I've been rewatching this fight lately and have to say I think it was Marvin's best performance .. his speed, power, fitness and confidence were off the chart against a very, very tough challenger ..
Hard to argue. Scypion too, maybe, though Sibson was probably the tougher challenge. Really anywhere from early '82 thru '83.
I agree entirely. And THAT is who Duran as an old man fought, while broken pinky Hearns and "I didn't know he could box too. Now you know why I retired" Leonard ran for the hills with their tails between their legs.
Pretty amazing when you think about it ... the fight w Duran exposes , to me, Hagler's one true weakness and that was confidence .. at times he simply doubted himself .. you see it when he held back a bit in the first Vito fight, when he almost punched himself out in the first Obel fight, the way he held back against Duran and of course later against Leonard .. in his prime, when he went balls rot the wall he may have been as great as anyone at 160 or damn close .. in the Sibson fight you see how much faster he was than the diluted version that fought Roldan, Mugabi and Leonard in slow motion .. the versions that fought Minter ( a very good and highly underrated fighter, cuts aside ) , Vito 2, Sibson, Sypion, Hearns ( when he was already starting to fade a bit ) were devastating ... this is why I question Marvin vs Monzon ... while I think Marvin was more skilled and could beat Carlos I feel that Monzon was much stronger mentally and would survive and early round possible initial disadvantages and likely outlast him in a distance fight.
Great post. Hagler was a paradox. On the one hand he was fearsome with his seek and destroy mentality. Then other times he seemed to hold back and lack self belief, the Duran fight and first Vito fight. He certainly couldn’t go into a fight with Monzon in that state of mind and expect to win.
Looking back on Hagler's fights I thought the same thing years ago, Marvin was devastating in this fight. You couldn't have dragged Ray Leonard into the ring with this version of Hagler
The Duran fight was extremely interesting, Hagler said after the fight that Duran was using his strategy, which for the fight was to sucker Duran in and counterpunch and given Duran's aggressive destruction of Cuevas and Moore it seemed a sound game plan. Instead Duran as Leonard stated during the fight looked like he was trying to frustrate Hagler and it was working. Marvin's corner Goody and Pat told him early on to be patient ,that Duran would come at him. He really never did, instead of listening to his corner Marvin should have pressured Duran much earlier. Later in the fight they did exhort Hagler to and I quote" splatter that SOB . Which was why Duran had to hang on the last 2 rounds. One conclusion is the Petronelli's had the wrong fight plan and didn't adjust sooner. Had Marvin came out under his corners instructions from the get go to go after Duran I doubt it would have went 12, now Roberto would have countered Hagler and violently but I doubt he'd have dented Haglers chin. Even as the fight went Hagler was the one who looked like he'd had his lunch money stolen so he'd have been hit much more but I can't see Duran surviving 15.
Yes, the Sibson fight was one of the highlights of Marvin's reign. I remember watching Sibson absolutely dominate Dwight Davison, who was considered a top contender at the time. I thought Sibson would cause all sorts of trouble for Hagler. Then Hagler beat him as though he were a dime a dozen contender. Kind of a shame, I always thought, that Sibson would be judged off his loss to Hagler. He was really a fine fighter. He gave great performances against Hamsho (twice) and Scypion too. Hamsho, Scypion and Sibson all seemed tough as tough can be. In each case, I was amazed at how Hagler was able to stand with them and beat them so clearly. It was a testament not just to Hagler's skills but to his own toughness and strength.
While I would pick Monzon, I certainly agree with most of yr assessments on Hagler. Against Sibson he was just perfect. That fight. Duran vs Palomino. Gomez vs. LaPorte and Zarate. Just perfect , awe inspiring performances. THAT Hagler stops Leonard. Duran is diff though. I hold RD and Monzon as the best I saw in my lifetime. Any middle after Hag at 160 day of weighins; Jones, overrated Hopkins, GGG, Casmelo, they all get torn apart and fall via KO or TKO to Hagler of the Sibbo fight. That Hagler fights with any fighter at true 160 in history. Maybe not win but gives a great fight. The Norberto Cabrera fight on the undercard of Corro-Antuofermo is another Sibsonlike , artistrylike performance by Marvin.
Thanks for posting. Really enjoyed that. I often see Hagler and Monzon mentioned together and while I used to have a Hagler career set (since lost), I've never seen Monzon fight so don't know what to think of the comparisons. Would you care to recommend a couple of fights that are accessible and give a good overview of his attributes/weaknesses?
Personaly hamsho 1 is my favourite hagler performance but the Sibson fight is a close second, the way he was working his jab and his diseptively quick foot was just unreal
You are very truthful, take a look at Carlos Monzon on You Tube, then make a determination of who would win between the two greats.
