Hagler on the Mugabi fight

This content is protected

Mugabi was clear-headed, but he was a beaten man. At first, he put his hands behind his head, the way we do when we are relaxing. Then, at five, he took a seated position. It was there he remained as referee Mills Lane tolled off the 10-count. Mugabi could have gotten up. He had nothing left. There was no reason to get up.

Years later, Hagler told me, in a recap of his career, "If I ever came close to being stopped or to losing my title, it was against John Mugabi. The guy hit me harder and more often than anybody I ever fought."

Mickey Duff, when asked about that night, said, "Against anybody else, Mugabi would have won, and probably won early. But Hagler was at his best that night, and when the best is at his best, there's not beating him."

 

Hagler was little more than that at 157-8 and both fighters especially Hearns had been floating around up in weight and fighting and beating middles since before he had fought SRL he beat Mike Colbert, before and Singletary, Geraldo and McCracken before he fought Benitez the first time I believe he had KO'd some middleweights prior and so had Mugabi.....he beat Frank Fletcher, James Hardrock Green, Curtis Jackson, Wilbert Johnson, Earl Hargrove before Hagler ....both fighters had already been testing the middleweight waters for quite a while.

 

I am not sure if I like the jrmiddle division as I feel that most fighters are either welterweights or middleweights Hagler was barely fighting over the jrmiddle limit and throughout history many middleweight champs were barely above the welterweights in the low 150's...the exapansion of the weight divisions seemed more like a money thing by the sanctioning bodies than safety for fighters.

I also think part of the marketing issue with the Cruiserweights (the ony added division I felt made sense) for example is the name of the division I feel the heavies should be superheavies and the cruisers should be heavyweights

 

Duff was being kind to Mugabi by saying Hagler was at his best....I agree with your opinion he had hit the top of the mountain with Hearns and was sliding down in his career. But.....he had to step on the gas with Mugabi and fight hard to beat him....no matter how you slice it to do that kind of damage to Hagler it took some serious power and I would argue that his fighting through this adversity was his last great performance due to how long it took him to come alive. This is what SRL saw a content Hagler who had to dig deep to find the best in himself....MMH was not washed up he had gotten what he wanted his whole career in the Hearns fight as you pointed out he was not as driven anymore....

The quote by the way is from a poster called the commish who had been the NY State boxing commissioner