How steep was Hagler’s decline following the Hearns and then the Mugabi fights?

Well said young man!
There's a few on here that like to nit pick over trivial things.
Shows what their like in real life I suppose.

 

A bit but Hagler would always be troubled by Leonard's combination of speed and ring intelligence

Hearns and Mugabi both took much more punishment than Hagler did

 

He declined quite a bit from Hearns to Mugabi IMO. The Hearn's fight took some out of him and he was at that career stage too where it was gonna show. He looked far less sharp against Mugabi than in previous and it was noted in live time by the commentators.

As Sal said he also wasn't fighting enough for an aged fighter that had kept a busy schedule previously.

As some have also stated Leonard would always have been problematic. Flash said it well.

Ray Arcel always thought the Hearns fight took some out of him -

Ray Arcel - "When i saw the Hagler - Hearns fight, i knew that Hagler would not fight Hearns again. He took murderous punches. When Hearns hits you, you kinda stay hit. Hagler was subjected to more punishment than Hearns, but Hearns didn't have the stamina or endurance that was needed. Once the cork comes out, there's no putting it back in. Hagler knocked out Hearns in the third round, but he got hurt. He wouldn't want to walk on the same side of the street with Hearns again."

 

The wear & tear was evident, he was painfully slow but I agree with a previous poster, that's not why he lost. He lost because he gave away the first 4 rounds trying to be cute.

 

Indefatigable? He might find he is not so immune to fatigue. Perhaps if he read his post history...?

 

Good post.

 

Hagler was very slow in the Mugabi bout. Ray would of always presented problems but Hagler was pretty spent by time they fought

 

Weird how people treat Hagler like he was prime for Hearns but ancient for John Mugabai. Apparently for the Leonard fight he was a husk?

 

Also to the people acting like Hearns took his prime it was one hard round. Truly, stop with the romance Tommy was taken to the sword.

 

Hagler was decline a bit ever since the Duran and Roldan matches.

1985 he postpone Mugabi due to back injury & broken nose & cut eye & was out 11 month off before it the Mugabi match eventually.
he was 13 month out of boxing between Mugabi and Leonard.
66 professional matches. not soft ones. hard trains run in army boots 6 miles. old school. might not be good for prolong the legs either.

he was past it of course. way past the peak.

this was all known & a lot commented isn't it. at the time?

 

it's not steep decline in time
only might appear to be so .from 1 match to the next
due to inactive

 

Hagler's decline was apparent & a mainstream talking point throughout 1986. he was mainly regarded as semi retired going in with Leonard. his last fight. not many doubted. few of the up and coming middle weight expected him to stay around . he was a champion past his peak look towards retire & had very tough defences against younger challenger Mugabi. made it obvious.

nothing to do with his managers.

& what is wrong with retiring to Italy?