Who won? Leonard or Hagler?

How did you score it in the end, SJS?

 

7-5 Leonard is exactly how i have it aswell.

He looked poor to me, mate. Timing was off and the best word i could use to describe his performance is "flat".

He was back in the gym the Monday morning after the fight, but i really think he'd benefit from a bit of a rest and time off. He's been in the gym non-stop since the turned pro in July and obviously wouldn't have had any time off in the amateurs either.

Best thing Hearn could do is to say "Have a few weeks off, go on holiday, enjoy yourself, chill out for a bit and comeback fully refreshed and full of energy". It'd benefit him greatly imo. Also think he was probably a bit too eager to impress what with it being near his hometown and him topping the bill for the first time, especially with it being on SKY. He looked like he was trying to set-up the finish right from the start, rather than allowing his skills to flow and letting it come naturally.

I'd much rather him have fights like that now though. He's a smart, dedicated kid and he'll have learnt alot from that fight. It's good to have experiences like topping a SKY bill in his hometown early on and i've no doubts he'll be a bit more settled down next time. He looked really twitchy and tentative, but that'll come with experience. I've got alot of faith in this kid.

 

Completely agree.

He should have a bit of time off (even if it's just a couple of weeks) and then properly get down to business. Sparring in different gyms around the world as you say, different fighters, different styles, different sizes etc.

I think he will be aswell. Hearn rates him highly and he's apparently in line for an English title fight next up, although that was said about his last fight and the opponent turned out to be disappointing. Probably wasn't enough money in the pot to tempt a Hall, Haskins, Wale etc though what with the Prizefighter fee. Hopefully he'll get a chancestep it up next time.

Also mate, i imagine Kal himself is pretty pissed off he hasn't been getting the opponents he wants which would obviously affect him mentally. When he steps up he'll come good imo.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard vs Marvelous Marvin Hagler was the first prize fight I got to see live on Closed Circuit Television (CCT). My father took me to see it live on the CCT screen at Madison Square Garden.

The experience to me was totally unreal at the time me being 16-years old and being a huge fan of Sugar Ray Leonard and rooting for him to pull off what was boxings biggest upset at the time. What I remember witnessing that Monday evening of April 6, 1987 was pure pugilistic theatre, not the exact type war that went down two years before on April 15, 1985 between Hagler-Tommy Hearns, but pure electric theatre between two of boxings all-time pound for pound greats as I had Sugar Ray Leonard at first winning the fight 117-112 (8 rounds to 3 and one even) but after watching the replay a week and half later on HBO I had it 116-112 (8 rounds to 4) all for Ray.

What I remember most about the fight as far as the scoring goes was that Sugar Ray Leonard, who was coming off of a three year layoff, coming up to legitimate weight classes as well as 13 pounds and was a huge underdog going in, was vintage in the early going especiallly in the first four rounds before Marvin Hagler came on in rounds five and six. Believe it or not that's the type of fight that Hagler had trained for thinking that Ray being off those few years and not being a natural Middleweight would take its toll on him around the six round as well as the odds-install makers who tabbed Hagler the favorite and for good reason. But the scenario that unfolded was not what was projectedly scripted.

Leonard took the first four rounds easily and after Hagler took rounds five and six that's when the scoring of the fight itself took an interesting turn of events. Ray was still mobile, very mobile and to a degree untouchable in rounds 7 and 8 but in the end it was those last second flurries that were very sharp and effective for Ray against Marvin that won him those rounds. The same can be said for Ray in rounds 10 and 11 close rounds that almost could've gone either way until Ray stole those rounds legitimately with the last second flurries which all landed. Round 9, perhaps the best round of the fight was clearly Hagler's as was rounds 5,6, and 12. So in the end and up to this day almost 26-years later my scorecard for Hagler-Leonard reads 116-112 for Sugar Ray Leonard over the guy that I no doubt still consider to be pound for pound the greatest Middleweight Champion of all time Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

 

Wow...a SRL fan...who also scored the fight for SRL...and found that SRL earned close rounds, legitimately...that is original..LOL! 8-3-1 is the scorecard of a fighters fan, not a boxing fan...Your name doesn't happen to be Jose Juan Guerra, does it????

 

Leonard smashed him.

 

Rewatching it, youtube jumbled the fights up so I started at round 5. Fight is on mute

Round5- Hagler
Round6- Leonard
Round7- Hagler
Round8- Hagler
Round9- Hagler
Round10- Hagler

 

Hagler 7-5. A draw would have been the correct call. It also insured a second fight. Judges and promoters didn't think this one through. This fight had SRL victory guaranteed written on it from the get go. All he had to do was look good out there. He had everyone cheering for him. He was the golden boy of his era.

 

Round11- Leonard..not even close

 

Gave Leonard the 12th, not for the shoe shining..but the ring generalship. Hagler was coming on at the last seconds of the round, looked like Leonard was stunned

 

I gave round 1 to leonard...not much scoring done from either fighter.