Marvin Hagler, Revisited......

Very, very great, if there is such a thing. He virtually cleaned out the division (those who would fight him anyway) BEFORE he won the title, then did it again when champion.

He thoroughly dominated the division in the first half of the 80s, beat all-comers without the benefit of controversial decisions or favours.

Regarding moving up in weight, those of us who were there at the time will confirm there was not a great demand for Hagler to move up to LHW, SMW hadn't been invented then.

Regarding his all-time MW ranking...he is definitely in tier 1 as far as the greats go.

A magnificent fighter, a blue-collar, honest to goodness hard bitten pro, a pro's pro. No frills, no bull****, would have fitted in in any era.

If he was around in the 40s he would likely have been the ultimate Murderer's Row type...come to think of it, that's a good description of Hagler in the late 70s.

 

I think top four of the middleweights...and with that considered, there isn't much wiggle room between 1-4...IMO. No really clear cut favorites between these ATG's.

 

I think it would have been unwise to attempt to move up to Light heavyweight. Hagler was only around 5'8" and his muscular torso already looked maxed out at middleweight. I can't remember if the Super-middleweight class have already been created at that time but even if it had, it was initially deemed pretty worthless at the beginning.

 

Hagler didn't avoid anyone, was fairly active, and gave rematches to just about anyone that was remotely competitive. All but one of his defenses (Caveman Lee) was against ranked opposition. Did good work before he even fought for the title. Looked great bald.

 

What! there's film of a Hagler with a full head of hair?

 

haggler wssnt going to move up to smw in the 80s or early 90s when the smw titles were worthless.

 

One of the greatest 160 pounders ever. No question.

 

One of the top five middles of all-time, though his psychological issues caused him great triumphs over Duran and Leonard.

 

Great all round fighter and an all time great Middleweight champion. He was my favourite fighter growing up even after beating Sibson and Minter. Great to watch, too as he was involved in entertaining fights for the most part.

 

I think he stands up well. I think he could have competed in any era. He was versatile. His list of challengers is kind of weak compared to other eras, but that's not his fault. He quit at the right time and did not tarnish his legacy. Few fighters can say the same.

 

Can you imagine if he had moved up to light heavyweight and fought Matthew Saad Muhammad, for example. That could have been a very good fight. but, yeah, one of his advantages was that he was so strong for a 160 lb fighter and adding 15 lbs may have been asking too much. Fighters didn't jump around to different divisions as much when he was champ.

 

Well, he did accommodate Fully Obel a second time.

But Duran, Mugabi and Hearns were more than "remotely competitive" and in each case it would have been a marketable rematch.

I don't really think he should have to have fought them again because I never quite wrapped my mind around "you have to beat someone twice for it to count" when legacies are discussed. It's a sily thing because it ignores the realities (often financial) of the time and assumes someone should put aside everything else and do the "honorable" thing and offer the guy you beat another shot at beating you on his timetable.

If Leonard is going to take guff for not fighting Hagler a second time (which may or may not have happened if Hagler had stepped back in the ring -- what a perfect time for a Mugabi rematch to reestablish himself -- rather than walking away), then it should also be pointed out that Hagler also didn't rematch against a few of his toughest challengers.