Hagler left nothing on the canvas
Champion’s post-boxing career was Marvelous
Not long after destroying Thomas Hearns in what — for many — was the greatest fight in championship history not involving a boxer named Ali, Marvin Hagler admitted that he went into the third round of the 1985 title bout worried about the cut over his right eye.
He had been bleeding since the first — a bar brawl itself hailed as the greatest round ever — and though Hagler didn’t recall the blood getting in his eyes, there were indications that referee Richard Steele might stop the fight. When Hearns reopened the cut in the second, and fresh blood covered Hagler’s forehead in the third, Steele paused the fight while a ring doctor checked the cut.
Hagler had no choice, he said. He’d been walking through Hearns’ feared right hand for six minutes-plus already, and this time he was simply going to barge in. Hearns had been on wobbly legs since the second, and Hagler continued to go for broke with wilting combinations and a brutal left hook. Hearns, who wore down quickly, to the point where cornerman Emanuel Steward beseeched him before the third to start “boxing” instead of trying to take Hagler’s head off, later admitted that Hagler’s ability to switch between southpaw and orthodox styles was too much to handle.
A wobbly Hearns finally turned, began to stumble away, turned back and was taken down by one final combination from Hagler. The challenger slid down the ropes and to the canvas, finally stretched out on his back.
Sugar Ray Leonard, on site as an HBO analyst, had noted late in the second that
Hearns was “on his bicycle” after finally deciding it was time to keep a distance. Interesting observation, considering that almost two years later to the day Leonard spent 12 rounds pedaling backwards as he scored points with light, Olympicstyle flurries.
Though Hagler landed the more meaningful punches while chasing his opponent, two judges scored for Leonard in his split-decision victory. Hagler rightly claimed that he was robbed, and though Leonard would eventually approach him about a rematch, the Brockton icon told promoter Bob Arum to “tell Ray to get a life.”
That’s what comes to mind now, following Saturday’s horrible news that Hagler, at 66, died suddenly at his home in Bartlett, New Hampshire. Hagler, in love with life, never looked back.
I had the honor of interviewing Hagler last August for a story on the 40th anniversary of beating Alan Minter for the middleweight title, and he was calm, genial, and most of all, at peace.
Though Hagler once told a Sports Illustrated reporter that he did some hard living immediately after retiring, when his first marriage also ended, he escaped by moving to Milan.
He married an Italian woman, learned the language, made contacts in that country’s film industry and became an action film star. He was Sgt. Indio, a U.S. Marine, in “Indio” and “Indio II,” and later appeared in a film called “Virtual Weapon” — described by critics as a comedy/science fiction caper. He went on location in the Philippine jungle, and Russia.
“Right now I’m doing a lot of speaking engagements – television,” he said last August. “I’m looking for another shot at a movie. I’d like that.
“It’s good when you retire to have something else to look forward to. Even for me living in Italy, I can speak a different language — something that keeps you alive. A lot of fighters get back into boxing, return to the ring because they don’t have anything else out there. All they know is the boxing world.”
As enraged as Hagler was by his split-decision loss to Leonard, he honored a vow never to return. He journeyed between Milan and New Hampshire, and saw it all with a clear mind.
“I left with all my faculties, heh-heh, that’s what’s most important, and your health,” he said with an appreciative chuckle. “I’ve been blessed in that sense.”
Though there have been attempts to bring together the so-called Four Kings — Hagler, Leonard, Hearns and Roberto Duran. None were successful.
“Well, you know, if they want to pay me,” said Hagler. “We tried to talk that over at one time, but everybody is trying to make money off of us instead of saying we want to pay you guys. Understand we have to make a living too, even after boxing.”
After his long journey — 67 fights, with only one knockdown (by Juan Roldan), and not getting a title shot until he was 26 — Hagler left nothing in the ring. And at those times when he crossed paths with opponents, like Leonard, Hearns and Vito Antuofermo, it was always cordial. Even if these were people he used to hate.
“Basically I’m not friends with anybody,” he said of the profession. “You build up a hatred when you prepare for the fight. But it’s good enough when both of you guys say hello, and you get the respect from each other. But you don’t have to fall in love with nobody. It’s not a game where you fall in love.”