San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
’80s middleweight great fought Hearns, Leonard
Marvelous Marvin Hagler stopped Thomas Hearns in a fight that lasted less than eight minutes, yet was so epic that it still lives in boxing lore. Two years later he was so disgusted after losing a decision to Sugar Ray Leonard — stolen, he claimed, by the judges — that he never fought again.
One of the great middleweights in boxing history who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame, Hagler died Saturday at the age of 66. His wife, Kay, announced his death at their home in New Hampshire on Facebook. She did not disclose a cause of death.
Hagler fought on boxing’s biggest stages against its biggest names, as he, Leonard, Hearns and Roberto Duran dominated the middleweight classes during a golden time for boxing in the 1980s. Quiet with a brooding public persona, Hagler fought 67 times over 14 years as a pro out of Brockton, Mass., finishing 6232 with 52 knockouts.
“If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove,” Hagler once said. “That’s all I am. I live it.”
Fighting out of a southpaw stance with his bald head glistening in the lights, Hagler was relentless and was vicious during an eightyear run that began with a disputed draw in 1979 against Vito Antuofermo, whom he later defeated. Hagler fought with a proverbial chip on his shoulder. He was so upset that he wasn’t introduced before a 1982 fight by his nickname of Marvelous that he legally changed his name.
Any doubts Hagler wasn’t indeed Marvelous were erased on a spring night in 1985. He and Hearns met in one of the era’s big middleweight clashes outdoors, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and when the opening bell rang they traded punches for three minutes in an opening round many consider the best in boxing history.
Hagler would go on to stop Hearns in the third round, crumpling him to the canvas with a barrage of punches even as blood poured out of a large gash on Hagler’s forehead that nearly caused the referee to stop the fight earlier in the round.
“His awkwardness messed me up but I can’t take anything away from him,” Hearns said Saturday. “He fought his heart out and we put on a great show for all time.”
Hagler would fight only two more times, stopping John Mugabi a year later and then meeting Leonard, who was coming off a threeyear layoff from a detached retina, in 1987.
As Hagler pursued him, Leonard fought backing up, flicking out his left jab and throwing combinations that didn’t hurt Hagler but won him points on the scorecards. Still, when the bell rang at the end of the 12th round, many thought Hagler had won — but he lost a controversial split decision.
Hagler, who was paid $19 million, left the ring in disgust and never fought again. He moved to Italy to act.