Monzon V Hagler

Strength isn’t really a part of Hagler’s game …he just has a great physique ( in my opinion)

 

He absolutely did.imo. Leonard was in his head, before the fight during the fight and Hagler was even mimicking Rays antics.throughout the fight .thats not Marvins game, he lost focus for that fight.. How can you say Marvin wasnt ever beaten mentally? Thats not the case , thats what happened imo. He was cocky and was thinking he was going to go in and easily outbox Ray ,, thats why he went in righty.. and if didnt work the first round, why come out righty for the second? Ray did clearly outbox Marvin in that fight, Marvins game plan was all wrong. If he came out of the gate focused and aggressive and went after Ray .. then he might have got a different result ...
I think we disagree on this one

 

Cool.

 

@Richard M Murrieta
Sorry I may have misunderstood you but are you suggesting this Monzon vs Briscoe fight is a good example of how a Hagler vs Monzon fight may have turned out? I have only recently watched the Briscoe vs Valdez 2 fight and this is so far my only exposure to Bennie, however he does not seem to have a similar style to peak Marvin IMO although perhaps this is not a typical performance from Bennie?

 

@Rodrigo Boom
OK so I watched Monzon vs Valdez I and it reinforced to me that Monzon would beat Hagler. In my previous post I suggested Marvin would have the edge in speed and activity but in this fight Carlos was surprisingly quick and while Valdez did have a significant edge in punches thrown they were far less accurate. Valdez has highly impressed me from what I have seen so far and I feel if Carlos was not around he would have been an ATG champ. While their styles are not that alike he is a boxer puncher like Marvin with a tight defense and quick hands along with a very hard punch, I feel a harder single shot than Hagler. He seems like a strong MW but even though he could rush into Monzon I thought Carlos could manhandle him pretty easily in the clinches. Monzon looks HUGE, he just had a massive frame for the weight and I think this shear strength gives him an advantage over pretty much any middleweight, even without taking into account his excellent boxing.

One area Marvin has a strong advantage is his variety of punches. Monzon can be quite limited in his punch choices and has received criticism for being mechanical and predictable. I am not sure this is true and he has a way of maximizing the effect of whatever punch he throws but it is possible that if Marvin could break through he could win on the inside. This is a bit if though as Monzon proved a master at tangling Valdez up whenever he got inside and I think he could frustrate Hagler should he try and do this.

 

No, The title fight between Monzon vs Briscoe was a peak Briscoe, this one was on Nov 11 1972, it can be seen on You Tube, the Briscoe that fought Valdes for the WBC Title on May 25 1974 was not in peak form, you are correct. Take a look at Monzon vs Briscoe from 1972, let me know what you think.

 

OK great, will do on weekend, thanks as always for excellent suggestions!

 

I've always debated this one, but I'm beginning to favor Monzon more and more. Monzon would have been a real seasoned pro had they fought in the 70s, and Hagler was still on the way up and learning. That, and as another poster said, Monzon did not have the mental lapses like Hagler had against Antuofermo, Duran, and Leonard.

I'll go with Monzon by close decision in a competitive fight.

 

All due respect because objectively I think Monzon may be "greater" than Hagler (and Hagler is my favorite fighter of all time, he's the reason I like boxing), but there is no fight in his entire career that you can point to Hagler being broken physically or mentally so to suggest that is silly. One of the 5 most stone boxers in history IMO. I'm hard pressed to find someone mentally tougher. Monzon was a phenomenal out boxer but his problem is that Hagler was excellent at going from all the way out to closing the distance and going all the way back in and firing in combination. This is why I give him the advantage and would select Hagler.