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Marvelous Marvin Hagler

Statistics
Real name	Marvelous Marvin Nathaniel Hagler
Rated at	Middleweight
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Nationality	American
Birth date	May 23, 1954 (1954-05-23) (age 55)
Birth place	Newark, New Jersey, United States
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	67
Wins	62
Wins by KO	52
Losses	3
Draws	2
No contests	0

Marvelous Marvin Hagler (born Marvin Nathaniel Hagler, in Newark, New Jersey, May 23, 1954), is a former Undisputed Middleweight boxing champion of the world. Hagler's record is 62-3-2 with 52 knockouts.

Early life and amateur career

Hagler was raised by his mother in Newark, New Jersey's Central Ward. During the summer of 1967, the Newark Riots occurred July 12–17. Twenty-six people were killed and $10 million worth of property damage was caused by the disorder, which included the destruction of the Hagler family tenement. Following the riots, the Haglers moved to Brockton, Massachusetts where Hagler soon began boxing training at the Petronelli brothers' gym in 1969. In 1973, Hagler became the National AAU 165-pound champion after defeating Terry Dobbs of Atlanta. Hagler was named the outstanding boxer of the tournament, winning four fights, two of them by knockout.

Professional career

Hagler was a # 1 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 Monzón 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 took notice and signed him.

In November 1979, Hagler was in the ring with world middleweight champion Vito Antuofermo. Hagler had to settle for a draw. This only added to Hagler's frustrations.

Antuofermo lost his title later to Alan Minter, who gave Hagler his second title shot. Hagler went to London and beat Minter, who had stated that "No black man is going to take my title,"^[1] 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 of Venezuela by a knockout in 8 rounds, and then former world champ Antuofermo in a rematch by TKO 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 the Syrian fighter was beaten in 11 rounds. Michigan fighter William "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.

Fight against Roberto Durán

A fight against Roberto Durán followed and Duran was the first challenger to last the distance with Hagler in a world championship bout. Duran was the WBA light middleweight champion and went up in weight to challenge for Hagler's middleweight crown. Hagler won a unanimous 15-round decision, although after 12 rounds two of the judges had Durán ahead in a tough contest. Hagler fought tenaciously over the final three rounds to earn a unanimous decision.

Defenses

Then came Juan Roldán of Argentina, 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 the Syrian was again TKO'd, this time in 3 rounds.

Thomas Hearns

On April 15, 1985, Hagler and Thomas Hearns met in what was billed as The Fight; later it would become known 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, in which Hearns broke his devastating right hand. 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. Hagler, despite a cut to the head, managed to overpower Hearns in the third round, scoring a decisive knockout.

Hagler vs Mugabi

Next was John Mugabi of Uganda, who was 26-0 with 26 knockouts and an Olympic silver medalist. The Fight was fought on 10 March 1986 as Hagler had hurt his back and could not fight on the first date booked in 1985. Hagler took Mugabi's best shots and came back handily, stopping Mugabi in the 11th. Due to the vicious body shots sustained, both men would later urinate blood.^{[citation needed]}

Sugar Ray Leonard

Hagler's next challenger was Sugar Ray Leonard, who won a controversial split decision in Las Vegas on April 6, 1987. The decision remains a subject of debate to this day among sports fans, some of whom felt Hagler landed the harder shots and controlled the pace of the fight from the fourth round on. The opinion of those fans believing Hagler deserved more from the judges was summed up by veteran British boxing journalist, Hugh McIlvanney, who reported in the British Sunday Times that Leonard's plan was to "steal rounds with a few flashy and carefully timed flurries....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."^[2] Hagler opened the fight cautiously, much to the chagrin of his fans who wanted him to start fast and overwhelm Leonard as he had Tommy Hearns in their superfight over a year earlier. He began the bout fighting out of an orthodox stance. CBS color commentator Gil Clancy stated Hagler had all but thrown away the first 4 rounds of the fight by abandoning his natural southpaw style. Many boxing observers believed Hagler was determined to prove to Leonard, and the boxing world, that he possessed superior skills and that he could beat Leonard at his own game. Leonard took advantage of this and boxed the first 4 rounds almost perfectly counterpunching effectively and landing some hard shots. Hagler's timing was off and many of his punches missed. In round five, the fight began to change as Leonard tired from the tremendous dancing pace he had set. In his corner between rounds 4 and 5 he asked trainer Angelo Dundee to dump water from his cold water bucket onto his head, a sign of exhaustion. For the next 6 rounds, Leonard fought in spurts and flurries. Hagler began to land effective punches and in round nine, he staggered Leonard with a crisp uppercut inside that buckled Leonard's legs. After Hagler peppered Leonard with moderately effective pressure, Leonard began to punch furiously in an effort to slam his way out. Few of these punches landed but the crowd roared its approval. Hagler caught Leonard with a heavy right hook to the jaw, ending the flurry as Leonard retreated to the safety of the ropes. The final three rounds followed the same pattern with Hagler landing effectively, if unspectacularly while Leonard played to the crowd and judges with flashy flurries. As round 12 began, Leonard stood up in his corner with his arms raised while Dundee yelled "New champ!" The display brought the crowd to its feet. Leonard showboated most of the final round, dancing and mocking while Hagler pursued him landing effective punches. At the final bell, the crowd erupted in furious applause for both fighters. Embracing in the center of the ring, Leonard whispered into Hagler's ear audibly to HBO microphones "You beat me man" and Hagler smiled and punched the air with glee and satisfaction. The split decision in favor of Leonard devastated Hagler. When both fighters appeared in studio for the HBO broadcast and Leonard was presented with the tape of his post fight comment and was confronted by Hagler that he had conceded defeat, Leonard denied it. The fight statistics show Leonard landing 306 punches to Hagler's 291.^[3]

Training style

Hagler had a unique training regimen in which he would hole up on Cape Cod in motels that had closed for the winter. For his "road work" he would take to the pavement in army boots, declaring running shoes "sissy shoes." He would run much of his route backwards to prepare for movements in the boxing ring.

Awards and recognition

• Named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year for 1983 and 1985.
• Inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993.

Career after Boxing

After the loss to Leonard, Hagler moved to Italy, where he became a well-known star of action films. His roles include a US Marine in the films Indio and Indio 2. Other notable films starring Hagler include Brutal Bonanza, Geno's Plan and Lethal Lunch Date. In 1995, he starred alongside Giselle Blondet in the low-budget thriller Black Market Wedding. Hagler does boxing commentary for British television. Other forays into the entertainment field include work in the video game Fight Night: Round 3 and the American film Diggstown.

Trivia

• Boxer Robbie Sims is Hagler's half brother.
• Hagler now lives in Italy.
• Hagler has five children with his first wife, Bertha.
• On May 2000, he married his second wife Kay, an Italian woman, in Pioltello, Italy.^[4]
• Hagler has a home in Bartlett, New Hampshire.

See also

• List of undisputed boxing champions
• List of WBC world champions

External links

• Official Web Site
• Professional boxing record for Marvelous Marvin Hagler from Boxrec
• Marvin Hagler's Amateur Boxing Record
• Marvin Hagler at the Internet Movie Database

Notes