Marvin Hagler
Middleweight champion BORN MAY 23, 1954 – DIED MARCH 13, 2021, AGED 66
CONSIDERED by many to be one of boxing’s greatest champions in an age that boasted a golden generation of middleweights including Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler reigned as world champion from 1980 to 1987.
His 1985 Las Vegas fight with superstar Thomas Hearns proved the highlight of Hagler’s glittering career.
After a thrilling but brutal battle, Hagler retained his crown when the fight was stopped in the third in what has been dubbed “the greatest round in boxing history”.
Hagler was born in Newark, New Jersey, where his mother Ida Mae raised him, his brother and four sisters alone after his father left their tenement home, which burned down in riots in 1967, forcing the family to move to Massachusetts.
There, Hagler quickly developed his boxing skills and the hardman southpaw was signed up by legendary promoter Bob Arum.
His first world title shot came in 1979 against Vito Antuofermo.
His next chance was against Alan Minter who stoked a hostile pre-fight atmosphere saying no black man would take his title.
But the British champion took a savage beating and a riot ensued when the fight was stopped, with Hagler fleeing the ring shielded by his entourage from a hail of bottles and chairs launched by the drink-fuelled crowd.
He defended his title 12 times but quit in 1987 after a bitterly disputed splitdecision loss to Leonard.
Making millions after being born into poverty, he once said: “It’s hard to get up to do roadwork at 5am when you sleep in silk pyjamas.”
Hagler’s first marriage produced five children and ended in 1990.
In 2000 he married Kay Guarrera, who survives him.