aka 'Battle of the Baldies' What a fight this was,eh? Marvin was the better fighter but Bennie put up a battle. What does everyone else think?
I was at the Spectrum for this one. Don't remember much about it except it wasn't a great fight. Briscoe was well past his best and just slowly chugged after Marvin most of the fight. Marvin boxed him and played it safe content to take a decision and get out of town.
Bennie fading but Hagler himself was 2-3 years off carving it up himself. Less than 12 months earlier he took Valdez 15 in a battle for both titles.
This is one of the fights that actually shows Hagler's skill set and how well he could box going backwards. It was a professional fight but he made sure it wasn't a war
When Marvelous Marvin Hagler fought Bad Bennie Briscoe on August 24 1978, it was a good test for Hagler but Bad Bennie was very shopworn even though it went 10 rounds. Bennie fought to a ten round draw against future World Middleweight Champion Carlos Monzon in May 1967, then challenged champion Monzon on Nov 11 1972, Carlos outboxed Briscoe enroute to a unanimous 15 round decision. Briscoe fought future champion Rodrigo Valdes in Sept 1973, losing by a close 12 round decision, then was stopped by Valdes on May 25 1974 in a bout for the vacant WBC Middleweight title in round 7, in a bout from Monte Carlo, Monaco, later Briscoe stopped contender Tony Mundine in Paris, France. Upon Monzon's retirement as champion in August 1977, Briscoe and Valdes were named to meet on Nov 5 1977, in Campion D Italia. Valdes was rated no.1 and Briscoe no. 2 for the undisputed World Middleweight title, Valdes won by 15 round decision to become champion. Briscoe had many wars behind him when he met up and coming contender Hagler, who was awaiting a title shot against champion Hugo Corro of Argentina, who dethroned Valdes by unanimous 15 round decision in San Remo, Italy.
Briscoe was unfortunate to be at his peak in a remarkable Middleweight era. By the time he fought Hagler, there wasn't much left in the tank but Bennie never swallowed it for anyone.
