First saw Hagler when he came to the UK and took away Minter's belt - that was a boxing lesson if ever there was one, in a foreign land and against a crowd that was arguably heavily racist. Respect there and onwards for one of the greatest champions in the sport.
Hagler came up the hard way. Not many managers wanted to risk their prospects against Marvin. So, he had to fight all the other guys no one wanted to fight. Bennie Briscoe, Willie Monroe, Bobby Watts, and Cyclone Hart all left their calling cards in the form of scar tissue on Marvins eyebrows. Hagler had to stand by while less deserving challengers got titles shots. When he finally got his shot , he got ripped off with a pretty horrendous draw with Antuofermo. After that he just went for the scalps, leaving the judges out of it. Pretty much dominated for the better part of seven years until Leonard squeaked by. Marvin never really got a break, but at his best no one could go the distance with him anyway.
The legend of Marvin Haglar is quite exaggerated. He's an all time great middleweight, but far from the invincible monster of internet mythology. The last 3 middleweight champions would have absolutely demolished Antuefermo, but Haglar screwed the pooch and came up with a draw. Marvin's best wins came over smaller men who moved up. And, there are good reasons for Marvin never attempting to move up in weight. Great fighter, and I use to love watching him, but he gets over rated more often than any other fighter from that era.
Hopkins if a rough night for anyone. Haglar/Hopkins is a fight I would definitely make if a had a time machine:yep Haglar is a top five all time favorite of mine, but the man was a long way from being the invicible monster people often try to turn him into.
i agree hopkins is a rough night for anyone, i still think hagler beats him though, infact i'm sure hagler beats him. just out of interest, what did you think were haglers weaknessess?
met him when I was about 5 years old. My dad worked with the mentally disabled in Massachusetts and Hagler came to visit them. My dad brought us over to meet him, and I remembered calling him 'champ.' Still one of the biggest thrills of my life.