I remember back in the mid-90s (I start a lot of my sentences like this now) Jeff Ryan in his Ring column 'Ryan Out Loud' wrote about his admiration for Marvin Hagler because once he retired, he stay retired. That was in 1994, I think. And it is remarkable, particularly when you think that the same year that Ryan was writing this, George Foreman was winning the heavyweight title at 44. Hagler was 41 at that point and the thought of coming back must have crossed his mind even then. To go out on a controversial decision loss against his greatest career rival and then not be tempted into a rematch took remarkable will. In fact, it took Hagler more than a year to officially retire after the Leonard loss during which time he would have been agonising about it every day. In that same time period, it saw the end of his marriage as well. At that point, Hagler not fighting again would have seemed unlikely. That he stayed retired afterwards is one of the least likely retirements in boxing history - but he made it happen. In its way, it was just as remarkable a feat of will as any Hagler showed inside the ring. Just some musings on this strange Monday morning in London as I head towards work...
Nice Post. The way I remember it is that Hagler was pretty much in the retirement mindset before the Leonard bout. Arum, at one stage, was convinced that Hagler would retire rather than sign for the match. It was almost as though Hagler needed to be dragged kicking and screaming into the fight, in the first place. Early in his retirement, Hagler was starting anew in his personal life, as well as his professional life and it is likely that these changes acted as the main anchor - dropped well outside of a boxing ring. I suspect that there were also several other things that would help Hagler recommit to that pre-Leonard instinct. Firstly, if Hagler wasn't sufficiently disillusioned before the Leonard fight, he was utterly in disdain of boxing's official bodies and institutions, by the time the decision was read out at Caesars Palace in '87. Of course, this didn't fully ferment until Leonard refused Hagler the immediate rematch. Leonard denying Hagler a Return bout and instead retiring, in the face of a hotly disputed decision, might well have been perceived as another (remembering Leonard's first retirement in '82) cowardly slight. Then watching Leonard come back the following year and then, after Lalonde, try to stir Hagler out of retirement (the exact timings fail me, at present); then watching Leonard/Hearns II and seeing Leonard get the benefit of another 'Vegas' decision. Seeing all of this objectively could have influenced Hagler in cementing his decision. However, watching Leonard being awarded Fighter of the Decade probably sealed it, in 1990. It was quite in keeping that Leonard should try and upstage Hagler at the award ceremony, referring to Marvin, during his acceptance speech: "I know Hagler is still mad at me..." To which Hagler interrupted, from the audience, shouting "Shut up! I ain't saying anything about you." Quite the poetic final word.
He had a different mindset than most fighters. Hearns and Duran kept coming back because they seemed to be addicted to it. Ray wanted to make a point as the greatest fighter with the least amount of fights it seemed. He probably did that, as far as the greatest fighter who had 40 fights. Hagler seemed to crave that huge fight which got him respect and he got that with Hearns. I always thought he put his all into that fight mentally and physically and he was not going to lose this biggest fight where he could prove the most. After that I think his motivation dropped signficantly. He put 100 percent into the Hearns fight and he was never the same top fighter again
Let's not forget that he would have had to give up his career in the blockbuster Italiano movies he was starring in. The pseudo Italian clint Eastwood of his time.
It's an unusual way to look at it, but it is noteworthy. Hagler did not want to become another sports statistic--an athlete who couldn't hang them up and ended up broke and/or in poor health. It really does take a strong will to avoid the temptation of getting back in the ring even when there are millions on the line (you can't call it laziness since he could have made a big chunk of money even if he fought a few more cans to please the fans). It also takes a strong will to maintain your position and not budge despite your rival (the media darling and so called "winner") constantly trolling and provoking you while trying to control the narrative. It makes Hagler look much more secure in hindsight but people tried to play it off as if he was this sore loser with a stick up his rear.
A lot of factors involved, but I think the most important one was discovering a life after boxing. The difficulty for a lot of fighters is that they don't ever plan retirement; it just kinda happens in the brutal and unforgiving way boxing can make those decisions for you. They then never properly move on to anything else and struggle to find an identity outside of boxing. The fighters who have stayed retired and happy have generally been those ones who were able to get into something else to occupy their time and mind. Boxing is such a full-on thing though, and often from a very early age, that it is very difficult for a lot of fighters to do that.
Marvelous was one of the few fighters like Lennox Lewis and Andre Ward who rejected riches at the end of their and in the process enhanced their legacy.
I don’t know about great will to stay retired. I think he just had enough, and was too much of a man to play leanards game if he wanted a rematch. Can u imagine the hoops he would have to jump through, and the crap leanard would throw at him. I think he beat him up before the fight ever took place. Marking won thier fight, everyone knows it except leanards nut huggers. Leanard was a fine boxer but was a little ***** that night. Should have worn a skirt instead of trunks. Why doesn’t hagler get any crat for being a little nasty and bitter sometimes like Holmes always did? Though I don’t think either deserved any
Excellent post, but didn't he stay retired because the only person he wanted to fight was Leonard in a rematch, and Leonard wouldn't give him one?
It's my understanding that Leonard refused a rematch, straight after the fight and instead announced his third retirement in May '87. Hagler delayed his own retirement until June '88 - presumably waiting for Leonard to change his mind. Following Hagler's retirement, Leonard came back from his and fought Lalonde, that same year, in November '88. Reports started floating around that Leonard wanted a rematch in 1990. I suspect most of the noise was the work of Trainer and any publicists in the employ of the Leonard marketing team. Trainer was informing the press that he'd spoken to everyone apart from Hagler himself in respect to a rematch - if this was the case then the Petronellis had not been amongst the spoken with. If there's one thing we saw in Hagler, during his career, it was that he learned from any mistakes he made. Hagler wasn't ever falling for Leonard's BS games again.
