He's annoyed by getting robbed in one of the biggest fights of the era vs a superstar. Against a man he'd have crushed if they fought give years earlier. Why is that stupid?
Because 1. He wasn’t robbed. 2. He said he was going to KO Leonard, and he should have KOed the smaller guy who had slowed down and had fought only twice in the past 5 years. 3. You are never entitled to a fight against a smaller (division-wise) guy, and if Hagler wanted more clout then he should have grown a pair (and some more skills) and fought a LHW or two; instead, his greedy, arrogant ass went straight into the Leonard fight. No one should sympathize with him
Ray Leonard wondered the same thing. Hagler was trying to prove something. He obviously underrated Ray and thought he could beat him easily, from what I saw. Hagler was best when he thought a guy was a threat like Hearns.. Then it woke him up and he fought great. He really was better when he had an issue with the guys. Ray played the whole thing well.
Leonard's unchecked fouling may have taken him off his game. Disgraceful night for boxing. If anyone had a right to be bitter its the great Marvin Hagler.
Not really. The fact is that "retired" Leonard lingered in the public eye and around Hagler fights waiting for Hags to grow old. He wanted nothing to do with close to prime Hagler and waited for the slow version that was getting ready to retire.
First off, he was older than Leonard and obviously more shopworn. 2nd why didnt Leonard fight Hagler instead of Howard when he "came back"? 3rd why shouldnt Hagler have cashed out? He earned it the hard way. 4th why should he have fought one of those lightheavies? Even though the division was stacked there was no serious money there as their fights were televised on free network tv on Saturday afternoons. 5th you call Hagler greedy and ARROGANT in this circumstance lol? Go educate yourself and watch greedy Leonard's documentary where he goes to Panama so DURAN could get closure for no mas. Leonard is the EPITOME of arrogance and greed
In your opinion. In his he sure was. Yeah, and what? I said I was gonna KO the ****ing milk man when he dropped off red instead of green. Doesn't mean much. I wasn't robbed of my green milk. Yeah I'm sure fighting the non-stars at LHW would have gotten him more 'clout' than if he'd fought Leonard, Duran and Hearns. IE: three superstars. Y'know, three superstars, who wanted him, not the other away around. He was happy to oblige. And what of these LHWs? If he'd have moven up and fought Marvin Johnson, what would you make of Marvin Johnson? Would he need to grow a pair because he didn't fight Mike Tyson? Some times you're too small for the division above. When you are, you make do with the one you've got and make 14 title defences. Also, critiquing Hagler for his skills is like having a go at a fish's ability to swim. Don't be a ****ing idiot. Just because you don't doesn't mean that nobody should. He has blemishes on his record which aren't indicative of him as a fighter, and people will remember him for losing a big fight with a smaller man which he believes he didn't lose. As a champ he should have been entitled to the benefit of the doubt (a common ideology in boxing - whether you agree or not - meaning people do and if they believe that, should sympathise for him). And since Leonard waited for him to get old before fighting him instead of doing it when both were prime is hardly Hagler's fault. If they did fight in '81/'82, Hagler destroys him.
John you and I have been back and forth on this several times (ever so respectfully of course). But the fact is Leonard waited for Hagler to get old. He wanted nothing to do with prime Hagler. He could have fought Hagler instead of Howard but chose not to. And even though he was clearly past his best, Leonard had alot more in his gas tank than Hagler did. He fought a close fight against Tommy and even beat a serviceable-although nothing special- lightheavy in Lalonde.
I wouldn't call him an Idiot though. But his fight plan was totally dumb, and is one of the dumbest I've seen in my over 40yrs of watching the sport. Everyone who had an once of boxing knowledge said he should push Leonard early, see what his legs have left in them. Every reputable boxing person I knew said that. That's what everyone was expecting him to do. When he came out orthodox and passive. Trading jabs with Leonard..... I was totally shocked. The only way Leonard could win that fight was Hagler giving him room and attempting to box with him. And that's what he did!!!! By the time he realized what he SHOULD'VE been doing from the very 1st rd , that's applying pressure, the fight was almost over, and he had committed the biggest sin. Allowed Leonard to get confident. And we can't say it was anything Leonard was doing because Hagler did something similar in his fight with Duran. Its like both Leonard and Duran froze him early on, lulled him to fight passively. Hagler and his team The Patronelli brothers have no one to blame but themselves for that loss.
