1976 Olympic Gold Medal SRL fighting his first fight at Middleweight and beating Hagler who had not lost in 10 years or 1976 Gold Medal winner Michael Spinks fighting at a higher weight class for the first time and beating the previously undefeated and number 3 greatest Heavyweight of all-time Larry Holmes?
Both are incredible achievements, and there can be arguments for both cases - the size difference between Holmes and Spinks was bigger, but Hagler, I think, was slightly closer to his prime than Holmes was. So I'd say it's about even
Spinks/Holmes was more impressive. SRL won the Hagler fight by stealing rounds in the last 30 seconds and the decision was highly controversial and debated. Hagler was two years older and coming off 13 months of inactivity since the Mugabi fight. Leonard's walking around weight was ideal for a comeback at 160. Hagler also wanted a rematch but Leonard "retired" for the third time. A year later Hagler retired. One month after his retirement, Leonard came back out of retirement. Cowardly move in my opinion. Spinks gave Holmes a rematch and proved the first win was no fluke.
I got Leonard. Holmes was way more faded than Hagler. Hagler IMO was rusty. He wasn't fighting enough. His last few yrs as Champ he was fighting once a yr.
I thought Spinks lost the rematch as well but the fact that he gave him a rematch speaks volumes about who Spinks was as a champion. I'm not taking a shot at Leonard but he was not going to give Hagler the same courtesy. For what it's worth, Spinks vs Holmes was the greatest accomplishment. The fact that Holmes was able beat a Top Contender like Ray Mercer almost a full decade later shows how good of a win it was. Make no mistake, Holmes still had some teeth. This was not Roy Jones cherry picking John Ruiz, this was the best lightheavy beating the best heavyweight in the world.
I'm going against the grain on this thread and saying Leonard/Hagler. Holmes had not been that impressive in the last few years of his reign fighting weaker challengers, not to mention just prior to the Spinks fight Holmes had barely scrapped past Williams in a very controversial decision. Hagler was coming off two very notable stoppages vs Hearns, Mugabi, which are probably the most memorable wins of his career due to the excitement. I also think whilst Hagler was a bit past his prime his form was still better than Holmes against Spinks IMO. Leonard was also coming off a 3 year lay off which adds to the win aswell.
He gave him the first 4 rounds, but he came back and Ray was tired so Marvin won the last 2. I honestly don't know what Marvin was thinking at the beginning. I am assuming he either thought he was gonna make Ray a bit tired first and KO him later or it was an ego thing of outboxing him or what it was because he wasnt really throwing a lot of punches in the first 4 anyway
