Leonard v Hagler at 160 in the early-mid 80s - please vote and comment

A Hagler with less wars in him beats Leonard. IMO, he might even stop him.

 

Take that might and turn it inot a would!

 

Azumah1, agreed :good

 

Hagler wins ......there was a reason SRL did not want to fight him early 80's.

 

:goodindeed

 

Hagler takes a decision, he's not stopping Leonard.

 

Leonard still wins because he was further past prime than Hagler. Everyone acts like Leonard had some big advantage from not fighting in 3years and not fighting at world level for 5years. I suppose the detached retina also gave him some advantage, perhaps X 'Ray' vision? Hagler had the advantage of being active, which is a massive advantage and being the natural 160lber, Leonard was fighting at 160 for the first time.

What evidence other than outboxing Hagler was there that Leonard was nearer to prime? Was it life and death struggles with Lalonde and Hearns in his subsequent fights?

Leonard would always have been the better boxer, the faster, the smarter fighter plus he would have been able to dance and move for longer. But it always would have been close fight

 

I still think Hagler would stop Ray. Ray was getting hit more and more as he moved against the ropes in the latter part of their fight, and I think Hagler, who seemed almost timid in comparison to how he was in the Mugabi fight, would've made Ray pay a few years earlier.

Yes, Ray would've been faster, fresher; but people also forget that he stayed in great shape in his yers off playing Tennis and still training. Hagler had some absolute wars, including one with 28-0 (28) Mugabi! I for one know who was fresher, and that was Leonard, even if he wasn't quite as sharp as he had been.

To be honest I scored the fight for Hagler anyways, but I think Ray would always win on points against most fighters due to being a Judge-Fave, having great punch resistance,and for being a last minute flurry king!

 

that honour is reserved for Kid Gavilan

 

Gavilan did that when he thought he was losing a round. He didn't avoid engaging for the whole round and steal at the last moment!


On another point, who do you think has the better chin; Ray Leonard or Kid Gavilan????

 

thats easy Gavilan he had a grnite chin.

 

I think Leonard had a pretty dench chin as well to be honest....but I guess he slipped a lot more than Gavilan, which gives the Cuban Hawk the de facto better chin. I wonder what others think, I might start up a thread??????

 

Although Hagler was past his best when he fought SRL (as was Ray), I think his loss was more to do with the way he approached the fight then any physical decline. He started out orthodox, and I think he showed SRL far too much respect early on. His head didn't seem right to me, it's almos as if he wanted the win too much!!

I see no reason to believe an earlier fight would have been any different....I can see exactly how Hagler beats SRL, but I'm not sure Hagler would've fought the right fight!!!

Just my opinion though