How good was Mugabe when McClellan knocked him out?

A decent win and it also helped put McClellan in the map. Mugabi was already knocked out by Terry Norris in one round 2 fights prior (one year ago) and by then he was already a shell of himself by the time McClellan got to him.

It was basically Mugabi's last shot at a world title fight and unfortunately for him he came across a younger, more powerful fighter than him.

 

Mugabi spent most of his career at Jr Middleweight he was also fighting against a much bigger opponent and it didn't help Mugabi was considerably past it aswell.

Mugabi only had one notable victory after the Hagler fight vs Rene Jacquot and that wasn't really a legit win Jacquot slipped in the 1st round and badly injured his knee.

Mugabi had also already been poleaxed by Norris in the 1st round aswell so his punch resistance was totally gone at that point.

 

mugabi was finished at this point

 

In Mugabi's next fight after Hagler, his eye socket exploded from the first clean shot that landed on it - almost certainly the result of an underlying/undetected injury from the beating he took from Hagler. His punch resistance was never the same after that, & Norris had him on rubbery legs from the first clean blow that he landed in their fight.

How much credit could someone expect to get for knocking out Mugabi after those fights?

 

Agreed, it was an exploitative victory, borne of marketing opportunity rather than anything substantive.

I’m reminded of something Emmanuel Steward said after watching Michael Moorer get splattered across the ring vs David Tua. They asked Steward I think what he thought of how Tua looked.

“He beat the name tonight, not the fighter.”

 

The " Beast" was only a shadow of the fighter that gave Hagler hell , almost seven years earlier.
Hell, Terry Norris stopped a fresher version of Mugabi in the first round also.
I don't understand why McCellean gets so much credit for ko'ing that version of Mugabi, or J.Jackson TBH.
Both of those fighters were past their best. In Mugabi well past it.....

 

Shot