all three at middle and all were very good middles at thier own time how hagler doing with these two guys? i see charles beating him and a draw with conn maybe reversed i just dont know which way to swing with these three great fighters
Shommel, we do have footage of Billy competing against perhaps the most prominent southpaw champion of his era in Bettina. Melio the Mighty was a half inch shorter than Marv, had five inches less of reach, and we can clearly see the issues he poses for Conn in their LHW Title footage: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF1juC112yc[/ame] Hagler-Conn clearly goes the championship distance. Bettina's overall reach was 70 inches, Billy's was 72-1/2 inches, and Marv's was a Listonian 75 inches. Hagler clearly had the greatest southpaw jab in history during the championship distance era. I don't think either man had anything to hurt the other with. This would be part fencing match, and Hagler may have the edge here. Marv would also be scoring downstairs on the taller man. Bettina was no picnic for Billy, and the great Teddy Yarosz seemingly had Conn's number at 160. Hagler could start fast, and Billy might have a hard time rallying from behind as he did against Fritzie Zivic. Ezz would be dealing with the greatest southpaw of the Queensbury era. My best guess is that as great as Charles was, a southpaw of Marv's caliber would be a bridge too far at 160. Ezz never crossed swords with southpaws Bettina or Lytell in competition. Was top flight southpaw opposition too much of a headache for him to try dealing with? We have Conn-Bettina on film, but not Charles-Bettina or Charles-Lytell, making speculation about Hagler-Charles more of a challenge. At 160, Hagler vs Conn and Charles should make for an excellent thread with thoughtful and intelligent analysis from some of the first rate posters here.
very nice response. thank you much for your insight. gentlemen lets hear some more on these matchups.
Great post. I'd clearly favour Hagler at 160, but Conn would provide him with a very stiff test. Hagler, if he commits to switching from that long southpaw range attack to the bodywork of his, should be able to grind to a decision. Conn is here all the way technically, but was special in that his skills and talent uniquely served him better against the bigger men than the smaller ones. He would actually serve a similar stylistic problem as Giardello would IMO. Hagler decision.
I like threads like this. I'm going to say that at 160, Hagler does extremely well. Hagler UD (younger) Conn Hagler SD (young) Charles As soon as we hit 168/175, ... Conn and Charles possibly do Hagler with fewer problems. But of course, we don't know... I'm saying this because I am one of those clowns who make my lists by weight. Hence my top ten at 168 includes: 5. Charles 6. Choynski 7. Conn 8. Moore 9. Hopkins 10. Ketchel 11. Monzon 12. Hagler But each to his own
I was always interested in the 'by weight' thing. Especially in the lower weights, when LW, Feather, Bantam etc were less than the current limits. Would probably make a good thread.
Very, very tight decision for Hagler v Conn. I think Billy just nicks it by a point or two. Hagler v Charles, I'm going with a shock win for Marvin stopping Ezzard In a hard grueling fight. Charles would have Marvin lookin ineffective for the early round s, Hagler catching the shots as he comes in. It would be all Charles up to the mid round s. But Hagler had a champion s heart to and he'd step up the pace and pour the pressure on his body. We'd see Marvin having Ezzard badly hurt in the 11 th round and getting dropped by a Raging Hagler. And Marvin retains his title.
