Marvin Hagler
Marvelous Marvin Hagler (born
Marvin Nathaniel Hagler in
Newark,
New Jersey,
May 23,
1954), is an
American former boxer.
He finished his boxing career with a record of 62-3-2 with 53 knockouts.
A native of
Brockton, Massachusetts, Hagler was a number one ranked Middleweight boxer for many years before he could fight for the title. He often had to travel to his opponents' hometowns to get fights, and he even boxed against the best that the city of
Philadelphia had to offer. He lost decisions to
Willie Monroe and
Bobby 'Boogaloo' Watts, and had to suffer while watching less deserving challengers receive title shots against
Carlos Monzon and
Hugo Corro.
This served for Hagler to build upon a strong character. Hagler avenged his 2 defeats by knocking out Monroe and Watts in rematches, and won a 10 round decision over
Bennie Briscoe in a classic Philadelphia confrontation, and by this time he had made fans in both
Massachusetts and Philadelphia. By then, promoter
Bob Arum, a lawyer who had helped in the
White House during President
John F. Kennedy's tenure, took notice and signed him. Hagler needed some gubernatorial help, but Arum pulled the strings, and finally, in November
1979, Hagler was in the ring with a world Middleweight champion.
Vito Antuofermo gave Hagler a shot, and the fight turned into a Middleweight classic. One of the greatest championship bouts in Middleweight history was unfortunately marred by controversy, and Hagler had to settle for a draw or tie. This only added to Hagler's frustrations.
Antuofermo lost his title later to
Alan Minter, who became the 2nd champion to be brave enough to defend his title against the Brockton menace. Hagler went to
London and beat Minter in 3 rounds at the
Wembley Arena. At the conclusion of this bout a riot broke out, and Hagler and his trainers had to be carried away to their locker rooms by the police, in the middle of a rain of beer bottles and glasses.
Hagler proved a busy world champion and he defeated future world champion
Fulgencio Obelmejias by a knockout in 8 rounds, and then former world champ Antuofermo in a rematch by knockout in 5 rounds. Both matches were fought at the
Boston Garden near Hagler's hometown, endearing him to Boston fight fans.
Mustafa Hamsho, who would later defeat future world champion
Bobby Czyz, followed, and he was beaten in 11 rounds.
Caveman Lee lasted only 1 round, and in a rematch in
Italy, Obelmejias lasted 5 rounds.
British champion
Tony Sibson followed in Hagler's list of unsuccessful challengers, falling in 6 rounds, and
Wilford Scypion went in 4. By then, Hagler was a staple on
HBO, the
Pay Per View of its time.
A
superfight against
Roberto Duran followed and Duran was the first challenger to last the distance with Hagler in a world championship bout. Hagler won a unanimous 15 round decision, although after 12 Rounds two of the judges had Duran ahead. Then came
Juan Roldan, who became the only man to drop Hagler, scoring a questionable knockdown seconds into the fight, but Hagler got angrier and proceeded to beat Roldan, stopping him in 10 rounds. Hamsho was given a rematch, but was again beat, in three rounds.
On
April 15,
1985, Hagler and
Thomas Hearns met in what was billed as
The War.This fight is widely regarded as one of the most brutal and thrilling boxing matches of all time. Hearns, who was expected to box and take advantage of his superior reach, stood toe to toe with Hagler from early in the first round.The pair fought at a ferocious pace with the crowd giving a standing ovation as the bell sounded to end the 1st round. Hagler who was pressing for such an exchange was happy to fight on the inside, both fighters landed hurtful punches but Hagler appeared to have the advantage with his more solid chin (ability to absorb an excellent punch). Hagler, despite a cut to the head managed to overpower Hearns in the third round, scoring a decisive knockout.
Next was
John Mugabi, who was 26-0 with 26
knockouts. Hagler took Mugabi's best shots and came back handily, stopping Mugabi in the 11th in what would turn out to be his last successful defense.
Hagler's next challenger was
Sugar Ray Leonard, who won what some thought was a controversial split decision in
Las Vegas on April of
1987. While punch stat numbers showed that Leonard scored fifteen more punches than Hagler, Leonard's punches were ineffective in deterring the champion's forward momentum. Hagler landed the harder shots and controlled the pace from the fourth round on.
After his defense against Hearns and before his fight with Mugabi, Hagler changed his name legally to
Marvelous Marvin Hagler and made some commercials, most notably a commercial for
Pizza Hut and, later,
Gillette.
He thought his decision loss to Leonard was undeserved, and quit
boxing (after being refused a rematch) tired of the backroom politics of the sport. He moved to
Italy, where he made movies: his roles include a
US Marine in the movie
Indio. In
1995, he starred alongside
Giselle Blondet in another low budget film.
Hagler is now living in Italy.
Hagler has four children to his first wife, Bertha.
He was inducted into the
International Boxing Hall Of Fame in
1993.
*
List of male boxers*
List of WBC world champions*
Official web site*
Marvin Hagler's career boxing record
