Hagler vs. Hearns

[Jake_Taylor]

The Fight was 31 years ago today. Reminds me why I used to love watching boxing with my dad and why I hate how promoters ruined the sport.

 

[Stoney]

Mayweather/Pacquaio could've gone a thousand rounds and it still wouldn't have as much substance as Hagler/Hearns packed in less than three rounds.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Very true. It seems like anytime there's a "big" boxing match today I wind up pulling this one up on YouTube instead.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Gatti and Ward did for damn-near 30 rounds what Hagler and Hearns did for two and a half. That doesn't take away from the greatness of any of those fights, but you can still find a gem every now and then.

That being said, Marvin Hagler is one of my top 3 favorite fighters. I still say he got robbed against Leonard.

 

[User 11148]

That was a great fight. Of course I couldn't afford to do that PPV back then, but a few weeks later, when it was broadcast, my best friend taped it. That little pirouette Hearns does when he takes that first shot that did him in ... My friend and I, we must have rewound and watched that a hundred times, laughing our ass off the whole time. It makes me laugh to see/remember it.

 

[TyWebb]

Very true. It seems like anytime there's a "big" boxing match today I wind up pulling this one up on YouTube instead.

I had to do this for a friend who was pressuring me to come watch Mayweather/Pacquiao but had never even heard of Hagler/Hearns. Said I was more interested in watching a match that had to be the potential of Hagler/Hearns than just Mayweather circling toward a 12-round decision. He had no idea what I was talking about. Broke my heart a little bit.

I also made him watch Gatti/Ward, another pair of fighters he had never heard of.

 

[Iron_chet]

Thanks Jake for 20 minutes that my employer will never get back!

I remember when PPV meant paying to go to bar to watch a fight. I saw this one live and have seen it again more times than I can count. I loved that Hagler got stomped. My dislike of him was completely irrational, may have been because I associated him with Michael Jackson because of the Kronk Gym jackets.

Hagler represented everything that was"real" to me, an idiotic take that a teenager can make.

 

[qtlaw]

That fight was so great, its amazing to think Rd. 2 had little action and the fight was only 3 rounds. I was in college and remember getting an invite to some buddy's gathering. Was awesome; IIRC must have been on a 27" screen (oh so big!)

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I had an idea when I was at the Phoenix. I'd pull a triple header, cover the Sox in the 11 a.m. game, rush to the finish of the marathon, then get to Logan and jet to Vegas in time for Hagler-Hearns. Alas, it would've taken a charter, which is when the publisher pulled the plug. I don't blame him, and I saw the fight PPV.
For the record, I covered Hagler for a long time, and of course I loved him as a fighter, but I don't think he got screwed in the Leonard decision. The manly art of self-defense is part of boxing, too.

 

[Huggy]

Massive Hagler fan, by far my favourite fighter. My parents met a couple in Florida one year on vacation who lived in Brockton, Mass and they knew the Petronelli brothers, who handled him, and they used to send me loads of articles from the Brockton paper and some autographed stuff.

Watched the Hearns fight on closed circuit at Maple Leaf Gardens, like others here I have seen it countless times, never gets old, just a great, great scrap. I remember wondering if Hagler would go after Hearns after Hearns had flattened Duran, who had given Hagler such a rough night. I worked with a guy who had been in Vegas the week before the fight and he told me he saw Hearns in the Caesars casino at 4 a.m., no idea if that was true but I knew Hagler wasn't gambling at that hour. The way Hearns seemed to be gassed after the first - as was anybody watching it - led me to believe that he might not be in that fight for the long haul.

As for the Leonard fight, watched that at the Gardens too and scored it 7-4-1 for Leonard. Have seen it many times since and sometimes it gets closer but Hagler never wins it. He gave away too many early rounds.

 

[Neutral Corner]

My son conned me into going with him to a local bar to watch Mayweather/Pacquiao. I bitched the whole way there, told him exactly what was going to happened, told him that Mayweather's best skill of all was choosing the right fights at the right time. Crappy fight. Bitched all the way home, then sat his ass in front of Youtube and put on Hagler-Hearns.

Some times the old man knows a little more than the kid.

 

[Huggy]

Damn good parenting there....

 

[Songbird]

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

Great first round.

 

[cranberry]

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.

 

[Huggy]

Pryor - Arguello I was an incredible fight.

 

[MisterCreosote]

As for the Leonard fight, watched that at the Gardens too and scored it 7-4-1 for Leonard. Have seen it many times since and sometimes it gets closer but Hagler never wins it. He gave away too many early rounds.

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 **** that makes judges look like they're bought and paid for.

 

[MisterCreosote]

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 ****show it became.

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

 

[Huggy]

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.

 

[Riptide]

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.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

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."