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

Hagler is, and continues to be a very sore loser. What he said after the fight is worth a chuckle "Leonard fought like a girl. His punches never hurt me, etc". Hagler has said many times that Leonard should have stood and fought him, thus giving him what he wanted. He never dealt with Leonard's tactics and overall approach. If Hagler was awarded the decision he wouldn't have complained about how Leonard fought him, thats for sure.

 

One thing about Leonard throughout the fight, he should have been deducted points for holding. After around the 5th round onwards, he was holding often. I don't think anyone can remotely disupute this at all. Anyone who doubts my stance only needs to watch the fight again.

 

Good post.

It's too bad that Leonard had his prime cut short like that. It's like with Ali - sure, their subsequent achievements took on that greatness very much because they were past their primes, but still one cannot help but feel that there were some truly amazing perfomances we never got to see.

 

When Hagler fought SRL, he was very, very, very slow and let SRL stand in front of him and throw without reacting, as well as not trading when he had the chance. A real Hagler would have beaten Sugar than night - convincingly.

 

Yep. Holding round the back of the head continually, and the ref warned him for it several times but neglected to penalize...

 

Yep. He should definitely have been deducted points. No question about it whatsoever.

 

terrible explanation. as if Leonard had ever clearly won any of the early rounds. You dont sweep four rounds straight by running in circles and tossing flurries here and there

most of the rounds are close enough to go one way or the other so what you are really saying is that you will score most of them for ray and just enough of them for Hagler to keep you from looking like the biased fan that you are. i know your type.

 

Ref steele is a big leonard fans the way Bill Butcher is so naturally he will look the other way. Fout? What foul? I didnt see any foul! Groin shot? What groin shot? Hitting after the bell? When did this happen?

 

I dont recall leonard being drafted or sent to prison. wasnt that him i saw in his old age in the ring with Camacho?

 

You had to get your "tuppence worth" in didn't you.

 

Butcher is so full of bias he cant even post straight. Even that referee is looking out for ray leonard. the ref I thought did a good job was referee Mercante Jr. Why dont he get more jobs?

 

Good to see the majority of people on here recognise that Hagler probably would have beaten Leonard at 160 in the early to mid 80s when his footwork was faster and better. A focused Hagler - like the one that beat Minter - wins a UD over Ray imo.

I remember Leonard saying after the Hagler-Hearns fight that Hagler was the sort of individual that made it easy for him to stay retired. Then he saw the Mugabe fight and the rest is history...

 

It was still a good fight tho, as in very enjoyable.
I agree it would have been better in 1982-4 in a 15 rd bout but Im just glad we got it at all, it was the last piece of the fab 4 puzzle & the most important piece as those 2 were the best (h2h)

I know it wasnt Ray`s peak but for me it WAS his finest moment, Hagler was the man in boxing, he had beat Hearns & Duran (Leonard`s best victories with Benitez) & everyone he faced for 11 yrs, 7 yrs as champion.
This was Leonard`s `icing on the cake` moment

Ps. I agree with your assessment of SRLs ability, thats why Im in the minority of having him in my top 10 p4p.

Out of curiosity... were do you have Leonard ? because I know you rank `resume` extremely high & Ray has one of the best in history !

:thumbsup