Rodrigo Valdez vs Marvin Hagler

what did Valdez do in his career to prove he can beat a top 3 middleweight all time great like hagler?

 

What did Hagler do to become invincible or even rated #3 in the deepest division in history? Hagler's best wins came over smaller men or faded fighters. Look at the best guys he fought:

Duran (barely won)
Leonard (lost)
Hearns (won)
Antuofermo (Draw, and a bull**** headbutt stoppage)
Mugabi (difficult win)
Briscoe (Hagler ran all night and admitted he didnt want to engage)

When you consider that Duran was a bloated ex lightweight that had Hagler intimidated, Leonard was an ex WW that had been retired for years and was coming off an eye injury, Hearns was moving up in weight, Antuofermo and Mugabi were never that great, and Briscoe was coasting on fumes at that point (nevermind the fact that Valdez beat him by KO YEARS earlier) Hagler's resume doesnt seem like its really going to raise him head and shoulders above Valdez who had a great chin, a powerful punch, and great skills. Nevermind that mentally in his prime Valdez was much more consistent whereas Hagler was a headcase who let guys like Briscoe, Antuofermo, and Duran spook him and got so psyched out by Leonard that he tried to box four rounds as a righty in the biggest fight of his life and ended up giving those rounds away as a result. When you consider that Valdez was badass enough that he had the supposed ice water in his veins killer Monzon running scared from him for 3 years its a safe bet for me that this is a pickem fight. If Hagler kept his head screwed on straight for this fight he COULD win. But given that in about half or more of his biggest fights he made some kind of tactical blunder by overthinking his strategy Id have to say its as likely that Valdez could box\punch his way to a convincing victory. Hagler wasnt infallible.

 

Outside of a (couple) of nin-com-poop posts, I don't think I've ever seen a thread with more intriging, thoughtful comments about these two ATG's.
I think we can all agree that PVP, we'de all want to be ringside with a beer and a dog to witness this battle!!

 

Even Valdez's trainer Gil Clancy himself admitted that he wouldn't let his guy, Valdez, anywhere near Marvelous Marvin Hagler while Clancy was conducting color commentary on PPV for Hagler's title defense against John "The Beast" Mugabi during Hagler's ring walk entrance.

 

Valdez can't hurt hagler

why do I say this?

becuz everyone else's power shots bounce off him like a mild summer rain

Hagler's skills are much more refined N polished. Valdez simply cant box like Hagler nor can he reach Hagler or get past his jab (Hagler's movement to the right will throw him off-too much versatility)

and Rodrigo never catches up

 

And Hagler had a lot more impressive wins then were listed earlier-hell he beat the Philly 3 Before he won his title.

 

Ok, so now Valdez cant even land on Hagler (who wasnt exactly hard to find) and if he did wouldnt even be able to hurt him...


Yeah, Hagler beat the philly 3 and before he did so did:

Eddie Gregory (who had ten fights when he beat Hart)
Nate Collins (who had 14 losses when he knocked out Hart)
Joe Gonzalez (who had 17 losses and was shot when he knocked out Hart)
Clarence Geiger
Armando Muniz
Don Cobbs (who had 8 losses when he knocked out Watts)
David Love (who had 12 losses when he knocked out Watts and outpointed Monroe)
Mustapha Hamsho
Max Cohen (who has 7 losses when he beat Monroe)
Alvin Phillips (who had 9 losses when he beat Monro)

Even Briscoe had lossed or drawn (failed to win) 21 fights when he fought Hagler. People love to pump these wins up for Hagler but its not like it took a future hall of famer to beat those guys. Every single one of them had lost to club fighters more than once.

 

Yeah, 1986! And Clancy (with a ******* big paycheck for commentating) would say whatever to hype that bout! And John gave Marvin a good scrap so....Mugabi walks thru Valdez??? Gimme a break! Back to the thoughtful posts!

 

Really...this thread has taken a momentary nosedive.

 

Like when he fought Antefermo ???

 

I think Hagler by switching up,fighting from both sides would outbox Valdez. Kind of the way he outboxed Briscoe after getting that nasty cut. Valdez could definitely crack,but I think Hagler,s iron chin takes what it has to. It,s a close fight,but prime Hagler 15 rd UD. Why is it close, Valdez beat some real good fighters and he gave Monzon two pretty tough fights. They match up well physically as well. I feel that Hagler,s boxing skills tend to be underrated. True he could be a seek and destroy guy in there,but... He wasn,t a `true` one-punch banger either. If you watch when he truly had to box, prime Hagler had good footwork and lateral movement. He outboxes Valdez and does enough on the inside to keep Valdez honest in there too...