This content is protected Marvin Hagler was one of the greatest prize fighters to ever compete, an honest tough man with respect, who was hard done by in major bouts. Despite this he dominated the MW division for 7 years between 1980 and 1987, racking up 12 title defences along the way. He has scored wins over Willie Monroe 2* Bobby Watts Bennie Brisoce Kevin Finnegan 2* Alan Minter Vito Antuofermo Mustafa Hamsho 2* Tony Sibson Roberto Duran Tommy Hearns John Mugabi That's 1 helluva hit list, and it's arguable Hagler only ever lost once, with controversy surrounding his losses at the hands of Leonard and Watts, as well as the draw vs Antuofermo. For this thread, I have watched these bouts Willie Monroe 3 Watts 1&2 Bennie Brisoce Vito Antuofermo 1 &2 Alan Minter Mustafa Hamsho 1&2 Tony Sibson Roberto Duran Tommy Hearns John Mugabi Sugar Ray Leonard That's a lot of ****ing boxing, and Hagler delivered for all of it, scorecards below. Watching these bouts back, it's obvious that Hagler had a significant downfall throughout his title reign. The difference in snap between the Sibson fight and the Leonard fight is blatant. Hagler at his best was a marvel, pun intended. For me, his best was between the Minter fight and the Sibson fight. He would dance about on the balls of his feet, flitting in and out of range, landing his pin-point accurate, ramrod jab into his opponents face while stepping between the two stances and being able to box and brawl at will. It's these qualities that made Hagler so versatile and well rounded. He had sound fundamentals, his feet were textbook and fast. He could throw every punch from both stances and had a cute defence. He was both fluid and agile whilst being physically rough and brutish. He could switch stances seamlessly whilst moving forward, backwards, whilst he was punching or slipping, although I don't think he needed to do it. He had freakish physical attributes as well. He had thudding power, he bludgeoned his opponents down, rather than just blowing them out explosively like Tommy Hearns, for example. He was hardly slow, but I wouldn't call him a prime Meldrick Taylor. His chin was cast iron. He took massive bombs from huge punchers like Hearns and Mugabi and didn't look hurt at all really. His jab was his best punch imo, he threw it from down under, upward. This created leverage but left him open momentarily, it also let him moving off it, giving more mobility and keeps his opponents thinking, and turning. He could spring into his jab as well, sacrificing balance for a massive force at a long range. He could use it to tame vicious brawlers, like in the Hamsho, Briscoe, Mugabi and first Antuofermo fights or mess up his opponents face like Sibson and Minter fights. To enter a fight with Marvin Hagler trying to brawl wasn't clever. As he could both make you look foolish on his toes with his 1-2, or knuckle down and trade with the best of them. Imo he has 3 weaknesses, 2 minor and 1 major. For the first minor, we have his lack off ATG speed, not so much a weakness, but something that if he had could make his life against fellow ATGs easier. For the second, we have his unnecessary habit of switching to orthodox, he never seemed more comfortable as a righty, and never accomplished more as an orthodox that he couldn't/didn't as a southpaw. He just seemed to miss more and get hit more when he did. For his Major weakness, it's his lack of high ring IQ. He seemed to falter when he had to think on his feet. That's why he gave Duran too much respect imo, and fought the fight Duran wanted to fight against him. Similarly he decided to fight as an orthodox against Leonard, for no apparent reason. It just caused him to lose the first 4 rounds. He also could forget some of the stuff that he did so well, like looping his cross instead of throwing straight shots, or not cutting off the ring and using body shots vs Leonard. It's for this reason that I chose Hopkins over him. Who in your opinion beats him at 160?
Bennie Briscoe, vs Hagler. He looked Docile early on but woke up in the final 3 rounds, he was obviously far from the force he once was but he was highly ranked. Top 5 in a few ABC body's and by Ring. Was it a good win? I tend to think it was a good win, just not a great win. But To quote a great man, who shall remain nameless What do fans think about this?
