Did Marvin Hagler or the Petronellis ever address his game plan vs Ray Leonard?

If that fight was 15 rounds Ray gets does not win its that simple.
Three things about Ray that people overlook. One he had an incredibly high boxing IQ and he had an incredible brantrust behind him in Trainer who often gets overlooked.
Two Ray was incredibly petty especially when he was younger and would do subtle things to get back at people/opponents. Had a friend that signed with Leonard and before he signed everyone he asked about rather he should sign or not told him he shouldn't but he signed anyway. And it was a huge mistake. Anytime he had a disagreement or voiced a concern about something Leonard would get petty.
And three Leonard was incredibly vicious more so then people realize. He wasn't just a fancy boxer with fast hands and feet he could get down and dirty if called for.

 

Marvin was so mad at himself he lashed out on everyone except himself. He got caught up in the moment so concerned about sticking it to Ray and he was the one who got out maneuvered by Ray in the end in all phases of that match.

 

My man, they both got rich and I'm happy they did that and gave us many happy memories

Do you have examples of Marvin lashing out btw? I think we can all progect our problems onto others as a defense mechanism

 

Did you not ever watch how many excuses Hagler gave when interviewed about that fight?
Lashed out at a judge that judged the fight because Hagler and company didn't want the previous judge so he ended up replacing that judge lol.
And this whole Quincy Taylor story is just so dumb.
Quincy did rock Leonard very badly and it made Leonard realize that if Quincy could hurt him badly like that what in the hell could Hagler do if he landed ?
This whole notion where Leonard was going to "slug it out" with Hagler until getting rocked by Quincy is just another tall tale everyone eats up.

 

Leonards reply to that was if it was a 15 round fight he would have trained for a 15 round fight.

To say he has a point would be grossly understating it.

 

I just remember Hagler was getting so upset anytime someone mentioned something Leonard could possibly do in the fight leading up to the fight.
I think that press conference where Leonard invited Hagler and company to and then turned around and announced his retirement really did a number on Hagler.

 

I love Ray and had him winning but I can't see him winning a 15 rounder no matter how he trains. Who knows though I've been wrong about plenty of things in life

BTW Ray put up dukes with me on after dinner speech, I was in heaven

 

I believe the Mugabi fight took a lot more out of Hagler than was generally realized at the time . Did he have the wrong plan? absolutely but I'm not sure he could have executed a more aggressive game plan either. Watching the fight I was shocked at how slow and tentative Hagler appeared . I think the Petronelli's and Hagler knew afterwards that he shouldn't fight anymore which is why there was no rematch.

 

It was a great event from the way it was promoted to the actual fight itself.
I personally had Ray winning wider then most people.
Supposedly Hagler was going to retire after the Mugabi fight but the Leonard fight was offered.
Lets remember it took Hagler 120 days to say yes to that fight and I'm sure some of it was Hagler wanting to make Ray wait but I'm also sure some of it was Hagler trying to figure out should he continue boxing or not.

 

Marvin got everything he asked for … and he asked for 20M things (all dollar bills).

So he ‘won’ the negotiation.

‘Conveniently left out’ that Ray invited Marvin to his retirement party and Marvin spent an evening at a banquet and didn’t get what he wanted? What’s to leave out? Boo freaking hoo, poor Marvin.

He wanted to fight Ray and make a big bag and he did. Just maybe not when he wanted or expected — again, the Goldilocks complex … everything has to be ‘just right’ on Marvin’s terms, lol.

You are right in that Ray was absolutely vicious, a stone killer of a man. He didn’t just want to outpoint Hagler, he wanted to beat him physically, mentally/psychologically, emotionally and spiritually. And he did. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen an ATG so completely wrecked by an outcome.

Duran got blasted out by Hearns and he recovered from it. Hell, Ray even made him quit and he rebounded. Ali lost the FotC and kept going, avenging himself vs Frazier (twice) and winning the title back from Foreman, etc.

Marvin literally banished himself from the country and moved to Italy. Ray ran him out of America, haha.

 

Ray invited him to a media event it was not a retirement "party". He even started hyping up a possible fight with Hagler and himself and the crowd started to get excited........ then Ray said it is NOT going to happen. And the crowd sat there stunned.
Marvin definitely let Ray get into his head that is for sure.
Ray was a great boxer but not such a great person especially when he was younger. God he could get so petty over the dumbest of things.

 

Marvin was a petty guy. He made Ray wait months before accepting the fight. He would get enraged over opponents having the audacity of saying things like they were going to try to win, lol. He was sullen over a fair draw against Vito where he took his foot off the gas and let Antuofermo steal rounds.

