Hagler could have. His conservative tactics at the start of the fight were very poor and cost him the fight. However, SRL had a very long layoff of inactivity of three years and going straight into an ATG in Hagler is mightily impressive and winning even if controversial (have it a draw myself). In all honesty, the fight probably should have been a draw and they would have rematched!
I think Leonard would have improved. He would have been more relaxed the second time. If they had rematched, again it would have been a distance fight, and again Hagler loses a decision.
I am not sure I felt that during the Mugabi fight Hagler struggled to be the destroyer he once was....Give Mugabi his due but it seemed clear that the mean, nasty ferocity that made Hagler Hagler was not there anymore by then and when he got in the ring with SRL he came in the same tamed fighter. A rematch would have been a roll of the dice as to which Hagler was there I just don't think he was hungry anymore not hungry enough anyway
It’s a good possibility that Hagler might have won in a rematch . The flip side is that Leonard had shaken the rust off by this point and might have proven to be even more formidable.
No. There was a story I read in one of the old boxing magazines that the Petronelli brothers realized that age had caught up with him in training, and I think Haglar realized that he wasn't getting any better either, which is why he left.
