28 years ago tonight. Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns. 4-15-1985

No this one was not on free tv-unfortunately or I would have watched it. Bob Arum promoted this so no way was it free. It was on PPV and I think closed circuit, which was common in those days. I did not order it, but I watched a scrambled mode in my room, which was on VHF and you could sort of see what was happening. Then I turned on KFWB, which was the station where I lived in Los Angeles area at the time and heard a guy named Rory Markus reporting between rounds. I remember the scrambled mode and I could see Hearns throwing right after right after right-yet it was an unclear picture, and Hagler throwing also. At the end of the round this Rory Markus fellow said " Wow. if this fight continues at this pace it won't go very long!"

 

Hagler/Hearns was your first live title fight? Wow! What a fight to go to for your first title fight. Mine was Banke/Decima in 1990..

 

yeah and I think they both got about 5 million. In todays boxing 5 million isn't as hard to get. We have seen fights like this at times. Corrales vs. Castillo or Gatti vs. Ward, but not with two of the top p4p fighters in the world who were seen as legends at the time. It was special, and I think it came about because of the competitiveness of both guys and the press conferences they had-also Marvin was always mad at Hearns for cancelling the first fight. What I heard and read many times, they went on a tour to different cities and since Marvin was quiet like Hearns, Hearn had to control the conferences and he made Marvin mad saying what he would do to Marvin. They really didn't like each other. The funny thing now is that Hagler liked Leonard then and didn't like Hearns before his fight. Now he likes Hearns and respects him and still has some disdain for Leonard, which obviously has to do with losing to Leonard and beating Hearns.

 

It shocked a lot of people. That is the first time I saw a fight where the fighters dislike for each other exploded right when the bell sounded. You don't see that sort of explosion right at the beginning of fights. Both guys thought they would end that fight in round one.

 

I agree.. And also, I think Hagler knows that the Hearns fight is his legacy and it sort of makes him stand out more than most fighters. How many guys had that sort of win over another legend. The Leonard fight does the opposite. The last fight he had he lost to a guy who was retired for basically 5 years. As much as I respect Marvin why he came out right handed with Leonard I will never understand.