What do you think about Hagler-Antuofermo I decision?

I had Hagler by just a couple. Any fight that close shouldn't be called a robbery. Vito amped up when Hagler began to take the pedal off. Credit to him. A draw is no outrage here. I can't see any card being wide for Hagler, unless they're from Brockton.

 

Or Boston.

The dirty little secret is that Hagler was lined up for another title shot because Tip O’Neill, speaker of the House of Representatives from Boston, raised hell because Hagler homers from Massachusetts raised a stink about Marvin not winning a close fight. Tip threatened to investigate boxing and the powers that be (who were shady af) wanted nothing to do with congress looking at the sport and uncovering their various payoffs and arrangements.

So Bob Arum bit the bullet and made sure Hagler got his shot (would have been a rematch had not Alan Minter bested Vito in his next defense), which, to Marvin’s credit, he won decisively. And once he had that belt, nobody was going to pry it from his hands until Ray Leonard came along.

But without O’Neill’s threat of putting boxing under a congressional microscope, Marvin probably would have been waiting a little while longer. He’s not the first challenger that lost a close fight in a title effort, and those generally did not mean ‘better rematch these guys asap.’

 

I had it a draw but quite honestly when I reflected on the fight afterwards I realised the round I scored even (the 9th) could have been more easily shaded towards Vito than it could towards Marvin. Anyone who says that Marvin was robbed, clearly won, or even that he put on a clinic are overselling the work of Hagler, who looked confused and tired for solid stretches of the fight. Vito put up a superb effort, forcing Hagler onto the backfoot, mauling him in close, smothering Hagler's greater punching power. Vito over-performed and an unprepared and perhaps arrogant Hagler was flustered by a man he expected to blitz through. It really is an incredible fight though and well worth a watch. The fight could've have gone either way but I preferred the work of Vito honestly, and I still think his performance and the fact he legitimately held Hagler to a draw are underrated. An argument can be made that Antuofermo's performance in this fight should have afforded him one of the best wins in MW history imo.

 

I thought Hagler built up enough of a cushion in the first half, and did enough good work in the final couple of rounds to seal the win in a competitve but clear fashion. It's not really a robbery but I did feel like Hagler was still a bit unlucky not to win the championship that evening.

 

I disagree with most of the posts here I thought Hagler clearly won by a few rounds in the region of 9-6. Yes Hagler didn't work hard enough in the last few rounds but he'd already done well enough for me by that stage regardless.

But what I will say is that in the Duran fight Hagler had actually learnt from the Antuofermo fight and paced himself perfectly rallying in the last 2 rounds.

Just think if Hagler would've had the same approach in the Antuofermo fight as he did vs Duran its possible he could've lost a decision because the judges had it very close after 12 rounds.

 

Felt Marvin won it, but haven't watched it in a couple of seasons.