Hagler has a high ko percentage, but he seems to be a guy who scores knockouts from an accumulation of punches. How would you describe his power, and who among middleweights hits harder, and who doesn't?
He really committed to throwing combinations. If he threw two pretty hard punches, you always knew a third was right behind those. Until late in his career when inactivity and age dulled his skills, he never lunged with big shots that threw him off balance. Combinations, combinations, combinations.....
I'd rate Haglers power in the 7.5/8.0 range. He isn't a 1 punch KO artist but mostly all his punches were delivered with sharp consistent power. As for who hit harder ? Fighters like Jackson, McClellan, Benn, come to mind immediately.
Hearns named him as the hardest puncher he faced in a recent article "Marvin Hagler was in a different class to Roberto Duran. I think Marvin was the hardest puncher I fought."
exactly. Marvin had terrific balance. He could throw uppercuts from the outside with both hands effectively and not go off balance. And he had realoly good footwork and mobility. the thing is most rate him on his last 3 fights against hearns/mugabi/leonard and those skills had diminished--along with his accuracy. Another thought----what old middleweight champ is fighting those 3 guys and not coming out with a loss? That's a lot of skills and a lot of youth for an old fighter with diminishing skills to be facing.
Marvin may not have committed to one punch KO bombs like Jackson, McClellan, and RJJ. But, I would still give his power at least an 8/10. And he was a busy fighter who was hurtful with almost every punch he landed. So, he was able to score legitimate stoppages (as opposed to many of the BS modern stoppages given to boost a fighter's KO percentage). I would say he hit harder than 90% of Middleweights who reached championship level.
Hagler punches were sharp and accurate, hence the horrible damage he did to the fighter's face. Not a huge puncher like GMac or the Hawk but still enough to get respect.
Hagler was also a legitimate 15 round fighter with great conditioning. That meant as the fight wore on his opponent would become increasingly fatigued, and Marvin’s punches would take more of a toll. Compare The Hawk’s KO ratio to Marvin’s in the first 6 rounds, then compare the ratios after 6 rounds.
Duran hit him with one right hand that gave Tommy pause according to coverage from the issue of Ring Magazine covering the bout. He didn't have success of course past that we all know what happened. Duran was partying so much leading up to this fight he barely made weight.
Hagler was a hard puncher but not a shattering one. He relied much more on skill and timing opposed to brute force