HAGLER LAUGHS OFF FURY BRAWL CLAIM
TYSON FURY’S claim that he is going to engage Deontay Wilder in a Hagler-Hearns brawl has been treated as a joke — by Marvin Hagler.
Fury has raised eyebrows with assertions he will ditch his hit-and-move style by chasing a knockout in their Las Vegas rematch on Saturday and has cited the three-round classic between Hagler and Thomas Hearns in 1985.
Hagler, 65, who won the middleweight world title that night, is doubtful Fury will follow through on his plan to go toe to toe with the biggest puncher in boxing.
When told about Fury’s claim, Hagler laughed and told Sportsmail: ‘I heard that had been said. He doesn’t really fight that way. But I say one thing about him — I like that he has movement and he seems to be a good thinker in the ring. But again, if he was to lose his strategy against Wilder, he’d better think twice.’ Speaking in his role as a Laureus ambassador ahead of last night’s Laureus World Sport Awards, Hagler also sounded a note of warning for Anthony Joshua, who is chasing a fight with the winner.
In pointing to Joshua’s avenged defeat of Andy Ruiz Jnr and the difficulties he encountered with Wladimir Klitschko in 2017, Hagler said: ‘They’ve got the secret about Joshua’s punch resistance. It is two times Joshua has been shook up. Ruiz shocked him. Klitschko did and didn’t finish him. Can you imagine what Mike Tyson would have done if he’d shaken him up like Klitschko did?
‘But I like Joshua. And it is great you have these heavyweights. Now it is a puzzle between these three. It is very hard to separate them.’