Let’s put ourselves in a world where Hagler, after his April 1987 loss to SRL, took a bit of time off (he was fighting once a year toward the end of his career) and decided to keep on in 1987 or early ‘88 — he hadn’t officially retired and was ranked No. 2 in Ring’s end-of-year ratings for the year. Marvin is steaming for a rematch with Ray and decides he needs to get a quality W to force the issue. So apart from Marvin at No. 2, here’s the 1987 end-of-year Ring ratings. Who does/should he fight and how does that go? I see some very difficult matches for MMH here. Who would you favor him over among these? No. 1 Thomas Hearns: moved up to light heavy to win a belt and then came back down to middle, soon to take out Juan Roldan in a shootout for the WBC middleweight crown. No. 3 Frank Tate: rising guy but one would never quite live up to expectations, he’s got a recent win over Curtis Parker as his biggest at this time. I think this is Marvin’s best shot at a big win among these guys but he’s not a marquee name who would rise to PPV level or even a big HBO purse. No. 4 Sumbu Kalambay: poison for Marvin at this stage and probably not an easy fight at any juncture with his smooth boxing ability. No. 5 Mike McCallum: Body Snatcher is another guy best avoided by Marvin and another who might give him fits at any stage of his career when they could have fought. No. 6 Michael Nunn: Too young, too fast, too big (compared to say Leonard), don’t see Marvin managing to do much but follow him around at arm’s length and get sleep-walked to a decision loss. No. 7 Michael Olajide: Probably one of the best choices for a return foe — he’s got wins over Curtis Parker, James Green and Don Lee but will be exposed by 1988 by Iran Barkley — as he’s got the look and a bit of a name by this point. No. 8 Iran Barkley: Perfect fodder for prime Hagler (although we know Iran would always bring it) but it’s a coin toss at best at this point — if John Mugabi took him to the limit two years earlier, Barkley might be a bridge too far by this time. No. 9 Matthew Hilton: Made for Hagler and also enough of a TV attraction — a win here doesn’t do a heck of a lot to reestablish Marvin, but an action fighter like Hilton is made for HBO and it would be fun while it lasted … he might take a bit more out of Marvin than some expect if he forces it to the late rounds. No. 10 Herold Graham: No way, the Bomber with his fresh legs and flashy punching would probably box circles around an older Marvin and Hagler isn’t going to pull out the Julian Jackson ending — just not one-punch explosive enough at this point imo. So how do you handicap Marvin vs the above? Which would he beat and who would he lose to? And who should he fight?
I think he could have still beaten most or perhaps all the top middleweights that were around in 1987 - 1988. But in reality I think Hagler was mentally done with boxing. There’s a reason why he never came back.
I think Barkley would be good if Iran goes through Hearns first for marketing reasons, get him in 89 in a competitive bout Hagler should win on must watch television (Iran just beat Hearns and is a humongous exciting 160lber) it’s 1990 now Barkley on the rebound has just lost to Benn, Benn is on for Eubank and losses so Haglers people get Eubank on the phone for a fight but they end up with Benn who loves a tear up and $ when negotiations fall through (Chris wouldn’t fight Hagler) people don’t mind Benn lost to Eubank this has ATG bout written on the tin (both guys get very rich) and it takes nearly everything Hagler has left to win in FOTY. Swimming the same waters as monsters like Toney (who’d be nipping at his heels a lot by now) Jones (who is a guaranteed loss at this point) and McCallum (who definitely calls him out weekly) the aging champ cashes out in 91 against Jackson (who just continently put down Herol making him a viable pick) Hagler bows out with the writing on the wall by now having been visibly hurt by “The Hawk” in an ATG dog fight that ends in the mid rounds.
I believe Hagler's team knew how bad Marvin had slipped after the Mugabi fight which was proven with his lackluster effort vs Leonard. Can't see this version of Hagler wanting to deal with Nunn, Kalumbay, or Tate at this stage. He'd only go after the big names A better route for Marvin would have been to come back and fight Duran after he beat Barkley and after Roberto cashed the big check it's a winnable fight for Hagler
My thinking is any return for Marvin would be a shorter thing — he tries to get one win (two at most) and angles for Ray Leonard rematch or else he walks away. But he’d have to walk a tightrope to do even that (more of the guys in the top 10 at that time are just wrong for him — the Grahams and Nunns and Kalumbays and McCallums). I can’t see him being around and still viable in 1989 unless that was when the Leonard rematch happened.
In a perfect world he gets the one dimensional sort of fighters like Barkley and some that could be dogged out of there like Jackson/Benn but yeah the listed guys… Sumbu, Nunn, McCallum all beat him pretty easy at that point.
Good analisis. I agree Tate, Hilton and Olajide are the relatively less risky options. Everybody else is a coin toss and a very uphill battle for a fading Marvin. In particular Barkley and Hearns are poison for Marvin. Barkley has simply too much for Marvin to deal with, and a wiser Tommy is not going to fall for a brawl again.
I was thinking for a minute that maybe Marvin having moved to Italy could have won the European middleweight title, but Sumbu was the holder of that crown. Maybe he could have fought Giovanni de Marco for the Italian middleweight championship.
The 4 fighters i see being the most troubling for Hagler. Kalambay = Whilst i think his style would be very troubling for an aging Hagler, Kalambay did also has some problems vs Southpaws aswell. Kalule beat him, Graham i thought handily beat him in their rematch and was robbed, Nunn obviously sparked him out in 1 round. So as i said whilst Kalambay's counter punching style would be troubling for Hagler, i think Kalambay having somewhat of a weakness to Southpaws might be the difference. Nunn = I think he has the best shot of beating Hagler he's an awkward slick Southpaw Hagler would have a hard time catching up to him over 12 rounds. McCallum = Would be a highly entertaining tactical fight in the same vein as Toney/McCallum 1 but McCallum would probably be a bit too sharp/fresh for an aging Hagler at this point. Graham = He has the style to beat Hagler but the fact he never won a big fight in actual real time makes me think he would somehow find a way to lose vs Hagler aswell. Overall out of the list of fighters i could see Hagler losing 2 or 3 fights.
Full sized skilled middleweights would have been hard for Hagler at that point. He’d of beaten Leonard and Hearns again, neither were greats at 160. Leonard didn’t have enough pop at the weight, you could see it in the Hagler fight that once he slowed down Hagler just walked in on him. and hearns yes a top boxer and physically suited fine to the weight but durability issues.
Hagler was spend and at the end of his career and would never have won his title back. He looked like an immobile punching bag and I think even Frank Tate would have been successful with a points win
