you don't know what your talking about, Hagler has one of the best parrys ever, you must of only seen the Hearns and Mugabi fights, otherwise you've got a very uneducated eye. Hagler one of the classiest fighters of all time
You're right. Hagler was a great at slipping and parrying. His rhythm was very unique regarding how he moved while not punching. It was if he was almost 'stuttering' with his head and shoulders.
I find that Hagler is becoming both underrated and overrated for many, mostly extreme reasons. Some view him as the declining slugger he seemed to be with Mugabi while others seem to have him fitted with mask, boots and cape at times. He was a great, great fighter that adjusted with time due to mileage and age. Younger fans need see him from 1978 through 1983 to see what he originally was. I miss THAT Hagler.
Hopkins will not outbox either one. just remember he twice failed to win convincingly against jermain taylor who apart from his 4 late defeats also failed to even convincingly outpoint a former welterweight in cory spinks. hopkins also couldn't outbox wright without butting him and putting him in a danger of stoppage on cuts. hopkins is a dirty choosy fighter. not a top 20 middleweight. just a good weight cutter , dirty fighter and smart opponent chooser.
Apparently you have never watched Calzaghe, Hearns or Hagler. Watch every round of Calz' career and get back to me. Joe isn't as tall nor as long as Hearns. Joe doesn't have an iron chin - he merely was kept away from people in their prime who would have easily found it with right hands and eventually cracked it. You are talking about Hagler. Take it from those who are old enough to have watched his career and every one else you are mentioning in real time - Hagler is an ATG - Joe is not.
The same ex-lightweight who dominated Ray Leonard over 15 rounds to win the world welterweight title and who dropped and defeated Iran Barkley to win the WBC world middleweight title six years after he was decisively outpointed by Marvin Hagler. :yep
He was without doubt one of the greatest counter punchers i've seen, thats why the hearns fight was such a shock & especially from Hearns point of view, Haglers opponants must have felt like a ball on a piece of elastic being whacked by the bat. Hagler was a great economical puncher, he rarely missed, he always broke his opponants down in the same old effective way by pulling them on for the first 4/5 rounds & slowly dismantling them, Tony Sibson summed it up well when asked where he thought he went wrong, getting into the ring was one & that Hagler was just so accurate + we are talking about an era when you only had 2 governing bodies WBA/WBC & all top 10 of each division would proberbly all hold a ABC title today, the standard was high & Hagler made it look easy. A magnificent champion & master boxer in his prime & thats why Leonard wanted absolutly no part of him until he got old & he knew it was certain fistic doom over 15 rounds & he'd be lucky to see the 15th, Hearns boxed leonards ears of for **** sake, Hagler would have shredded leonard in 82, anyone & everyone with a boxing brain new it, so did Leonard:smoke
I dont think hes Underrated a lot of people rate him high. I think him and Monzon is a pretty even matchup,i might edge with Hagler but wouldnt argue with anyone that picked Monzon. I also think him and Hopkins is a good matchup with Hagler winning a close decision.
I have watched much of Calzaghe's career, as well as Halger'r and Hearns' and call myself a fan of all three. Calzaghe and Hearns are 6'1, in Eurpean archieves they are both listed at 185cm. Joe was knocked down a few times when he was off balance, but took monster uppercuts from Kessler without flinching, hard punches from Eubank, both can easily match Hagler for power. Halger is an ATG, Joe is as well, for different reasons, just as Ali and Holmes are ATG's for different reasons. Consistency is underrated by many, Joe didn't lose a boxing match since age 17. Hagler fought bigger names, but he also lost three fights he shoudl have won and some of his best wins were against fighters whose best weights were below 160. Besides, just because Hagler had the greater career, what does it have to do with a H2H matchup? Hopkins as a greater career than Taylor, but Taylor's specific qualities match up well with Hopkins and he would always have a chance to beat the otherwise greater fighter. Calzaghe'sunique combination of speed, workrate and awkwardness, combined with the fact that he is 6'1 would stylistically difficult for Hagler.
Both would decision Hopkins fo sho. :yep Hagler is the best MW of all-time in my opinion, all factors considered.
I´m not a Joe C. fan. In fact I dislike his fanboys and some of this "disliking" also transcendented on to Calzaghe himself but he is an atg at smw. Definitly the best and greatest at this weightclass. That can´t be argued! Today´s middleweight scene is a mess besides Pavlik and Sturm there is no decent mw around - and yeah, I wrote decent not good! But Hagler´s era wasn´t a special one. It was an okay one but not better than Monzon´s right before.
Calzaghe is not 6-1 i dont care what your source says hes around 5-11 1/2 6-0 tops. Hearns was closer to 6-2 than 6-1. You think Eubank matches Hagler for power:roflatsch Calzaghes competition is weak compared to Haglers. Hagler would have stopped Calzaghe in the 11th round. Dont get me wrong Joe is a great fighter but not "ATG" he would be competetive with Hagler but Hagler would not let him off the Hook(like Hopkins and Jones) Hagler would be ahead 96-93 at the time of stoppage. I get the feeling you werent a big boxing fan when Hagler was fighting to not appreciate how great Hagler was.:-(