Could It have made a difference,if Hagler had come out faster against SRL?

I'm going to add another post about this fight that might be semi-controversial for Hagler fans, even though I am a Hagler fan. But every fighter has his strengths and weaknesses, so here goes. Lightning speed, footwork, and timing, all of which Ray had, were always going to bother Hagler, who generally was fairly methodical and cautious, with a measured attack. Also, other than the Hearns fight, which was an absolute anomaly, Hagler rarely performed at his best level or super aggressively in his biggest fights. Hearns basically forced him to go to war and/or was too content to go to war, which was foolish strategy on his part against a guy with a known iron jaw. If Tommy had boxed cautiously from the start and shown respect, paced himself, used his height, reach, speed, and footwork, that fight could have been much different. I do believe being a blown-up welter with chin issues might have caught up with him at some point in the fight, but I could foresee Hagler having to come back from being behind on points to score the late KO.

Hagler should have shone brightly against Antuofermo, and he boxed well, but never really closed the show and put his foot on the gas to seal the deal, so to speak. He was too methodical, too cautious. Hate to say it, but he showed that in the Watts and Monroe fights in the 70s too (although he improved and got much better and stopped them in rematches, yes, but he showed that at times he could get eeked in first fights by being overly cautious - though he adjusted well in rematches).

Yes he got better, but in his prime he allowed Duran, a blown-up lightweight, who was only 5'7", to stand there and time and nail him from the outside and keep the fight much closer than it should have been. Yes Hagler outworked him, but he should have pulverized him and knocked him out. Instead, he often jousted cautiously from the outside with a guy who was there to joust, who had a touch better speed and timing than he did. When Hagler got to the inside and worked, he outworked Duran, which got him the close decision. But as fast as Duran was, he was no Ray Leonard in terms of speed and footwork. We saw what Ray did to Duran in their rematch. So from that perspective, it shouldn't be a shocker that Ray was always going to give him problems.

Given all of that, Hagler and his people should have known that Ray's style and abilities could be a problem, and they should not have messed around in the orthodox stance and plodding around for the first 4 rounds of a 12-round fight in a big ring. They should have insisted on a smaller ring. Okay Hagler had been a 12-round fighter for the past couple fights, but that also probably should have been the time to insist on 15 rounds, if possible, knowing that this guy likely was going to use speed, stick and move and run around, and it can take time to catch up to those type of fighters, especially one as talented as Leonard. Again, I think Hagler might have been even or possibly behind on points to Duran after 12, and needed those last few rounds to get the decision.