If Hagler didn't fight orthodox early on vs Leonard, would he have won?

Yes.
He did it for his pride cuz he wanted to show Leonard that he could beat him without even trying 100% but it backfired cuz he lost those first few rounds

I still had the fight for Hagler but the orthodox thing didn't help his cause

 

The fight was winnable for Hagler, most feel. He started seemingly with the plan to outbox Leonard for one-upmanship, and couldn't get off. I feel however that saying he would have simply won if he fought orthodox is selling Leonard short. He might have pulled another rabbit out of his hat.

 

It was and odd case of really bad judgment by Marvin and as another poster said it had him give away the first two rounds. That was a big deal in that bout as winning one of those could have changed the outcome. He wanted to beat Ray on every level but he just grew old on that night, he really didn't have much of the old steam at any point.

 

Correct. Richie Sandoval went to Hagler's training camp for the Leonard fight, and upon observing Hagler asked "what's wrong with Marvin"?

Hagler had been fighting for long time, and he simply got old all at once. The struggle with Mugabi was the start of the slide.

 

Actually, the Roldan fight from a few years before was the start of the slide and Larry Merchant commented on it as such.

 

Hagler had slipped considerably but outside forces were also at work the media wanted leonard to win after all he had always been the media darling and the boxer the media had pushed to replace Ali as boxings favourite son . Add to that the painfully evident biased fight commentators Plus the fact Vegas/bookies new this was almost definitely hagler's last fight but if leonard won they would almost certainly clean up and have a new cash cow . For me in many ways the odds were stacked against hagler

 

I agree with Mr Butt. Everything was stacked against Hagler from the get go. Leonard dictated the terms of the fight and Hagler's camp foolishly accepted his terms. Maybe they were so confident that Marvin would win it didn't matter to them but it should've. At any rate Marvin had slipped noticeably by then and in retrospect was ripe for the picking. Leonard knew this after watching the Hagler/Mugabi fight. I was uneasy as the fight approached because I felt that if Leonard simply lasted the 12 and put up a decent..though not winning performance..he would win. This fight should've happened way before it did. It would've been a beauty and probably a Hagler victory. Oh well.

 

I have always felt that giving away those early rounds were very damaging to Hagler and cost him the official decision. Still, I scored the fight for Hagler, although only by a point or two. I agree that the Hagler camp was extremely overconfident of victory and agreed to Leonard's terms, with Hagler going out to dominate Leonard at every level in the ring. The orthodox stance early on could also have been done to initially confuse Leonard, who would have been expecting a southpaw stance. Needless to say, it did not work and Hagler now found himself not only not dominating, but trying to catch up. He did finish strong, but it was a lackluster performance overall for the defending champion.

 

:hat:smoke: "No, he (Hagler) would've made it more difficult. He wouldn't have won no matter what."

Sugar Ray Leonard's quote and response to the exact same question asked of him during the Hagler-Leonard postfight replay on HBO by commentator Larry Merchant.

 

True! Here's the proof:

This content is protected

 

Hagler did the same thing in the fight with Mugabi.

As soon as he changed to southie, he took control. I think those first two rounds are close. It is not like Leonard was throwing and landing a whole lot. Either way when Hagler turned south Leonard adjusted and fought great. I like to score it for Hagler but sometimes I cannot deny Leonard.'

I have a question. I cannot think a fight off the top of my head. Did Hagler ever dominate or significantly change the direction of a fight by switch to orthodox?

 

They agreed to each others' terms.

Hagler's terms were monetary.

 

And could Leanard have won if he was warned for holding & had a point deducted (to begin with)if he kept doing so? He was arned over 30 times. Was it fair that he was allowed to thwart Hagler in this way & not have the rules enforced?

 

Hagler's pride, ego and erosion of skills cost him the fight. He should of never started the fight with that flat out dumb, and disrespectful to his opponent, strategy. He got greedy for the big payday and gave Leonard all the in the ring benefits from size of ring to gloves to number of rounds. I am and always have been a Hagler guy and I think Ray avoided the prime Hagler, but Hagler has no one to blame but himself for that fight. Since he conceded all the ring edges to Leonard the least he could of done was come out and try and win with his best. His arrogance cost him big time as that loss has haunted him ever since.