Does Haglers Draw With Antuofermo & His Win Over Duran Hurt His Standing?

Saw the first Vito fight live, Antuofermo was surprisingly in it the whole way though we had Hagler winning by several rounds. The issue as with the Duran fight was a superior Hagler never put it in a higher gear leaving both wins questionable in some eyes, this reminded me of Floyd Patterson in the Jimmy Ellis bout and it does affect his legacy somewhat as it created this history with him.

 

I thought I was the only guy in the world (outside of the judges) who actually scored Hagler-Antuofermo as a draw.

That was scoring it as it happened, might see it differently now.

Probably Hagler's reputation as the "uncrowned champ" -- the guy who had been avoided and shut off from the title while he kept beating top-tier guy after top-tier guy -- worked against him against Vito. Antuofermo was more of a handful than he looked (unless he got stopped on cuts) and he was the champ and Marvin not dominating him may have been one of those judging-against-expectations things. I may have been guilty of that, but haven't scored it since first seeing it.

Duran used every trick in the book and won the psychological war, but as brilliant as his performance was he didn't win (nor did he deserve to).

I don't count either against Hagler's legacy, but agree with the poster who said those two fights showed to some degree his limitations.

 

There have been plenty of fighters who lost or who had epic struggles and are still remembered as all time greats. Muhummad Ali was virtually ko by a left hook by a 180lb Henry Cooper in 1963 non title fight at Wembley .
Anglo Dundee admitted after he open a tear in the gloves to give Ali valuable time to recuperate. Joe Louis was heading to
a points loss until a 174 lb Billy until Conn decided to slug it out and was ko. Conn had a 19 fight winning streak going into
this fight and loss 4 years of his prime to WW 2. Alexis Arguello lost on points to a slick Vilmar Fernandez and Roberto
Duran lost to Esteban De Jesus at Madison Square Garden on points. If this doesn't affect their legacy then Hagler deserves
the same treatment.

 

yes I concur. people act like it's only Hagler who ran into sub par performances. He also had them with bruiser Roldan and Doug Demmings. He didnt perform up to his usual standards. that's what he gets for being perfect but no one can be perfect all the time

Ali also had unimpressive performances vs Bugner & what about Terrell? Didnt he intentionally thumb him?

 

If anything it showed us that despite his talent, quick hands and power Hagler respected experience & a fighter with guts-Vito & skill -Duran.....Hagler did not go in reckless because he was fighting game guys & Duran was tricky & had power. Prior to those fights most thought Hagler would have a blow out win but he respected the value of these fighters once in the ring. I thought Hagler was going to beat SRL as well but was disappointed he let SRL & Dundee hustle him with some ancient tricks...It is not at all odd to see ATG fighters struggling or look less than great against tough opponents that are experienced or cagey or strong willed

 

I don't think that these bouts affect Marvin's legacy at all. Just two pedestrian performances mixed in with his more momentous ones. All of the greats had those.

 

The interesting (and somewhat mystifying) thing to me is how so many predicted a Hagler blowout, as if he was just going to steamroll this little pipsqueak in Duran. I wonder where they came up with that? What historic evidence from either fighter would ever suggest an outcome like that? It went against everything we had seen, overplaying the willful destructive force it supposed Marvin Hagler to be (he was really more of a solid technician with some power) and also underplaying the resources and skills Duran still had. No idea how that makes sense. Both guys showed about what they figured to show.

As to Antuofermo, unless you busted him up and caused cuts sufficient to stop the fight (which was a more probable scenario than steamrolling Duran), he was going to be on top of you and making you work all the way. Who else had stopped him?

I had Hagler winning the fight anyway, by three points I think it was.

 

it was only about a year after the laing fight I think, and while moore was a good win duran had a lot to prove.