Marvin Hagler, The Thread, The Scorecards Please note, all rounds labelled "CLOSE" are labelled as such because I can see them going either way, not because they were competitive. So rounds which were competitive but with a clear winner, like the 6th vs Mugabi, are not labelled close but we're very competitive. Hagler vs Monroe 3 1. Hagler 10-9 CLOSE 2. TOS Bobby Watts 1 1. Hagler 10-9 CLOSE 2. Even 19-19 (Watts 10-9) CLOSE 3. Watts 29-28 (Watts 10-9) 4. Even 38-38 (Hagler 10-9) 5. Hagler 48-47 (Hagler 10-9) 6. Hagler 58-56 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 7. Hagler 68-65 (Hagler 10-9) 8. Hagler 78-74 (Hagler 10-9) 9. Hagler 88-83 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 10. Hagler 98-92 (Hagler 10-9) Hagler vs Briscoe 1. Hagler 10-9 2. Hagler 20-18 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 3. Hagler 30-27 (Hagler 10-9) 4. Hagler 39-37 (Briscoe 10-9) CLOSE 5. Hagler 49-46 (Hagler 10-9) 6. Hagler 59-55 (Hagler 10-9) 7. Hagler 69-64 (Hagler 10-9) 8. Hagler 79-73 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 9. Hagler 89-82 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 10. Hagler 98-92 (Briscoe 10-9) CLOSE Hagler vs Minter 1. Hagler 10-9 2. Hagler 20-18 (Hagler 10-9) 3. TOS Hagler vs Antuofermo 1 1. Hagler 10-9 2. Hagler 20-18 (Hagler 10-9) 3. Hagler 30-27 (Hagler 10-9) 4. Hagler 40-36 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 5. Hagler 49-46 (Vito 10-9) CLOSE 6. Hagler 59-55 (Hagler 10-9) 7. Hagler 69-64 (Hagler 10-9) 8. Hagler 78-74 (Vito 10-9) CLOSE 9. Hagler 88-83 (Hagler 10-9) 10. Hagler 97-93 (Vito 10-9) CLOSE 11. Hagler 106-103 (Vito 10-9) CLOSE 12. Hagler 116-112 (Hagler 10-9) 13. Hagler 125-122 (Vito 10-9) 14. Hagler 135-131 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 15. Hagler 145-40 (Hagler 10-9) Hagler vs Antuofermo 2 1. Hagler 10-9 2. Hagler 20-18 (Hagler 10-9) 3. Hagler 30-26 (Hagler 10-8) 4. Hagler 40-35 (Hagler 10-9) Hagler vs Hamsho 1 1. Hagler 10-9 2. Hagler 20-18 (Hagler 10-9) 3. Hagler 30-27 (Hagler 10-9) 4. Hagler 40-36 (Hagler 10-9) 5. Hagler 50-45 (Hagler 10-9) 6. Hagler 60-54 (Hagler 10-9) 7. Hagler 70-63 (Hagler 10-9) 8. Hagler 80-72 (Hagler 10-9) 9. Hagler 90-81 (Hagler 10-9) 10. Hagler 100-90 (Hagler 10-9) 11. TOS Hagler vs Sibson 1. Hagler 10-9 2. Hagler 20-18 (Hagler 10-9) 3. Hagler 30-27 (Hagler 10-9) 4. Hagler 40-36 (Hagler 10-9) 5. Hagler 50-45 (Hagler 10-9) 6. TOS Hagler vs Duran 1. Hagler 10-9 2. Hagler 20-18 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 3. Hagler 29-28 (Duran 10-9) 4. Hagler 39-37 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 5. Hagler 49-46 (Hagler 10-9) 6. Hagler 59-55 (Hagler 10-9) 7. Hagler 69-64 (Hagler 10-9) 8. Hagler 78-74 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE 9. Hagler 87-84 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE 10. Hagler 96-94 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE 11. Hagler 105-104 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE 12. Even 114-114 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE 13. Hagler 124-123 (Hagler 10-9) 14. Hagler 134-132 (Hagler 10-9) 15. Hagler 144-141 (Hagler 10-9) Hagler vs Hearns 1. Hearns 10-9 CLOSE 2. Even 19-19 (Hagler 10-9) 3. TOS Hagler vs Hamsho 2 1. Hagler 10-9 2. Even 19-19 (Hamsho 10-9) CLOSE 3. TOS Hagler vs Mugabi 1. Mugabi 10-9 CLOSE 2. Mugabi 20-18 (Mugabi 10-9) 3. Mugabi 29-28 (Hagler 10-9) 4. Even 38-38 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE 5. Hagler 48-47 (Hagler 10-9) 6. Hagler 58-56 (Hagler 10-9) 7. Even 66-66 (Mugabi 10-8)* CLOSE 8. Hagler 76-75 (Hagler 10-9) 9. Hagler 86-84 (Hagler 10-9) 10. Hagler 96-93 (Hagler 10-9) 11. TOS *Point deducted from Hagler for low blows Leonard vs Hagler 1. Leonard 10-9 2. Leonard 20-18 (Leonard 10-9) 3. Leonard 30-27 (Leonard 10- 9) 4. Leonard 40-36 (Leonard 10-9) 5. Leonard 49-46 (Hagler 10-9) 6. Leonard 59-55 (Leonard 10-9) 7. Leonard 69-64 (Leonard 10-9) 8. Leonard 78-74 (Hagler 10-9) 9. Leonard 87-84 (Hagler 10-9) 10. Leonard 96-94 (Hagler 10-9) 11. Leonard 105-104 (Hagler 10-9) 12. Leonard 115-113 (Leonard 10-9)
