What do you think about Hagler-Antuofermo I decision?

Form memory I think Vito got it just Vito was a very good fighter, I think Hagler was overthinking in this bout a bit.

 

As Hagler sometimes did in big fights...

 

This is also true FT, Vito looked a certain way but being in there with them is much more different then tape can reveal.

 

Hagler’s biggest weakness was his confidence in his long distance stamina … he held back vs Vito, Duran and Leonard and underperformed, in different manners, each time. When he went balls to the wall like he did vs Hearns he was as tough as any 160 pound title holder.

 

I believe his stamina actually did begin to fail him against Vito, going “balls to the walls” against Vito probably wouldn’t have gone over well, Vito was a tough man in as good as shape as any 160lber in history if he’d tried that I believe he either gets the cut stoppage… or he gasses out and takes a beating.

 

Yes unfortunately he did.
From what I remember about the fight I think Vito seemed to have a very slight edge (not seen the fight for about ten years tho lol)

 

Only Duane Ford's card of 145-141 for Hagler was in the ballpark. I had it 145-140 for Hagler and I've seen even wider cards in Hagler's favor.

Thanks to the AP (who scored the bout to Antuofermo) dominating the coverage of the fight in the press, the ensuing reports on the bout seeded the now fabled plucky comeback of Vito, which has since become boxing lore.

For sure, Vito made a fight of it. He stayed in there and went the distance, despite the pummeling and, if one were using 'valor' as a criterion to score the bout, I can imagine a Draw - perhaps. But intrepidness is not a part of the scoring criteria in boxing and, while Antuofermo was game with his head-first mauling and what were mainly pushed arm punches, he was largely ineffective throughout.

It was not a difficult fight to score. Hagler, in the main, controlled the bout, outmaneuvered Antuofermo, delivered the harder, crisper, more accurate punching while maintaining a sufficiently responsible defense. Giving Antuofermo more than five clearly won rounds is inexplicable, in my opinion.

 

Wide points win for Hagler. Howard Cosell who called the fight kept talking up Vito. Turn off the sound and it's a wide Hagler win. Talk about a robbery sheezz!

 

I'm glad you mentioned Cosell's commentary. It quite suddenly became bizarrely off the mark, patently biased and lacking in credibility.

 

How I scored it about three years ago. No way it was a robbery to have a draw. You can make a case for even or narrowly to either guy:

Vito Antuofermo (c) vs. Marvin Hagler, 15 rounds for the WBC and WBA middleweight championship on Nov. 30, 1979, at Cesars Palace Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas.

This was a long time coming for me. I originally scored this a draw when it happened but I was a young lad just starting to score fights and while I had seen it since, I never knuckled down and revisited it. Tonight I did.

First, some background:

This was televised in primetime on ABC on a Friday night along with Ray Leonard vs. Wilfred Benitez and Marvin Johnson vs. Victor Galindez — one of the best nights of televised boxing in history, really. What a show!

Antuofermo, 45-3-1 (19), is 26 years old and making the first defense of the title he won from Hugo Corro. His purse is $190K. Hagler, 46-2-1 (38), is 27 and making his first title challenge after winning 20 in a row, 18 by KO.

Both weigh 158 1/2 pounds. Hagler is a 4-1 favorite. He is rated No. 1 by the WBA and No. 2 by the WBC, with Alan Minter rated tops by the latter.

My scoring:

1: Antuofermo 10-9 — He’s the aggressor, lands some body shots and roughhoused Marvin around a good bit. Hagler lands one good left but mostly misses.

2: Hagler 10-9 — Close, Marvin gets his jab on track, lands a few good lefts (he’s mostly southpaw the first two rounds) but Vito closes strong.

3: Even 10-10 — Neither is effective.

4: Hagler 10-9 — Close again but Marvin lands the cleaner punches. He starts switching from orthodox to lefty and does so for the remainder of the fight, although he spends more time southpaw.

5: Antuofermo 10-9 — Vito comes on strong with right leads and is all over Hagler from start to finish. Most decisive round so far.

6: Hagler 10-9 — Marvin controls the distance and lands some really nice combinations against the aggressive swarmer. Vito is cut under his right eye (by fight’s end he will be cut over and under both eyes, six cuts in all that will require 25 stitches).

7: Antuofermo 10-9 — Close but Vito outworks him.

8: Antuofermo 10-9 — Hagler gets on his bicycle but doesn’t land much while Vito gains momentum as he wings punches and lands combinations to the head and body. He’s not pretty but he’s productive.

9: Antuofermo 10-9 — Similar to the eighth but a bit closer. Now Vito is cut under both eyes and over his left.

10: Even 10-10 — Hagler jabbing, Antuofermo mauling.

11: Hagler 10-9 — What a great round. They go to war, brawling for 3 minutes as Hagler decides it’s time to make a stand. Close but Marvin rallies late.

12: Antuofermo 10-9 — And Hagler begins to sag just a bit as Vito comes on strong late to take a close round.

13: Antuofermo 10-9 — Vito with a big round, batters Hagler around just a bit.

14: Hagler 10-9 — Marvin edges it with a big rally but Vito works for 3 minutes. Hagler is cut over his right eye.

15: Hagler 10-9 — Toe to toe, Hagler rips shot and shows some dominance to close the show.

My scorecard: Antuofermo 144-143.

Official scores: 145-141 Hagler, 143-142 Antuofermo, 143-143 even — draw.

The Associated Press had it 143-142 for Antuofermo. The Ring had it 144-141 for Hagler.

The narrative around this fight has shifted over the years. A lot of the initial reaction was ‘so this is the guy everybody’s been calling the best middleweight in the world and uncrowned champion?’ This was expected to be a coronation for Hagler and he never quite stepped up and showed what we would later see him become — maybe he paced himself a bit too much in his first title fight, maybe he was tight being in the limelight for the first time … whatever. The later narrative is that Marvin got robbed (and there was some of that then, but I think it’s way too close no matter how you see it to call it a robbery … to many debatable rounds that could go either way depending on what you like).

Now it’s easy to see Hagler as the winner here — his best work is prettier while Vito is more of a caveman (apologies to Don Lee). If they were artists, Marvin would be a precise sculptor and Antuofermo would be one of those guys who splash paint everywhere to create some kind of messy abstract that you look at and can’t quite figure out if it’s really art or not … but in no way was he dominated.

I had two even rounds. Give them both to Marvin and he wins narrowly. Give them both to Vito and he wins by a close but comfortable margin. Split them and I still have Antuofermo narrowly.

But the real shame here is that it’s forgotten just what a great fight this is with a lot of shifts of momentum and action. Maybe not an all-time epic but one of the better middleweight title scraps in my lifetime and a grueling 15-round affair when those were a thing. It’s Marvin’s toughest fight in his prime, I think, and along with Duran and Mugabi you have to say Antuofermo on this night was his toughest challenge in a title fight — and I’d give Vito the nod over the other two on how close it was.

 

Hagler won this one clearly--one of the all-time (to use a word from the Cosell vocabulary) "egregious" decisions made in a championship bout.