getting hit n hurt 3 times in a fight is greater than 6 pointless flurries that do ZERO damage. The harder n more damaging punches were done by hagler. Lets not act like the crowd n sentiment didnt help srl
It was close but I thought Hagler took it with no worse than a draw. it's just too bad that Marvin and Ray never fought when they were in thier prime. What a great fight it would've been. Leonard played it smart though and waited until he thought it was safe to challenge Hagler. After Hagler's fight with Mugabi Ray knew then he had a chance because it was evident that Hagler had slipped quite a bit. Still I feel that Hagler did enough to retain his title. It was no great secret that evryone there that night was pulling for Leonard and the judges were swayed by the crowd (I'm getting angry again). If we apply the same crieria to Hagler/Antuofermo I that was applied to Hagler/Leonard, then Marvin shoudl've won the title against Vito that night. Hagler won that fight more decisively than Ray did against Marvin but could only get a draw from those nearsighted judges. If that's the case then Ray should've got a draw as well. Crazy logic perhaps but what do you want from a big Hagler fan....from new England no less.
115-113 Leonard. This was the first fight that I rember the hype for. Everyone and I mean Everyone thought Hagler was going to win. I belive that this is behind all the claims that the result of the fight was unjust. It turned out to be a very close fight with Leonard coming out on top, in a fight that could have gon either way.
Catching the punches on the arms, shoulders, and gloves is defense though. Showboating before/after a punch and/or flurry does not mean the punches landed.
i see what you're saying but i think hagler's ability to catch and block has been overstated. leonard landed solidly and consistently in the first half. just cause hagler couldn't be hurt with a ****ing bus doesn't mean the blows aren't scored. leonard hit him plenty, just never had a chance of hurting him. i'll take leonards ineffective blows over hagler's not existent blows.
Hagler won a clear victory in my book. Even now, I see people are swayed but flashy flurries that do next to nothing and barely land.... Damn was a performace it was to still fool people, even now.
7-5, Leonard. Could have seen it scored for either man. I don't buy into any of the conspiracy theories.
I thought Hagler deserved the decision. Close, but he deserved it, imo. In terms of acheivement, what Leonard did after such a layoff against a dominant (though significantly deterioated) champion was magnificent. I think so may people expected Leonard to be wiped out by Hagler that the very fact that SRL was competitive against MMH may have sub-conciously influenced many observers (including, apparently 2 judges) that SRL was doing better than he actually was. The showboating etc, is clever psychology, Ali used it very well. It gives the impression of supreme confidence of victory...it can make the impressionable think that the person showboating must be winning the fight - fantastic kidology. For me, this was a victory of modern day "values", one of style over substance, flash over steady work, imo. Jo-Jo Guerra's 118-110 was disgraceful, imo. Hugh McIlvanney of The Sunday Times in the UK wrote a magnifficent article on this subject the week after the fight - one of the greatest and perceptive articles on boxing that I have ever read.
Hagler certainly landed the more telling blows, which is why SRL was running so much. Leonard landed more blows but many were glancing, and he only once hurt Hagler.