I agree with the weak areas of his game. Sometimes Hagler leaves you wanting more and that's on him. Maybe he just didn't tolerate being hit like boxing demands at times despite being very durable. Hagler was not that fast and had problems and losses to fast handed fighters and smarter fighters. Although I think Hagler is better than Hopkins, I can see an upset here based on how they match up and prefer to operate in the ring. And if they was such a match up, I'd be pulling for Hagler. The other point on Hagler, is given his reach and power, his jab could have been better and he could have used it more often. I'm not saying he had a bad jab, he just didn't use the reach advantage he had often enough. I haven't seen all of Hagler's title defenses, but I recommend this person's review on Hagler [url]https://www.myboxingcoach.com/marvin-hagler-marvelous-boxing-style/[/url]
At there MW best Monzon beats him. I dont include Greb because theres no film although I would pick him on resume. But I'd prefer film. I'd give Valdez an even shot if he were listed. Robinson was past his best. Giardello has a good shot too.
For the vote, I picked Greb and Monzon as those who I think would definitively beat Hagler. I also voted for Steele and Other (Giardello, Walker etc) as those who I think could take a win in a series, but wouldn't beat a peak Marvin. Fitzsimmons always has a chance with his power and calculated mind, but in a 15 rounder I just think he would be too slow paced to take the W. I can't see Hopkins beating Hagler
These guys on here that think Hop beats Hagler are on fantasy island. Wont happen 10 out of ten times.
Only Greb. Monzon doesn't have the workrate to beat prime Hagler, Fitzsimmons is a wild card that I wouldn't bet on.
Hopkins, Monzon by a shade, SRR at his 160 best and maybe Roy Jones for me. Valdes wouldn't blow wind up his arse.
Same with Hopkins. Not in Marvin's Class. Hopkins wouldnt even beat Kalambay or McCallum let alon Hagler
Good post. I don't necessarily agree with every bit of it ("weaknesses" and "Hopkins"), but I enjoyed the read, nonetheless. To his list of wins you could have also included Sugar Ray Seales, Eugene Hart and Mike Colbert as solid marks. Whilst Greb's resume finds him rated above Hagler, I am not able to assert that he could beat Hagler, head-to-head, on paper alone. Similarly, there is not enough available footage of Fitzsimmons to make the same assertion. Although the legends of both men make for tantalizing fantasy match-ups. Of the list, therefore, I can only pick Monzon, by the tightest of margins to beat Hagler, over the distance. But, as I have seen mentioned in similar threads of the past, Hagler might win the best out of three (or vice versa) - it's really that razor thin between them. And, I don't necessarily buy into the 'Hagler didn't perform in his big fights' narrative, either. As for Hopkins, I think it more likely that Hagler would run Hopkins down, outwork him at close quarters and do some damage in the process. I don't think Hopkins can really hurt Hagler, in return. Hopkins would probably resort to spoiling but, again, I can't see such attempts stifling Hagler's will. Hagler beats Hopkins comfortably.
In March 1983 Boxing Illustrated had an article about "Hagler vs The Middleweight Greats". Four guys gave there opinions. Arcel Jacobs Golman and a guy who was a Ketchel expert I can't remember. The fighters that won the majority opinion to beat Marvin were Greb Walker. Robinson Cerdan and LaMotta. This article was made after the Sibson fight.