonard. Good night Marvelous Marvin, sleep tight.
Hagler probably could have competed for titles another several years but had the good sense to step away from boxing, which is amazing considering how much he had left in the tank and that he lost a close, controversial decision to Leonard.
RIP Marvelous Marvin Hagler
It’s astounding that Hearns was able to continue, considering he broke his right hand at the end of round one. Hagler was a great fighter in an era full of them.
Nah - he didn’t lose that fight.
We know that, you and I and so many others. There is rarely justice in boxing.
I didn’t realise that he had his name legally changed, so that sports announcers would be forced to call him Marvelous Marvin (as alluded to by TriPolar)!
I should have remembered the name change, I remember eagerly buying The Ring when I was younger
Every ranking I’ve ever seen has that round as the Greatest Round Ever.
I dunno about that.
Leonard fought a smart fight. He knew he couldn’t go toe-to-toe with Hagler and after watching Hagler/Hearns, I don’t think anyone on the planet could.
Leonard circled Hagler throughout the fight and then at the end of each round, would go on the offense trying to steal the round. Hagler taunted Ray throughout the fight, calling him a little bitch and yelling at him to fight like a man.
The problem everyone has with the fight is the score card. Two of the judges had it close but in favor of Leonard. The third, had a completely improbable score of 118-110 for Sugar Ray. This led to the inevitable, “What fight were you watching?” or “Did they pay you in cash or check?” The judge, JoJo Guerra, eventually admitted that he goofed and should have scored two of the rounds for Marvin but stood by his call. All the same, it remains another WTF moment for boxing in a sport that is rife with them.
The day after his war with Thomas Hearns, a commercial (obviously shot before the fight) aired featuring Hagler pitching some food product. Near the end of it, he muses “I wonder what that other guy is eating today?” Pause. “Probably soup.”
His ferocity made him one of my favorite fighters ever and I don’t even like boxing.
The thing is, Hearns actually hit Hagler pretty good. Hearns was a damn difficult match-up because of his tall frame in the middle weight classes. He had the speed and reflexes of a junior middleweight but the reach and power of a light heavyweight. He caught Hagler a few times but Hagler shook it off, and in classic Hagler style, was relentless. That’s the trait I recall most about Hagler: his relentlessness. A lot like Julio Caesar Chavez in that regard. Great physical and mental stamina. He gets hit but somehow turns at just the right time or deflects it with his glove at just the right angle to deflect the worst of the impact and just keeps moving forward and landing body blows.
Yeah, they were probably both eating soup the day after. That was an amazing fight.