Marvin Hagler: Floyd Mayweather has no class and his legacy is at stake against Pacqu

THIRTY years ago to the day that Marvin Hagler fought what many still believe to be the best boxing match in history, he all but rubbished the legacy of today’s superstar Floyd Mayweather because he has “no class”


In little more than three weeks, Mayweather will finally face Manny Pacquiao in arguably the biggest fight the world has ever seen.

Mayweather is unbeaten in 47 professional bouts and yesterday claimed this will be his penultimate outing – but why would you leave yourself one short of the all-time unbeaten record of Rocky Marciano?

He could, however, turn the whole showpiece with Pacquiao into a snoozefest according to Hagler, who detests the way he flashes his cash so boastfully.

Mayweather has been repeatedly pictured alongside stacks of notes and regularly posts photographs to social media of his numerous cars and jets, and Hagler said: “There is no class there and it is really no way for a champion to act.

“If you have the skills you don’t need to impress everybody by being a show-off. Then when you get beat, the public stays behind the winner instead of with you when you were the champion.

“But the boxing aspect of this fight is what’s going to keep the sport alive, it’s not whether Manny wins or Mayweather wins, it’s how they fight – because it could be a boring fight.


“Mayweather can put you to sleep just by boxing and moving around and that has no excitement. And Manny could be more on the defensive side rather than the offensive side too.”

Hagler also believes Mayweather was afraid of Pacquiao and deliberately waited until he was older and perhaps slower before agreeing to fight.

Asked by the Daily Express if this multi-million-pound super fight – Mayweather will earn about £120millon and Pacquiao only slightly less – was in fact just a couple of geriatrics in the ring, Hagler said: “I don’t think so.

“Look how long it took Leonard to get his heart together to fight me. It takes a lot of time for people to finally decide when they are going to do this. But on Leonard’s part, looking at me, he was just waiting for me to get old. And when I got old and soft then he says, ‘OK, I want to fight’.

“And that’s what Floyd has done [to Manny]. He is using psychology and he is still using it.

“In the beginning he was setting his own type of rules of saying, you’ve got to take a blood test before you fight me. Floyd was thinking Manny was on steroids because he was knocking everybody out. So he was a little afraid. Finally now, both of them have to prove themselves.”

Hagler agrees the risk to Mayweather’s legacy is greater than it is for Pacquiao purely because of the American’s unblemished record, proving, perhaps, that it is not all about money.



Hagler said: “If he [Mayweather] gets hit, let me tell you, once you’re in that ring, you don’t think about money. This game is called survival.

“It’s nice that he can flash the dollars around like that but money is not going to help you with the fight – or maybe it could!

“But it is a risk because Floyd does not like to lose. And with a guy like Pacquaio, you have to think what kind of strategy is he going to use? Is he going to try to cut him off in the ring, is he going to try to attack him early? Nobody knows quite yet.”

What people do know is that, for now, Hagler’s fight with Tommy Hearns on April 15 1985 remains the barometer for boxing.

Hagler, speaking ahead of last night’s Laureus World Sports Awards in Shanghai, said: “The way I look at that fight, every time I see it, I still get chills up and down my spine. When I look at it, I’m glad it’s over. It was war.”

The hope of those ringside and the millions watching from around the world is that Mayweather versus Pacquiao is that type of war too

 

“It’s nice that he can flash the dollars around like that but money is not going to help you with the fight – or maybe it could!


Money can buy referee and judges in Vegas. deal