the second hagler fight i ever watched and among my top 5 favourite. he was a supreme boxer when he wanted to. he worked the distance and his jab brilliantly. never running but keeping briscoe at the end of the jab and doing damage when he got close, then evading that damn left. just amazing
Hagler was something. At his best I feel he was the greatest MW of them all. He was the complete fighter..Could box, slug had a cast iron chin and was always in great shape.
Not even close. This Hagler would've beaten Leonard. It's no great secret that Leonard waited until the time was right to fight Hagler. He wasn't taking any chances. It would've been a hell of a fight though.
I've never been overly impressed with this performance when taken in context.Obviously it's high quality boxing from Hagler, but Briscoe was past it and did not need to be treated quite so conservatively imo.
A good win over a faded contender. This must have turned the heads of those who had heard of Hagler being a big puncher, because in this one he certainly wasn't. He peppered Eugene Hart similarly and looked pretty smooth in doing so, but was still notorious for his punching power. Hagler got better though; I think the championship version of '80-'83 would have smacked Hart about and knocked him down in five, stopping the same Briscoe too, around the tenth. Prime Briscoe, well, Hagler would have won, but not as convincingly as Carlos Monzon did.
Hagler at age 26 made the 35 year old Briscoe look 50 in that ring back in 1978...... I have this fight on tape...... I had Hagler winning handidly over Briscoe by 7 to 3 over 10 rds....... HAGLER! MR.BILL
This was a closer fight than people seem to be suggesting, and Hagler definitely was caught slugging with Briscoe at times, ending up taking more than he should have.
Briscoe was always a step slower than Hagler all through the fight...... Hagler won with ease....... By 1978, Briscoe was at the end of the road in a practical sense...... Briscoe was a steppingstone for Hagler in '78....... Peace... MR.BILL
