On this day, Leonard wins the decision over Hagler

I don't have that much sympathy with Hagler on this one. Wouldn't argue too strenuously with anyone who felt that Hagler was unlucky, because despite the bluster from both sides this was a razor-thin one with little to separate them. But personally, having scored it three or four times, I've never been able to give Hagler anything more than a draw, and even then that was only once. More often I've had Leonard winning by a round or two.

 

I've never scored it for Leonard. From what I can see, it was Hagler's fight, by anything from 1 to 4 point margin.

 

People who can't score fight and love 'the tough guy' had Hagler winning. No one else did

 

I agree entirely with the late Emanuel Steward's take on the fight.

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We were in the coffee shop at Cesar’s the next morning and Ray asked me, he said, “Steward! Sit down for a minute. How did you score the fight?”


I said, “I scored the fight for Marvin Hagler”.


He said, “Why?”


I said. “Well I thought that some of the early rounds which they may have given to you, I thought you should have boxed when you were almost like running. I remember quite a few times thinking quit holding Ray, quit doing this Ray. So some of those rounds I just gave to Marvin”. They were close, but I said, “The more important thing is you won the crowd. You won the judges” and in my mind I always called him just “Ray Leonard” because that’s the way I knew him. I said, “You earned the name of ‘Sugar Ray Leonard’ last night because I thought you fought a phenomenal fight after being off that long and coming in with a strong guy who was probably at the time the pound-for-pound #1 boxer. To beat him or even to just have that type of close fight to me was phenomenal”.

In a lot of ways I think it was one Ray’s best performances when it came to everything and the inactivity, but still. I had given the decision to Marvin Hagler.

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From this interview : [url]https://www.boxing247.com/weblog/archives/132929[/url]

 

But that's just wrong in terms of scoring. He's scoring a round based on solely aggression, not effective aggression, when Leonard had better punch accuracy in those early rounds.

 

It was a Leonard masterclass. He performed very well - infinitely better than expected. Nevertheless I scored the fight for Hagler by two points. I thought he actually won the fight.

 

I've scored it for each of them in the past. Very competitive fight with some very tight rounds. Plenty of people in this forum thought that Leonard won:
[url]https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/fight-of-the-week-12-leonard-v-hagler.622429/page-6[/url]

 

People that love style and flash over substance and can't score fights thought Ray won. No one else did.

 

I really believe to this day that Marvelous Marvin Hagler should have pushed harder to have this fight in let's say 1984. No excuses here but wht was pulled on the Hagler vs Leonard fight is an age old tactic, wait for the champion to age, then take the fight. It is kind of like the Fight Of The Century, on March 8 1971, Joe Frazier won it clearly, but let's be honest, what would happened if it had been on March 8 1967?, It's like the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Pac, they waited years for the fight to happen, it is a brilliant strategy. Ray Leonard won it, but if it had happened earlier, like I said, 1984, 15 rounds.

 

As I said above, I've tended to think that Leonard edged the fight and was more deserving on the night, but wouldn't argue too passionately about that. Anyone who scored the fight a draw, to Leonard by no more than two or to Hagler by no more than two is 'right' as far as I'm concerned.

But - I do find the excuse making for Hagler with regards to the timing of the fight, some of its conditions etc. a little lame and desperate. People sometimes (not always by any means) paint it as if Hagler was the poor little disadvantaged boy getting hamstrung by the big bully Leonard. Almost as if he was being lumbered with an impossible task.

Hagler was the comfortable betting favourite for a reason.

Was this the Hagler of the Minter or Sibson fights, at his absolute peak? No, most definitely not. Had he been a little inactive? Yep. Not an ideal setting for him going in to the fight. But if his setting was less than ideal, what does that make Leonard's? This was hardly a peak Leonard either. He'd boxed once in five years with a three year interval leading up to the Hagler bout. He'd spent a good portion of those five years binge drinking and snorting the white stuff. He'd never boxed at 160. That's pretty shoddy preparation for facing Marvin, even if it ain't a peak version. Yeah, Hagler might well have ground him down had it been a fifteen-rounder, but let's not act as if this was alien to Marvin either. Both the Hearns and Mugabi fights had been scheduled for twelve, too. Nothing particularly new by 1987.

Sure, Hagler looked a more beatable prospect for Leonard in 1987 than he had done a few years earlier, but the same applies in reverse. The way some Hagler fanatics talk you'd think this was a Calzaghe-Jones situation.

 

Not true at all. There really wasn't a lot of uproar at the time about it, and deservedly so.

 

Ray won the fight the way fights are scored, round by round.

It was Hagler's own fault that he didn't do enough in the early rounds. That's the story, and Hagler and his fans still can't get over it.

 

I understand the twelve rounders are for the safety of the combatants, but many and a lot have been injured permanently in the twelve rounders too. Maybe the 15 rounders should return. Look at Gerald McLelland, that was a twelve rounder.