Between 1980 and 1987, Marvelous Marvin ruled the middleweight boxing class, defending his title 12 times and participating in some of the most classic boxing matches of all time.
Hagler grew up in Newark, New Jersey, hardened by the Newark riots before moving to Brockton, Massachusetts. He found success early as the AAU 165-pound national champion (1973) but had difficulty finding high profile opponents who were willing to dance with him in the ring. However, after 7 years as a pro, Hagler finally got his title shot, defeating Alan Minter in 3 rounds. This was after changing his legal name to “Marvelous”, due to the fact that announcers had neglected to give his nickname the respect it deserved.
The 1980’s were an exciting era in boxing, thanks in particular to The Four Horsemen of boxing, Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, and Thomas Hearns. Some of the greatest matches of all time saw Hagler squaring up against these three men. He fought a close battle with Duran in 1983, which marked the first time we had seen Hagler look less-than-unbeatable. In what would later become known as “The War”, Marvelous Marvin and Tommy “the Hitman” Hearns sacrificed their bodies for three rounds in an all out sprint to hit the canvas, with Hearns getting knocked out in the third after breaking his right hand in the first round. Finally, he fought Sugar Ray Leonard in 1987, the result of which is still hotly contested today. Sugar Ray managed to steal a victory with his novel ring strategy. Hugh McIlvanney said of the fight:
What Ray Leonard pulled off in his split decision over Hagler was an epic illusion. He had said beforehand that the way to beat Hagler was to give him a distorted picture. But this shrewdest of fighters knew it was even more important to distort the picture for the judges. His plan was to “steal” rounds with a few flashy and carefully timed flurries and to make the rest of each three-minute session as unproductive as possible for Hagler by circling briskly away from the latter’s persistent pursuit. When he made his sporadic attacking flourishes, he was happy to exaggerate hand speed at the expense of power, and neither he nor two of the scorers seemed bothered by the fact that many of the punches landed on the champion’s gloves and arms.
After losing to Leonard – and Leonard refusing a rematch – Marvelous retired and moved to Italy, where he became an action movie star.
