He didn't squeak out a win against SRL .. That was one of the closest title fights in history and a win, loss or draw for either fighter would have been an acceptable decision ..imo .. The problem was Guerra's 118-110 scorecard for SRL, one of the worst in Boxing History.. right there with Byrd's Canelo 118-110 scorecard
Didn't Hagler personally believe himself to of lost "legitimately" only once in his career, in a self admitted defeat against Willie "The Worm" Monroe? Really makes you wonder how deep the competitive boxing scene in Philly was at the time, especially seeing as how Marvin Hagler seems to be the perfected, end result of the hard nosed Philly fighter.
The Watts fight was a bad decision. Hagler won that fight. Monroe was his only legit loss during that time.
I think you're right, I was just pointing these fights out because OP didn't mention them in saying what he thought Marvin's record should be. I guess he may have been implying that he had considered these fights, but was not explicit regarding this.
According to boxrec, Hagler had 67 fights, not 66. I agree Hagler should have gotten the decison against Vito. I think Ray edged him though. Also, he Decisioned Ray Seales in Boston and Drew with him in Seattle. One or both of those fights may have been "Home Town Decisions" but I have never seen these or read enough about them to make an opinion that these fights should have been scored differently. So, based on what I know, I would put his proper record at 64-2-1. I guess you think it should be 65-1-1.
Marvin did better when he was motivated and went for the knockout. He had a great chin, so he did better when guys would throw with him. His weakness was when guys laid back and then he stopped fighting. Ray edged him.. Marvin gave that fight away in the first two rounds.
This is how I scored the first fight between Hagler and Bobby Watts, for what it's worth. Round 1: 5-4 Watts Round 2: 5-4 Hagler Round 3: 5-4 Watts Round 4: 5-4 Hagler Round 5: 5-4 Watts Round 6: 5-4 Hagler Round 7: 5-4 Hagler Round 8: 5-5 Even Round 9: 5-4 Hagler Round 10: 5-4 Watts Total: 46-45 Hagler I wouldn't scream robbery on this one. This was a Hagler still in his incubation period and Boogaloo was adept at flashy combos and tieing up. The tieing up really wore on the crowd though. They saw who was trying to make the fight.
He probably only lost one fight in his career clearly (against Monroe) and avenged every blemish on his record with the exception of the Leonard fight but he'll always have defendersn on that one anyway. So he could have been 65-1-1 but his actual record of 62-3-2 still isn't bad, is it? It certainly hasn't affected his legacy.
The thing I love about Hagler is that he took those losses justified or not and learn from them. He just got even more determined to win the title. He was one of the strongest fighters mentally.