In this era of split titles and diamond/super/'whatever' world champions, a title reign as clear and uncomplicated as Marvin Hagler's at middleweight in the 80s seems almost magical. Back in the 30s, 40s and 50s when the ring announcers introduced a fighter as the 'world's champion', it meant just that - there was just one champion and no pretender champions. But by the late 1960s, many of the world's previously uncontested world championships were split in two - the WBC having joined the rebranded WBA as the second 'world' title. During this era, the middleweight world championship remained largely unified - only in 1974 was there a splintering of the titles when Carlos Monzon was stripped of the WBC version of the championship, a fracture that lasted two years. After Monzon beat Rodrigo Valdes to make the title whole again, it would remain that way for the next 11 years. And the man largely responsible for that continuity was Marvellous Marvin Hagler. There have been many proud champions in the history of boxing but it is doubtful that there have been any prouder than Hagler. Fuelled by a sense of injustice at being denied his title try for so long and then experiencing the double indignity of a unjustifiable draw denying him again in his first shot, once Marvellous got another try he wouldn't leave it in the judges' hands, picking apart Alan Minter in four rounds in London in 1980. Even then, Hagler couldn't celebrate. Instead of the sweet satisfaction of realising the culmination of his lifelong goal, a riot broke out at Wembley to deny him his victory parade in the ring. Many fighters lose their drive and hunger upon winning a world championship but Hagler's only seemed to increase. Despite now being announced as the world middleweight champion before every fight, Hagler retained a challenger's mentality - each defense was fought as if he needed to remove any doubt about who the champ was and a run of 11 KOs in 12 successful defenses reflected his seemingly unquenchable desire to keep a vice-like grip on his belts. Hagler was the rarest of champions in that for almost his entire career, history and recognition as a great fighter were his goals, not simply attaining a large paycheck. It was only at the end of his career that his focus wavered, driven by his career-long rivalry with Ray Leonard, his attention shifting to the need for fame and money for that one fight. It was probably the only significant mistake Hagler ever made. But by walking away from that fight and never coming back, he enhanced his legacy and further grew his undeniable reputation as one of the greatest of all middleweight champions.
Marvin was a person who wanted recognition for his hard work and dedication and felt people held him back a little. This chip on his shoulder really helped him get motivation, and then he turned a great mind and body (solid body evenly built with switching and 75 inch reach) into an experienced champion. I always thought getting the title shot later insured a better title reign than had he had a title shot at 30 or 35 fights. As for his motivation? I think the Hearns fight satisfied what he looked for and he would have been fine to retire at that point, but Arum convinced him to fight Mugabi after a year of inactivity, and then the Leonard fight was hard for him to turn down. Legacy and money. He got recognition after Hearns and his motivation to keep going was lower, and Ray Leonard being the smart guy he is and opportunist saw this lack of motivation and jumped on it to get an advantage. It is all very sad what happened. I understand he had a good life and enjoyed seeing people in recent years. I saw a clip on youtube where he lived recently in New Hampshire and would say hello to shop keepers and buy bread and everyone loved him. Just a nice happy man. It seems like his life today which was a good one and he was happy. After boxing he seemed to find a peace in himself in someways more peace than his contemporaries Hearns, Leonard and Duran in that he could walk away from boxing and have a serene life outside the spotlight, whereas those others seemed to want the spotlight more than Marvin..
He was definitelly unique, I just read his book on my kindle, and a lot of the big time boxing managers said that his loyalty to the Petronelli brothers may have held him back a bit which may be true. The Petronelli's were good to Marvin without a doubt,they just were not as well connected as other managers and trainers. Apart from Marvin they had Tony Petronelli, Marvin, Robbie Sims, and later Kevin McBride. Early in Marvin's career the Petronelli's never took a percentage out of Hagler's purse and they only negotiated with Bob Arum never Don King. They were good for each other.