Hagler vs. Hearns

"That was an entire fight accomplished in 3 minutes!"

Great first round.

 

Agree with Mr Creosote on Ward-Gatti. Another great but seemingly forgotten one was Duran-Leonard I in Montreal. Fifteen rounds of two guys punching the crap out of each other.

 

Pryor - Arguello I was an incredible fight.

 

When I watch it, I'm struck by how few punches Leonard actually landed early. That's fine for the rounds where he clearly outworked Hagler, but it swayed some of the closer rounds. Hagler blocked a lot more punches than he's given credit for.

It was never a blowout either way, but the split decision should've gone the other way. I keep scoring it 116-112 Hagler, which is pretty close to the actual scoring, except for the one numbnuts who gave Leonard 10 rounds. That's the kind of shit that makes judges look like they're bought and paid for.

 

I've said this many times, but Chavez-Taylor should've been remembered as one of the all-time great fights, with Taylor winning and snapping the legendary streak, instead of the shitshow it became.

Of the more recent vintage, the Barerra-Morales fights were unbelievable.

 

The Hagler who blitzed Hearns and took out John Mugabi was nowhere to be found in the ring against Leonard. Leonard appeared busier early while Hagler seemed content to follow him around, rarely switched between southpaw and orthodox which he did as well as any fighter who ever lived and when Hagler did pick up his workrate Leonard would steal rounds by flurrying over the last 30 seconds. Leonard was no match for Hagler physically by that point but he beat him mentally as much as anything.

 

The Hagler-Antuofermo fight when they stood toe-to-toe and whaled on each other's head for the last round or two.

Am I remembering that right? It was like Rock'em Sock'em Robots.

And, man, that Antuofermo was a bleeder.

 

The second Antuofermo fight at the old Garden when Hagler cut him badly to end it very early led to the favorite headline an editor ever put on a story of mine "Ars Longa, Vito Brevis."

 

Somewhere in Texas, Quant just heard a bell and sprung a chubbie.

 

Hagler got jobbed in the first Antuofermo fight which ended in a highly disputed draw. Vito was a bleeder but he was one tough hombre.

 

That was the fight I recalled. Epic slugfest.

 

This thread brings back so many memories. I was a big boxing fan in the 80s, which was unusual for a teenage girl. We had one of those giant satellite dishes and could pick up the closed circuit/PPV broadcasts, so I'd usually have a bunch of guys over to watch the fights with me. Someone got wise to the fact that people with dishes could watch for free and I was epically embarrassed one time when I had a living room full of people and the signal scrambled just as the fight was starting. I've blocked out which fight it was.