Who has the better MW win resume - Hagler or Apostoli ?

Apostoli. Fought in a much better era of middleweights. The loss to Garcia hurts his overall standing though.

 

Hagler had Minter, Antufuermo, Scypion, Briscoe, Watts, Hearns, Sibson, Duran, Hamsho and Mugabi.

Apostoli had Abrams, Thil, Risko and Kreiger. He beat and also lost to Overlin, Steele, Corbett III and Battina, which I tend to count as less worthy than outright single victories.

I'll take Hagler, tho Apostoli (and Steele) are generally not appreciated as much as they ought to be.

 

As far as win resume alone though, Apostoli beat the better names. Fighters like Scypion and Watts were comparable to the lesser known names that Apostoli beat, such as Glen Lee and Big Boy Hogue.

Wins over Freddie Steele, Marcel Thil, Young Corbett III, Solly Krieger, Melio Bettina, Georgie Abrams, Lou Brouillard, Babe Risko, that's tough to match in an era like Hagler's. But overall Hagler was of course better. He was more dominant for a longer period of time.

 

I was about to add "but you have to admit that Hagler would have found it very tough had he competed against the "Black Murderer's Row" for example".

Apostoli was 6-0 when he faced the 95-2 Freddie Steele. Gave a hell of an effort until going down on his shield in the final round. A fighter with his style was never going to have too much longevity in a tough era like that.

However there are certain factors that point to me Apostoli's limitations. Watching the Marcel Thil fight, the older but clever Thil seems to get the better of the action until a cut puts an end to his efforts. The smaller Garcia dented his chin with his famous "bolo punch". He seemed to rely a bit too much on his physicality to win, but it worked for him at his peak.

 

Hagler with a workforce of 12,000 Egyptian pyramid building slaves, couldnt carry Apostoli's jockstrap

 

Hagler couldnt carry a climbers safety strap

lo, i am in good company.

 

That's the double edged sword with any dominant champ. A similar twist of logic would ask what it says of an era when a 6-0 fighter gives hell to a 95-2 fighter.

If we are going strictly by wins (and ignoring if those fighters defeated returned the favor) it tightens the argument up quite a bit. But I tend to count wins and losses on a resume, the former to the positive, the latter to the negative.

 

Leon Spinks?