After the brutal slugfest in which Hearns was koed after breaking his hand. Regardless Hagler was a monster that night. Could the hit man get some sort of redemption like he did with Leonard?
I really can't see a 1986 rematch panning out much differently. If Hearns boxed more cautiously it may have lasted a few rounds longer,with the Hitman picking up a fair share of points,but that crushing ko of only one year earlier,would be still be too vivid in his mind. Hagler would win within six rounds.
I remember watching a replay of Hagler vs Hearns, about 20 years ago.. Archie Moore and several boxing analysts were giving their take on the fight.. Moore made a very good point, that Hearns had gone into the match with the intention of boxing Hagler, but Marvin put the pressure on Hearns and forced him into fighting his type of bout. If Marvin could repeat this tactic, then I have no doubt that the same or similar outcome would have occurred... I have my doubts about Hearns getting lured into a slugfest a second time however, and especially because Manny would have worked tooth and nail with him to avoid it.. Hearns was knocked out early by Iran Barkley in 1988.. In the rematch, he boxed more cautiously to extend Iran the distance and make it a closer fight... At the end of the day, he still lost but at least showed that he could learn from mistakes.... We also have to figure that being past prime, probably had something to do with his inability to avenge a loss at that point. In either event, it would have been interesting to see the changes that Hearns might have made, if any.. One thing is for certain to me however, and that is, I think it would be almost impossible to duplicate an all time great match with the action that the first fight had... Those types of wars only come along maybe once or twice in a lifetime...
I think Hearns would have won the rematch, and Leonard actually agreed. I think Hagler fought a great fight in 1985 and I think he put his all into it. I mean I think he put so much mental and physical energy into this fight, that he never had intensity to fight well again. He was off for a year after Hagler/Hearns 1, and with Mugabi he was rusty after breaking his nose in sparring and having the fight postponed,and was not sharp at all. Then with Leonard another year later, he took time to decide if he even wanted to even fight Ray. A fight he said he always wanted. Ray knew Hagler was not the younger Hagler pre-Hearns. I think Hearns in 1986 fights a slower Hagler and the pace is slower and Hearns would be able to land his right hand from a distance and he wouldn't break it. He would be landing body punches and clinching. Totally different fight. I think he would swell up Marvin's face and maybe the fight would be stopped on cuts or swelling. Hearns would not have engaged in a war with Hagler this time. If you could put Hagler in with the intensity of how he fought Hearns in 1985 that would be different, but I think his fight with Hearns in 1985 was his last really big effort. I think he put his all out for a great performance and he reached a peak he could never get to mentally again. And that right hand Hearns hit him with in round one might have had a little effect on him also. I honestly don't think he ever took that kind of punch before. It rocked him and then added to that fighting Mugabi when he was rusty and less motivated took more fight out of him. It sounds stupid I know. But I think Hearns stops Marvin in the rematch. It would have been a slower pace against a less motivated Hagler. You cannot fight a slow pace with Hearns, and there is no way Hagler would have had the intensity to fight Hearns like he did in 1985. Also that fight in 1985 was personal with both guys disliking each other. Hearns and Hagler by 1986 were actually getting along and respecting each other, which would have made for a slower fight. The rematch only would help Hearns.
your post is good but you have to remember. For Hagler to get to the point of slugging with Hearns he had to put on a superhuman effort of going for broke and fighting in a way he never did. He forced himself to fight like that. I do not think he could have duplicated that effort and I think he knew it. He never really wanted to fight Hearns again. Most guys who fought Hearns never wanted a rematch.
Mugabe wore down in a brutal contest of attrition with Marv. Hagler-Hearns II would have been slower, but Marv would still be hammering Tommy's body from the get go, and his right jab had enough on it to seriously stagger Hearns. Hagler would have gone in secure in the knowledge that he could take Tommy's best shot, while the reverse was clearly not true. I see no way Hearns gets to the final bell with Marv.
I agree Hagler would have been unlikely to duplicate the effort, but the same goes for Hearns. Post Hagler, Hearns was rocked badly by Roldan, KO'd by Barkley, dropped by Kinchen. He was never the same fighter again. At some point in a rematch a tired Hearns is going to get hit hard and the fight's over. Anyone who gets hammered the way he was in that fight, is never the same fighter again, and despite his achievements after Hagler, he never was the same fighter.
It would have been a different fight with Tommy boxing more. The Hearns of 1985 fought Benitez and Duran at 154 and had knocked Duran out and got his punch back after a few years of decisions. He went in there to knock out Marvin. I do think he had a chance to outbox Marvin and not get tired if he was relaxed. The way he fought Virgil Hill. It all had to do with the intensity of Hagler and if he could muster it again or something near it. That intensity was hard for fighters to take. If Marvin was not intense he could be outbox. But when he came to fight he was relentless.
Hearns would have been a serious threat to Hagler after 1985, with that threat increasing each year afterwards. You can see in the Mugabi fight that Hagler's skills had significantly eroded. His toughness allowed him to outgut Mugabi. Had Hagler less of a chin, he would have been in serious trouble at several moments of that fight. Moreover, Hagler's diminished skills made Mugabi look better than he was. Hearns' strategy to box Hagler would likely have been successful with the 1986 version of Hagler than the 1985 version. Even more so in 1987. Hagler should have retired after Mugabi. He was done by then. And Hearns was impaired in the 1985 war. There was definitely something wrong with his legs. Like with Leonard in the first fight, Hearns overtrained for Hagler. This is not to take anything from Hagler, who cemented his greatness with his complete destruction of Hearns, a fighter who would have been a threat in any era from welterweight through light heavyweight.
