Mugabi wasn't as skilled or as rangey as Hearns. But Mugabi had power, a chin, was undefeated and he thought that he was undefeatable. Like, truly believed it. Hearns simply did not have the kind of grit and fire that Mugabi brought to his fight with Hagler. I think it makes all the difference when a fighter brings a barrel of brimstone to a fight.
Mugabi had the look of a champion that night. He was so determined that if he were facing a mere mortal he probably becomes champion. Hagler wasnt a regular human, especially if your gonna try to slug him.
The Mugabi fight seemed to be overall more grueling and wearing on Hagler than the Hearns fight. The first round against Hearns was consistently more intense and dangerous for an entire round than anything that happened in the Mugabi fight, though. Like comparing a sprint to a marathon
an outstanding two fisted puncher, almost as good as Roldan, who faced a very faded Hagler Tommy softened up Hags who lost his punch soon after and that's why it took so long to bring him down
I think round 6 of Hagler vs Mugabi is on par with 1st round of Hagler vs Hearns, maybe not quite as good but not far off.
I rewatched it. Marvin Hagler vs John Mugabi 1 Mugabi 2 Mugabi 3 Hagler 4 Hagler 5 Hagler 6 Hagler 7 9-9 Hagler point deduction 8 Hagler 9 Mugabi 10 Hagler 11 Hagler wins by KO 96-93 Hagler Mugabi started off well landing the harder punches, and was able to back up Hagler. Mugabi was also able to make Hagler lead at times, and counter with some great right hands and uppercuts. I felt like the fight turned around when Hagler started to establish his right jab, which made Mugabi a bit hesitant to rush in. As Hagler was mostly able to control Mugabi in middle of the ring with the jab, and able to at times take advantage of Mugabi's wild swings. But despite Hagler controlling Mugabi with the jab, Mugabi still looked dangerous with his one punch power. Especially the 4th round where Mugabi landed a peach of an uppercut. The 6th was a grueling round and i feel like that round took alot of Mugabi, and from then on Mugabi looked to be getting weaker and weaker. As he was able to only throw one punch at a time and stood off too much, as Hagler controlled him with the jab and occasional hard straight left hands. To Mugabi's credit i felt like he got a bit of 2nd wind in the 9th round, and he was able to once again put together some hard punches, and have his best round since the 4th round. Going into the 10th round Mugabi once again started the round well landing hard punches, but i feel like this round was a very pivotal round. Despite Mugabi starting the 10th well Hagler took the play away from him instantly, And Hagler decided to abandon the jab completely and just come forward aggressively punishing Mugabi to the body. I feel like the body shots and the fact Hagler took the play away from Mugabi in this round, after it looked like Mugabi might be coming on a bit. Just took everything out of Mugabi physically and mentally. After a very punishing 10th round, Mugabi looked to be running on empty in 11th round. And Mugabi went down from a barrage of punches and probably could of got up. But realizing he just couldn't beat Hagler despite how hard he tried, combined with the fact how exhausted Mugabi was. Mugabi decided to take the full 10 count and Hagler wins by KO. Overall a great fight Hagler mostly had the better of it, but Mugabi looked very dangerous early on. And even if Mugabi looked to be getting weaker in the 2nd half of the fight, he still looked dangerous with his one punch power, but the difference in this fight was Mugabi had no jab, and Hagler was just too tough and wore down the very hard hitting brave Mugabi.
