BERNSTEIN ON HAGLER VS. HEARNS
Hagler cemented his status as an all-time great middleweight champion on April 15, 1985.
as well as he had done in other fights. As I have wondered all this, I have also considered something else very important: Few fighters who have ever stepped into a ring have had the toughness, dogged determination and will to win that Marvin Hagler had. So it is not hard to conclude that no matter what else happened, Hagler was simply not going to allow himself to lose this fight. He said as much after the win. Even in this social media-driven boxing universe where everything is subject to some kind of edgy or often mean-spirited hot take, I refuse to believe that any boxing fan doesn’t have respect and admiration for what Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns produced 40 years ago. There is simply no glass-half-empty way to look at this fight. Even Hearns, who suffered such huge disappointment in this match, speaks of it glowingly and calls it an honor to have been in this match. And before Marvin Hagler left this earth much too soon, he was almost reverential in the way he talked about that experience and Tommy’s role in making it special. This match lives forever on YouTube, where generations of boxing fans relive or perhaps discover for the first time the greatness that transpired on that special night. I will leave it to my friend, the late, great Garry Shandling, to put this in perspective as only he could. He told me once at lunch about his Hagler- Hearns experience. He was the opening act for Joan Rivers at Caesars Palace that night. So he had to be onstage at a certain time. He was at ringside watching the fight and also nervously eyeing his watch. He said to me, “I only had time for a three-round fight, so it was perfect.” Perfect. Yes, at the end of the day, that describes what happened in Las Vegas 40 years ago.
perception is not true. In Round 2, Hearns, relying mostly on jabs and left hooks, was still having a lot of good moments offensively. He landed 26 of 61 punches (43%) in the round. Hagler landed 32 of 63 (51%) and certainly in terms of hard shots, he probably had the edge, but Hearns was still giving Hagler plenty to think about, and it was a very entertaining round. The problem is that nothing short of Armageddon would have equaled the first round. It was, however, becoming apparent that Hearns might have to try to win this fight the way he almost did in his first bout with Sugar Ray Leonard – move and box while landing jabs and occasional power shots. We pointed this out on the telecast, but we had to add that it was apparent that the process of doing it was labored because his legs were not responding as they did in the Leonard match and others. His underpinnings seemed less than sturdy. That brings us to the second subplot. We also learned days after the fight that two of Steward’s aides had given Hearns a leg massage in the dressing room just before the fight. Emanuel was tending to something outside the dressing room
when it happened; he didn’t see it. When he learned of it, he was livid. He attributed the weakened condition of Hearns’ legs in the fight to this. Shortly into Round 3, a new subplot emerged when a cut that had started on Hagler’s forehead in the first round burst open and blood was everywhere. Referee Richard Steele stopped the action to have the doctor look at it. Hagler said to Steele, “Nobody’s stopping this fight from a cut.” Steele said that he had to seek medical advice on this. After the doctor’s inspection, which only lasted about three seconds, the fight would go on, but Hagler knew there was still the danger of another intervention and determined that he had to stop Hearns before that happened. He put everything into overdrive and overwhelmed an already very tired Hearns. Hagler put him down, and moments later the best eight-minute-long fight in history was over. I’ve watched the fight about 20 times since then and often wondered if it could have been different if Hearns had not injured his right hand so early. And what of the leg massage? Was it a factor? I don’t know the answer, but it was clear Hearns was not able to move
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