I have watched this fight a few times over the years and always marvelled and how Hagler dismantled Tony...Hagler was on full kill mode other than the Hearns fight he was at his most destructive.....his right jab beat Tony's left jab and beat that eye pretty badly and he threw it with power even switching stances to get torque into it once he established that jabs effectiveness you can see Hagler switching stances when Tony would find his range....once he threw him off as a righty he would switch back to lefty and then jab the body before throwing combos....if he had stayed righty or lefty throughout Tony would have made a better fight out of it as it was he could not get set to throw the hook with confidence.....this fight IMO was Hagler at is very peak and firing on all cylinders he was sharp, fast, hitting hard, mean and focused just a fantastic display.
Nice topic. Sibbo was far from run-of-the-mill, would be a handful for anyone else in the division in or around that time, and Hagler took him apart like a child’s toy. MMH was indeed at his best for this one and looked like a magnificent machine. Flawless performance.
I think the consensus, or close to it, that Hagler was at his absolute peak against Sibson. I don’t remember anyone saying Hagler looked better any other night, even though he had better/more important wins. He just took Sibson apart. His jab was a piston, and he even landed a hard leaping jab at one point. He showed pretty much the whole reportoire that night.
I remember Sibson destroying Minter and naively thinking he'd beat Hagler or give some real trouble. Was a big letdown. These were the days when Brit world champions were pretty rare.
I think Tony could have been better prepared for that fight but it would have made no difference. I always thought for sharpness and technique Hagler never looked better.
None. Sibson tried his best but if ever there was a fighter made for another to look great against, it was Sibson against Hagler.
Hagler brilliant that night. Like a surgeon admiring his work Hagler after the fight in a interview said "he didn't even open his tool case. "
Sibson was a beast .. so strong and hard hitting .. he bet the crap put of a very good Dwight Davidson destroyed Jon Collins, retired Minter and Hagler did a number on him .. NO one was going to overpower Hagler .. He was too strong, too too strong a shot .. Minter thru Hearns he was all time top five at 160 .. his absolute best to me were Minter, Vito 2, Sibson, Scypion and Roldan .. not to mention Hearns ...
Hagler was so sharp and dynamic just adjustment after adjustment he was sharp mentally and physically IMO this says alot of what he thought of Sibson as a fighter he had that sense of danger he needed to be at his mental peak.....IMO without Hagler Sibson would have beaten the rest of the division he was the nest to the thrown should the king die but it never happened he was the 2nd best middleweight in the world for awhile
When Hagler stayed lefty Sibson would slowly start to get his tempo down and could hold his own and even outjab him at times....this is why the destruction was so beautiful he went into depths of skill Tony wasn't able to adjust fast enough to counter....just a great fight and a great example of the switch step fighting that GGG also uses
Yes, Hagler was using high-speed internet and Sibbo was dial-up. MMH was three steps ahead of the game in this fight in every phase.
I agree .. Sibson just came along against an all time great with a terrible stylistic match up as well .. I can see Sibson beating a lot of guys that held the title ,, he really was very, very strong and a he puncher and he could put combinations together .. Hagler was just another level all together ..
