In full disclosure, I'm a big fan of both guys, probably a little more even in Duran's camp. Just rewatched their fight last night and thought the cards to be extremely generous to Duran. I didn't see this as a one point fight. I had it 11 to 4 in rounds. Thoughts? Your scoring?
I didn't think the fight was that close. Duran fought commendably, but no way was he winning after 12. Hagler seems to suffer the same problem as Tyson in that some give his opponent too much credit simply for not being annihilated.
11 to 4 is too wide for my taste... I thought Duran did better than that, but not a one point loss better.
I think you're right, Seamus. People were high on Duran after the Moore and Cuevas fights, but the fight really wasn't that close. It was interesting, entertaining, and Duran fought respectably, but it was Hagler's fight easy.
It seems the judges were bending over backwards to give Duran any remotely close round, or to give him any round where he landed some solid clean shots and an argument could be made for him, even if Hagler landed more punches.
Absolutely nothing wrong with the scoring. Duran both made Marvin miss " clean " shots, and countered him superbly, until the championship rounds when he ran out of gas.
I've commented on the fight on youtube, saying more or less the same as you. I had it wide for Hagler. Duran posed and snarled more than he fought.
10-5, 9-6 or 9-5-1 are all good cards. It was not close. Hagler won by a clear margin. Duran's machismo of being a former lightweight moving up to take on one of the best middleweights of all time I think had a little to do with the scoring. That and Hagler being unnecessarily wary of Duran's punching. Hagler came on strong to close the show, and he's should be thankful he did. Yikes! What if this was a 12 round fight? We have a robbery! Scorecards: Judge: Guy Jutras 142-144 Judge: Yusaku Yoshida 145-146 Judge: Ove Ovesen 143-144 Unofficial AP scorecard: 145-142 Hagler Unofficial Los Angeles Times scorecard: 146-141 Hagler
I thought Hagler won it clearly.Duran was all bluff,smoke and mirrors.Why Hagler was so tentative I don't know.Duran's head movement seemed to baffle him a bit. Your scorecard is about right imo.
Anytime a fight is more competitive than many think it's going to be,the underdog always gets more slack on the cards. I had it 9 - 5 - 1 to Hagler.
He doesn't rewatch fights-- even when he asks you to post them for him. He'd rather argue off memory and emotion.
Vegas scorecards were often shady back in the day. This was just one example. Duran fought well, but was outmatched. He was done at the truly elite level after the second Leonard fight. He beat a faded Cuevas, and defensively difficient Davey Moore and Iran Barkely because he had good defense and a tremendous amount of guile. The style of all three of those guys was tailor made for him. The Barkley win was very impressive, though, because Duran was much older and smaller than Barkley, no matter how crude Barkley was. A good mover and clever boxer, like Benitez, and even an inspired Kirkland Lang, always gave post prime Duran problems.