Hagler vs Duran

I'm a big Duran fan, but his success against Hagler is exaggerated, IMO. I watched the fight not too long ago and I never got the impression that Hagler was on the verge of losing had it been a 12 rounder. I didn't score it, but it felt like a 11-4 type of fight. Duran won some rounds and puzzled Hagler at parts, but it was not a close fight. Hagler was outlanding Duran for most of the night and Duran had moments of his older brilliance in stretches.

 

Here’s how I saw it a few years ago on the What Fights Did You Watch/Score Today sticky thread:

Roberto Duran vs. Marvelous Marvin Hagler (c) for the WBA/WBC/IBF middleweight championship, scheduled for 15 rounds on Nov. 10, 1983 — a Thursday, oddly enough — at Caesars Palace Outdoor Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hagler (57-2-2) comes in at 157 1/2 while Duran (77-4) is a pound lighter. Marvin is a 3/1 or 4/1 favorite (depending on your source) and has won all seven defenses of his 160-pound crown by stoppage. Duran is on a revival after stopping Pipino Cuevas and Davey Moore, the latter to capture the 154-pound WBA title.

Hagler is guaranteed $5M but will take home $8M according to reports; Duran guaranteed $1.5M but would make $4M (each had a percentage of the closed circuit sales).

Round 1, 10-10 even: very little going on

Round 2, 10-9 Duran: Roberto finds a home for his right lead

Round 3, 10-9 Duran: More accurate rights and good defense

Round 4, 10-9 Duran: Some quick combos, Hagler’s jab ineffective

Round 5, 10-9 Hagler: Closes the distance, much busier

Round 6, 10-9 Hagler: Grinds inside, chews Duran up

Round 7, 10-9 Hagler: Close, Duran boxes well but Hagler finishes better

Round 8, 10-9 Duran: Again close, Duran a real cutie here

Round 9, 10-9 Hagler: Closes the distance again and works well inside especially to the body

Round 10, 10-9 Hagler: More of the same but Duran pot-shots well in spots

Round 11, 10-9 Duran: Curious round as Hagler gets on his bicycle and basically throws nothing

Round 12, 10-9 Duran: Right hands from Roberto again, good inside action, Hagler’s left eye starts to close and he is also cut over it

Round 13, 10-9 Hagler: Close round, Duran lands some good rights but Hagler does slightly better work early to edge it

Round 14, 10-9 Duran: Yet another close one but I thought Duran’s accuracy with the right edged it with him also nullifying a lot of Hagler’s work

Round 15, 10-9 Hagler: Closes strong and rakes Duran over the coals a bit

My card: 143-143 even, 7-7-1 in rounds

Official cards, 144-142, 144-143, 146-145 all for Hagler

Interesting strategic fight. Hagler’s camp expected Duran to try to brawl like he did in the Moore fight but Duran came in to box all the way and did a pretty good job of it. When Hagler played the bully as in the sixth, 15th and parts of other rounds, he beat Duran up pretty good.

My card comes down to what you do with the first and to me there was nothing to choose. I think most people gave Duran the 13th and Hagler the 14th and while both were close, I had it the opposite. And somebody tell me what Marvin was thinking in the 11th when he basically gave a round away.

Worth a watch if you haven’t seen it for sure, a rewatch if you haven’t seen it for a while.

 

I watched the fight live..The funny thing is that it was on pay-per-view and I never paid for it. I lived in a small Kansas town and was flipping through the channels one night and lo and behold the fight was on my screen. I watched the whole thing. I never found out why it was shown on my TV but I wasn't going to call the cable company to complain that's for sure. Duran obviously did better than expected. Hagler seemed to want to play it safe and not take any chances and was content to box his way to a win. Marvin seemed to underperform in some of his big fights, excepting Hearns of course. He was cautious against Antuofermo in their 1st fight, Duran here and later Leonard.

 

I thought it was competitive but not really close. I believe I had it 145-140 for Hagler. I was impressed by Duran, he showed a lot of skill. MMH seemed a bit hesitant at times, but I don’t think it was ever in doubt.

 

Duran put up a fine fight but Hagler won it fairly clearly in my book. I read it 9-5-1 in rounds to Marvin.

One of those fights when because the losing combatant does a lot better than expected,some think that he did better than he actually did.

 

Always said the fight was a draw, Hagler struggled to get anything going overall and Duran really rattled his confidence and that 11th round should have been 10-8 as Hagler just ran around he didnt look like a champion at all. There should have been a rematch. What gets me is even the people that think Hagler did well in the fight act like its no big deal. Duran was a natural lightweight who most never expected to beat Leonard at 147, and many thought was suicide to against Hagler at 160 if Duran and Hagler were both the same size naturally no question Roberto destroys him.

