Back in 1987, This fight was one of the most controversial fights in the history of boxing so let me make the poll by asking you guys once again "Who do you think really won the fight?" Thank you.
I scored it 7-4-1 Leonard. It's one fight where I will never understand the controversy. Leonard landed the cleaner blows throughout the fight, controlling it almost completely. Hagler was slow, lethargic and lacked imagination. He maintains that he took Leonard's best shots and never got knocked down but what the hell does that prove? My stance on this is that Hagler was so upset with the result that he could never admit he lost and that outlook became contagious and carried over to the fans. If the fight had happened in 82, 83, 84 or 85 it could have been different but Leonard won this one going away.
Don't have a round by round, but I scored it twice coming up 115-113 Leonard both times. With a close score like that if you fell Hagler won or it was a draw I won't argue with you. One thing is for sure though, it was not a robbery.
and you know what? Hagler kept saying over and over again that how could the challenger beat the champion by the split decision? IMO, this is so bull**** and ridiculous! Is it against the rules and regulations of boxing when the challenger beat the champion by split decision? I've seen this thing happening in world championship fights before.
7-5 Leonard. Leonard was the better man, but many people like Hagler's tough guy persona over Leonard's happy one.
The match was pretty close, Hagler's mistake was to start slowly and let Sugar do his thing for the first half of the fight Marvin won most of the later rounds but not convincingly enough, Leonard 7-5 can be considered quite fair but it could have very well been a draw, or even a W for Marvin by a slight margin. Kinda weird how the judges didn't try to protect Marvin more since he was the reigning champion.