Ray invited Marvin — and a ton of other people — to a banquet where he was going to announce his next steps, whether he was going to retire or return to the ring after being cleared following eye surgery. He made that announcement. It was not arranged nor advertised as ‘Ray Leonard to announce fight with Marvin Hagler,’ although that was obviously an option.

That doesn’t make Leonard a bad person. (You can argue that he wasn’t a good person for some other things he did, but not failing to make the announcement that people wanted or expected and instead announcing that he was going to retire.)

Marvin could have turned down the invitation — nobody made him go. It took one evening out of his life. But that’s too much for Goldilocks, who has to have everything his own way on his own time.

Ray was a master of the dark arts when it came to psychological warfare. He let Duran get to him when they fought and he learned from it. He was a fighter, not a nun — and he wanted to destroy his opponents the same way Hagler wanted to destroy his opponents. But Ray wanted to do it not just physically but completely. Savagely. Play with his food. Rip out their hearts and show it to them while it was still beating kind of stuff.

I don’t ask of fighters that they be nice about it. It’s a FIGHT. Ray didn’t do anything underhanded, illegal or unethical. He committed the ‘crime’ of taking Marvin to the woodshed psychologically and then beat him on points in the ring, which wrecked Marvin far worse than if Leonard had scored a one-punch KO in the first round.

Marvin never got over it. Ray broke him.

 

The Vito bout vs Hagler was a robbery and that is not even up for debate. Marvin got shafted its that simple and one of the reasons why he was granted a title shot.
Ray was not a very nice person nobody questions his fighting ability but when you intentionally derail younger boxers careers where you are suppose to have their best interests at heart that makes you a bad person.
The whole invite where you are trying to paint it in a positive light for Leonard is utter garbage. He knew damn well what he was doing and made it out that he was going to announce a mega fight when he was never going to do that and it was all for attention.
Hagler could be petty but he was a very proud boxer who had to literally claw for everything he ever got so of course he has resentment when it comes to Leonard but yes he foolishly allowed Leonard to get into his head.
Everyone with any sense knows had they met with both in their primes what would have happened so its really not that big of a deal that people make it out to be - impressive but not shocking.

 

It’s clear you have it in for Leonard because a friend of yours had a bad experience with him.

That doesn’t mean he did Marvin dirty by inviting him to the thing and not saying he was fighting Hagler. That’s the kind of petty stuff I’m talking about — one evening of his life, Ray didn’t announce what Marvin expected him to announce so Ray’s a dirty dog for not staying in the game and fighting him. It’s Leonard’s decision to fight or not fight, just like it was Marvin’s decision to not accept $15M for a rematch. So what? Not that big a deal and had no bearing on the outcome when they did fight.

The Vito fight was not a robbery. It was a close fight that ended in a draw. Marvin built a bit of a lead but he kept opening the door and Antuofermo kept working and won his share of rounds. A lot of them were close. Poor Marvin, he didn’t get a decision in a close fight — again, just like the early rounds of the Leonard fight he gave away, Hagler should look in the mirror on the rounds he gave away. Don’t allow it to be close if you’re that superior. I’m not the only one who had it close (either one point for Vito or a draw on my card, I forget which). Several others whose opinions and abilities to score I rate highly had similar cards.

The Associated Press had Vito winning by a point. Just because you or Marvin don’t agree with the score doesn’t make it invalid.

A robbery is when a guy clearly wins 11 rounds, none of them close, in a 15-round fight and loses a decision. It’s not a robbery in a fight with a lot of close rounds and plenty the other guy won clearly (and some Marvin won clearly).

You want to know the truth of how Marvin got a rematch, since you brought it up? Not because ‘it was a robbery.’ Because of POLITICS.

Not boxing politics, mind you. Because a politician named Tip O’Neill who was Speaker of the House in the U.S. congressman, raised a fuss. He was the representative from Massachusetts, Hagler’s state, and got complaints. Tip O’Neill wouldn’t know a left jab from a left hook (or a left-handed pitcher) but he threatened Bob Arum that he was going to have boxing investigated and nobody wants that headache — so Arum used his pull to get Marvin a (second) title shot. This is well documented and Arum has spoken publicly about it. Make the powerful politician happy so he’ll go away — so Marvin only got that second shot quickly because of interference by one of the most powerful politicians in the entire country, not because the decision was “a robbery” or crooked. MMH had friends in high places pulling strings. That’s absolute fact.

 

Man imagine if Leonard didn't spar really hard (Sorry secret fights) like a snake! Hagler would've walked right through him, he should've been a man about it and rolled off the couch like Holmes did with Tyson - pathetic, typical cowardly Leonard behaviour getting in shape for a fight.