If you put too much pressure on Duran he can make you look bad. This is why Hagler was cautious. When Duran gassed in the later rounds that's when Hagler stepped it up.
Duran gassed earlier but Hagler eased up and Duran got his second wind for a bit. Hagler won the early inside battle quite convincingly and Duran was fighting so high up in the weights his ability to turn pressure on it's head against someone as great as Hagler was gone imo.
I've read Hagler said he showed Duran too much respect but he also said he was surprised by how skilled Duran was and said something on the lines of he earned his PhD in boxing after fighting Duran. I think Hagler fought the right fight in the most part tbh.
How did you score the fight? I thought Hagler won a close fight. He pulled it out in the latter rounds.That is also what the official scorecards reflected. But I guess this is one of those fights that can be seen in different ways.
I have no doubts at all how skilled Duran was. I am also convinced Hagler could have been a whole lot more impressive. He won by a margin and got the job done, but he won via a very very safe route against a small man hence him copping a fair bit of criticism. Hagler also made sizable tactical mistakes against SRL, another naturally much smaller man. Again the size of the fight got to him and his tactics, certainly early on, were most confusing. For me his biggest weaknesses are inability to adapt as well as other greats during the course of a tough battle and at times poor gameplans. Of course he has umpteen strengths too and those will see him heavily dominate almost all average to good fighters. Put him in with the likes of Monzon and Hopkin's tho and i think he would come well back to the pack.
I must be one of the few who thinks Hagler looked impressive against Duran. He looked like he was carrying him for sure, but who knows. Most the old-timers can be seen carrying fighters or letting foot off the pedal and it's not unimpressive to me. As longs as there's entertaining action and good boxing, that's what matters. And Hagler won clearly, and apparently easily. If people can criticize Hagler's performance so much, you have to wonder how low Mayweather Jr.'s win(s) over ODLH and Pacquiao will end up being rated if he's ever held to the same standard.
Hagler won it by about 4 rounds, but impressive, no. Hagler was the bigger, stronger and more durable man fighting a guy moving up in weight. He should have used his size to a great advantage. Instead, he looked too cautious. Carrying Duran? More like too risk adverse. Duran: "He came to tear my head off, but when he saw that I could hit him hard, with strength, he got scared and became a coward. That's why he didn't take too many chances and mix it up with me. Everyone was saying he was a destroyer, but when he hit me, he didn't do anything to me. His punches absolutely did me no damage. He got scared every time he threw a jab because I could get my right in under it. That's why he held off so much."
Sounds like the chair of Hagler's dissertation committee wasn't too impressed with his performance...
[QUOTE="mrkoolkevin, post: 18175956, member: 105493" Sounds like the chair of Hagler's dissertation committee wasn't too impressed with his performance...[/QUOTE] Right. Hagler looks like te last middleweight you'd want to meet in an alley, but sometimes in the ring, he backed off too much. He did the same thing vs Mugabi.
Duran's full of sh!t or he's trying to tell us he's a sh!t fighter himself. Duran lost by a wide margin (and even lost unanimously by judges who seemed to make a huge effort to gift him the fight!) .... lost to a guy he calls a "coward" and whose "punches did absolutely no damage". He has also said he doesn't respect Hagler's boxing skill much either, so it would appear he lost to a guy who basically had nothing. I don't even think Hagler was "much bigger" than Duran like people make out.