Near no chance of winning a title. Qawi/Braxton and Spinks would be too much and Eddie Mustafa at the time he held the title would have comfortably have beaten Hagler via his form vs Johnson and Martin. His best chance IMO would be against the slow starting Saad. Hagler wouldn't be drawn into the customary big Saad shootout finish and might make it interesting on points.
I think Hagler WOULD trade with Saad..............considering his MW mindset. I also think that Saad would be comfortably outpointing/outhustling Marv and would have no need to go into the trenches. Only due to Marvin's size/frame :good
Really can't see Marvin trading with a guy that thrived on it and was bigger and more powerful. There would be absolutely no reason for it. I'll have to refresh some Saad stuff, but i thought with his slow starts and Haglers excellent boxing Marvin might keep with him on points. Saad almost always threw out his decent boxing ability.
of course, but I'm referring to Hagler going to war. If Saad wanted it, and at point he would, I don't think Hagler would back away. I also think Hagler should be able to hang in there and be succesful, but I also think that by boxing early and not being agressive he would give Saad time. Saad only usually ditched the boxing once pressured or hurt (similar to Gatti in a way I guess but please don't think I'm comparing the two!!!) and if indeed you're right and Hagler tries to box, I think Saad will edge him. Hagler was a marvellous boxer, but already struggling with putting extra weight onto his frame and being considerably shorter (though that never bothered Qawi, or indeed Hagler against Hearns) I see Saad winning comfortably with a few exchanges but neither man down or indeed out.
Maybe the size would offset the better orthodox boxing skill of Hagler, i'll have to watch some Saad again. No matter what i still can't see Hagler going to war. He changed tact fast vs the heavy hitting Mugabi when mixing it didn't go too well and had good success boxing. I just don't think he'd be silly enough to trade with a much bigger guy who totally thrives on it. He might mix it here and there early but even if so he'd soon be relying on his boxing IMO. Not many guys making a big jump in weight are going to mix it with a bloke that cuts his teeth on it. Maybe i am underrating Saad a bit, but i am certainly not known for overrating Hagler. I really think he might go better than many think in this one. I'm not picking him to win, but i think he'd give a very good account and have his periods.
Agreed. Super middle would have worked for Hagler, but the division did not exist when he was an active fighter. I think Coneth, Sadd, Johnson, Quai, and Spinks would be too much for Hagler. Having said that Hagler was durable and tough. I think Hagler would be competitive with the stars of the 1980's at light heavyweight. I would not pick him to win a match vs the above men, but an upset is not out of the question. Some people talk about the lack of quality at heavyweight these days, but its even worse at light heavyweight. Light Heavyweights can really put on a good show. They have the power of the upper weights, and the skills of the lower weights. Is a pity the division these days lacks talent. Or does it? Most middles these days are in truth around 175 pounds on fight night.
I agree, and I hate the prior day weigh in crap also. In Corrales v Clottey they weighed weight was 149, Corrales came is at 160, Clottey 170 on fight night
could of nabbed a title but i think woldnt be around for long. alot of his style was based on him being able to box and slug southpaw wise throughout the round consistantly. at light heavy his sluggin ability would be effected. tommy hearns was thought of to be too big for him. and he was only 6'1 which is a norm at the time....ok maybe not the ball that is qawi. but you see where i am going for this. at 168 i think he has a good chance. most of the guys were ex middles. also hagler made middleweight easily...he was strong, built and had all the reflexes. 15 pounds could be a bit much
Agreed. I think 175 considering how deep the division was at the time, would have been a pretty tall order. I think the 168 would have been perfect for him to setup a catch weight fight with one of the LHW's but the extra 15 would have cramped his style.
The truth is that you can never really know how a fighter will do on stepping up until the experiment is tried. Sometimes their power and chin evaporate, while sometimes the fighters they are up against just become bigger targets.
hagler was a small mw, he was muscular at 158 pounds, he would have been a fat midget in the lhw division... spinks would stop him in the round that he want... another stupid thread from this stupid forum
I think Hagler would be a bit too small to move up and beat the great and near-great Light heavyweights that were around in the era. He was only listed at 5-10 (and looked shorter), and he frequently didn't even come in at the middleweight limit.
Some people here are smoking crack. Hagler was a very good middleweight but no way would he have beaten any of the top light-hvy's of his era. People think because Duran and Leonard moved up and had success against bigger guys, Hagler could have done the same. He wasn't as talented as Duran and Leonard and although this may bring controversy, he didn't have the fighting spirit and heart of those two. Hagler tended to wimp out and fight too cautiously when up against a formidable opponent. Examples include his fights with Briscoe, Antuofermo 1, Duran and Leonard. He wasn't impressive in any of those fights and only won 2 of them. Physically, he had an odd build. Forget the "official" measurements, he was only about 5'8". He was hard and muscular at middle but just would have added fat at light-hvy. which would have slowed him down. Just didn't have the strength and size to compete with the bigger guys. He wasn't quick or slick enough to outbox the better light-heavyweights. They would have walked through his punches and beaten down the smaller man. There was a very good reason he never moved up in weight. He was smart enough to know it would have been folly.
@@ Jan-- good post, you make some interesting points. I don't think Hagler was "scared" to move up in weight, rather it seemed he had a growing obsession with reaching MOnzon's streak at MW and to be considered the greatest MW of all time (I still have Ray Robinson over him at MW though.) But you're right about him fighting on a more conservative/timid level in his biggest of fights, although he did take the fight to Hearns which resulted in one of the greatest fights in history. His performances specifically against Ray Leonard and Duran were subpar for his standards. For a guy that always fought with a chip on his shoulder, i thought he would've done more in those 2 fights specifically. i don't agree with your statement though that he doesn't have the fighting spirit or heart of Duran or SRL. He had a MUCH tougher road to the championship than either Duran did at LW or SRL did at WW (he was the goldenboy of boxing even before he went pro, since the '76 Olympics.) Hagler had to overcome poor decisions, and fight across the pond in an extremely hostile environment to win his title. His obsession with having a long standing reign at the MW division makes it impossible to know how he'd truly fare in the higher weight classes, it seemed like he was insouciant to going up in weight.