 

I scored this a few years back. Here’s my write up and card:

Marvin Hagler v Roberto Duran

Here's my views and scorecard on this oft debated fight. Did Hagler win comfortably or was it in the balance going into the final round? Did Hagler get it tactically wrong or was he just in with an all-time great, a clever fighter who would give most fighters trouble when he was on his A game?

I had Hagler 9-5-1 in rounds. The first 4 rounds were very cagey and I can see people giving Duran a bigger share of the rounds than I did. Things heated up from the 5th round on and I thought Hagler had his best period of the fight in the middle rounds before things started to turn in Duran's favour from around the 10th. Going into the final two rounds I had it 7-5-1 to Hagler and in truth, he was always ahead on my card. Had Duran been able to carry the momentum that extra couple of rounds, there could have been an upset, but Hagler upped his work rate and Duran couldn't match it. A highly competitive fight but a clear (though never comfortable) win for Hagler in my opinion.

1 10-9 (very cagey opener, Hagler slightly busier)
2 9-10 (close again - Hagler starts well and seems in control before Duran starts countering him with right hands towards the end of the round and just nicks it from Marvelous)
3 10-9 (very close)
4 10-9 (not a lot of action)
5 9-10 (best round of the fight so far. Close but felt Duran just nicked it)
6 10-9 (good round, Hagler with the better, more sustained action)
7 10-9
8 10-9
9 10-9 (bit of a slower round, Hagler just busier)
10 10-10 (Marvin busier but Duran countering well. Pick 'em round)
11 9-10 (Marvin decides to bounce around on the outside and gives Duran a respite. Duran counters Hagler coming in and edges the round)
12 9-10 (good round and arguably Duran's best of the fight. Hagler switches tactics and goes straight to Duran in this round but misses a lot due to some superb head movement from Roberto who counters him with right hands. He's having fun in there and is starting to close the points gap.)
13 9-10 (close round but Duran looked in control, using the head bobs and using the jab to lead and keep Hagler at bay whilst still scoring with the counter right)
14 10-9 (Duran snarls but Hagler outworks him over the last minute to take his first round since the 9th)
15 10-9 (good final round action as Hagler takes it to Duran and again outworks him to cement his win)

Hagler 145-141 Duran

 

Marvin Hagler vs Roberto Duran

1 Duran
2 Hagler
3 Duran
4 Duran
5 Hagler
6 Hagler
7 Hagler
8 Hagler
9 Hagler
10 Hagler
11 Duran
12 Duran
13 Duran
14 Hagler
15 Hagler

144-141 Hagler

This is how i had it i thought it was fairly simple fight to score outside of the first 4 rounds which were debatable. But pretty much Duran did well early on pot shotting and boxing with Hagler in a tactical fight fought at range. Then Hagler stepped it up a gear and was more assertive/aggressive in the middle part of the fight and won all those rounds. Hagler then took his foot off the gas in rounds 11-13 allowing Duran to make it closer but then Hagler finished strong to win a competitive but clear decision.

I've always held the theory that Hagler deliberately took his foot off the gas between 11-13 learning from the experience of Antuofermo fight where he faded somewhat. And he wanted to make sure he had enough left in the tank for a big finish which he did.

I think it's fair to say Duran won between 5 and 6 rounds anymore than that would be a stretch, but i do think Hagler needed a strong finish as the fight was getting a bit too close for comfort.

 

The fight was criticised for being boring at the time but has aged like good whisky, probably one of the best chess match type fights out there.

 

I have to rewatch the whole fight but from my memory Duran over peformed, Marvin underperformed but still won fairly cleanly ... I intend to watch it again ...I remember thinking Duran was getting a ton of credit for going the distance and being competitive but did not come close to earning the decision ...

 

Had Duran beaten Hearns, there is a good possibility that would have happened on April 15th, 1985...

 

i always thought Hagler won it but this was a difficult to score type of fight.

 

I had it 144-142 Hagler, he won the last 2 rounds. Duran told Cil Glancy some time after the fight he just got tired, and if you watch it Roberto was sucking air by the 13th. Strangely his old trainer Freddie Brown said he thought Duran was just going through the motions in that fight. I felt he was being measured wanting to counter Marvin with the right which he did often enough to swell the left side of Haglers face up..

 

Hagler won. Imagine though if we had 15 rounds today how boxing would be like.