Hagler did as much to lose the fight as Leonard did to win it.
During the interview, which had Leonard live and Hagler by satellite, Leonard was his usually evasive self while Hagler allowed himself to be baited, time and again, by Leonard. I really couldn't believe what I was watching.
Little by little, Leonard WORKED on Marvin. It was SICKENING. Ray would never answer questions directly. Here is how the interview went.
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Firestone: "How do you fight the best southpaw ever when you have always had trouble with southpaws?"
Leonard: Well, if Marvin were an orthodox fighter, I'd have the fight in the bag"
Hagler: Oh, he thinks I can't fight orthodox, I'll show him"
I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!
Here's some more.
Firestone: Marvin's a strong middleweight how........
Leonard: (cutting in) Well, Marvin's more of a brawler where I'm more of a boxer. If............
Hagler: Everybody thinks I can't box. He'll see come fight time. I'll show him.
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There was MUCH more of that. Leonard got inside Hagler's head and it worked. So I can't blame Ray if Marvin allowed himself to be conned.
Once I saw the interview, I tried to change my prediction but the article had already gone to press. I went out and bet every dollar I could on Leonard, one of only three times in my life I ever gambled on a sporting event. Though I thought Hagler SHOULD win, I could see where he allowed Leonard to get in his head.
Hagler reminded me of how most guys act the first time they see a recent ex-girlfriend with a new guy. They do stupid things. He seemed overly obsessed with "Out Sugaring" Leonard. To this day, I'm still not sure who he was trying to impress. I do know that he and his wife divorced soon after the fight. Maybe she had a crush on Ray. Who knows?
Hagler gave away the first four rounds, boxing orthodox. It's quite possibly more than he ever boxed orthodox in his entire career before the Leonard fight. I just couldn't understand many of the things Hagler did before, during and after the fight.
That silly dance he did in the ring before the announcement was also WAY out of character. The "Destruct and Destroy" Warrior of the past clearly didn't show up for the Leonard fight. I just couldn't believe how much he allowed Leonard to get away with.
No boxing fan in his right mind expected Hagler to charge Ray the way he went after Hearns. Styles is all you need to know for that that wouldn't have worked. Still, Hagler would have been far more effective had he fought his fight instead of Leonard's.
Leonard wasn't very impressive at all but he did win the match, if not the war. That was more a result of what Hagler didn't do than what Leonard did do.
I am a massive Hagler fan, but Leonard just edged it. he did a psyche job on Hagler before the fight that took Hagler out of his right mindset and from fighting his fight. Leonard made Hagler look sluggish and clumsy at times but I think that it was a very close fight.
Had Hagler not have been influenced by the head games that Leonard played before the fight then I think that he would of stopped him somewhere around the 9th round. If it was a fifteen round fight Hagler would of got the KO I believe regardless of Leonards head games.
It's a shame that it ended like this for Hagler, but after a magnificent, marvelous career (and taking into consideration the Mugabi fight prior to the Leonard fight) I'm glad that Hagler retired when he did and stayed retired. Although in an immediate rematch I feel that Hagler would of annihilated him.
i haven't watched it for 20 either and as lights out said i wasn't a leonard fan more a hagler duran fan ,at the time i thought leonard just won but i'll re watch it and get back to you .
I just re watched it and it was close i had it level 5 round each with 1 level going into the last and leonard stole the last to win by 1 round for me .
one thing though is that when you watch a fight live the punches seem much harder than on tv and i;m sure haglers punches would of been much harder .
Of course, the fight went the distance and Hagler failed to knock Leonard out, which was what people (and the judges) were expecting, so that kinda took away Hagler's mystique and affected the judges decision. I mean, people were used to Hagler knocking out and beating the sh_t out of his opponents so guys who survived his onslaught like Duran and now Leonard, somehow, earned quite a rep. Add to that, Ray's very flashy and flamboyant boxing that night. Never mind that he didn't connect quite solidly, but the guy taunted and humiliated Hagler and made a good account of himself. And yes, he's the busier fighter and he dictated the tempo. The fight could've gone either way, depending on the type of fighter the judges favored - a master-boxer or a puncher. Obviously, they favored the boxer and I don't have problem with that. It was the right decision, IMO.
The last time watched it, I gave it to Leonard in a very close fight. I think a rematch was in order.
They were both clearly past their primes and neither of their performances really impressed me. Hagler looked old and slow but pressed most of the action. Leonard was quick but appeared to lack stamina and was largely inactive. After losing most of the early rounds, Hagler seemed to have gained the advantage by pressing the action, and going to Leonard's body. Leonard came back in the last two rounds and won the fight by one round on my scorecards. It was a close fight that I could easily give to Hagler on another viewing. People that say Leonard won in a landslide leave me scratching my head.
I never thought Ray did enough to deserve the decision, I though Hagler should have kept his title. It was a close fight, but Ray really got the decision by running and stealing the rounds with last second late flurries in the last ten or twenty seconds after running and avoiding exchanges for the majority of the rounds. Everyone has their own opinion, mine is that Hagler got robbed.
The fight could easily have gone either way. None of the rounds were really dominated all of the way through. A case could be made for a draw, Hagler win or Leonard win. I don't think it is as controversial as people make out when it comes down to opinion on this one. It wasn't like Pacquaio vs Bradley or anything lol.
I remember thinking that Hagler was going to kill Ray within three rounds. Imagine my surprise when Leonard, not only survives, but shows the same brilliance at middleweight that he showed at welterweight, but against a dominant force in the division. I was so awed that I had him winning handily the first time I saw it.
Fast forward some ten odd years after that fight and I still saw Leonard winning, albeit by a much closer margin. I have watched that fight relatively recently and it is still my opinion that Ray won. People still held that notion that you had to "take the championship from the champion" and I always hated that. To me hat says, "yeah I lost, but not too badly so give me the gift." The hell with that, Marvin. You lost.
I've never been particularly a Leonard fan, he was amazingly skilled and without doubt one of the greatest ever but I never warmed to him much, Ive always been a big Duran and hagler fan....having said that, I thought Leonard won the hagler fight by a round. I don't see the big controversy personally. He won the fight in a style I don't particularly like to watch, but won it nonetheless.
could've went either way, but i thought leonard did enough to win. hagler gave away the first 4 rounds, and also did himself a disservice giving ray 12 rounds in return for a bigger slice of the purse.
Recently I found myself in a conversation with a young man about boxing which turned into a debate about Leonard vs Hagler and I was surprised at what this fellas memory of the fight was when I had a completely different memory of the fight. I went back and re watched the fight for the first time in about 20 years and found that my memory of the fight was spot on. I am interested in seeing what others memory or opinions are of the fight.
I am so much fan of Hagler he is all time famous
