AGAINST ALL ODDS
Leonard defies belief with disputed win over Hagler, writes George Gigney
THIS wasn’t supposed to happen. All logic and reasoning argued against it ever happening. No one expected him to do it. Sugar Ray Leonard just could not beat Marvelous Marvin Hagler in 1987. But he did.
The fight was first floated six years before they eventually met, after Leonard had stopped Thomas Hearns in their classic welterweight unification fight. Leonard “retired” twice after that win over Hearns, resulting in just one fight in five years as preparation for middleweight supremo Hagler – and that was an uninspired win over welterweight Kevin Howard in 1984.
He said the motivation wasn’t there for his fight with Howard, but there was one man who could get the fire going in his belly again – Hagler. He got what he wanted but most people’s reaction was ‘be careful what you wish for.’ The British Board and Canadian Federation came out in opposition to it while Dr Ferdie Pacheco said Leonard was in danger.
Yet still. Leonard had already won world titles in two weight divisions, he had proven himself one of the best to ever lace them up, Hagler was slightly on the slide and Roberto Duran had shown the bald-headed king could be frustrated with smart boxing and counters. What if Leonard could find his old form? What if he could stand up to Hagler’s onslaught? There were enough ifs to draw a worldwide audience of over 300 million and guaranteed purses of $12m and $11m for Hagler and Leonard respectively, but too many to make a case for Leonard winning. In our preview, we picked Hagler.
By the time the first bell rang at a packed out Ceasers Palace in Las Vegas, Leonard had drifted to 4/1 with bookmakers. His plan was clear from the get-go: “move jab and don’t get involved,” we wrote from ringside. Whenever he got close he would smother Hagler’s work or tie him up, though the champion landed a decent left hook in the second, grabbing Leonard’s attention.
The third was close but Hagler’s frustration was growing and we were reminded of Leonard’s infamous demoralisation of Duran in New Orleans. He continued the psychological warfare as the early rounds progressed, walking out of range with his hands down as he shook his head at Hagler, who yelled at him after the fourth stanza. Hagler’s breakthrough came in the fifth when he forced Sugar Ray to stand and trade and had him hurt off a couple of right hands.
Leonard responded like a champion though, taking the sixth with smart counter-punching – but Marvelous Marvin’s push for victory went into full swing in the seventh, from which point we gave him every round.
Hagler’s pressure took its toll in the ninth as Leonard was backed into his own corner and began breathing with his mouth open and by the 10th he was completely flat-footed. However he was back on his toes momentarily in the 11th, before Leonard traded with him in the final round, though ended the fight on the back foot.
There was a long wait for the scores, which were: 115-113 for Leonard, an absurd 118-110 for Leonard and 115113 to Hagler. Boxing News, with Harry Mullan at ringside, had it 116-113 to Hagler.