A MARVELOUS LEGACY
Moore (who was in and out of the Ring middleweight ratings between 1940-1944, including first in the July 1940 issue), Charley Burley, Holman Williams, Cocoa Kid, Eddie Booker and Lloyd Marshall, among others. The other angle – the one that will be used here – is to compare Hagler to those who made a historic mark on the division either in terms of championship pedigree or notching a notable number of wins over excellent opposition. Should Hagler be included on the middleweight Mount Rushmore? Does he occupy a spot slightly outside the top four? Or does he stand near the summit, if not atop it? The following paragraphs will examine Hagler from several perspectives that hopefully will pinpoint his place in the pantheon. Physical Assets: At 5-foot-8, he was of average height for his weight class but on the shorter side compared to his peers. He was one inch taller than Mickey Walker, a half-inch taller than Tony Zale, and was the same height as Harry Greb and Jake LaMotta, the latter of whom notched only two successful defenses but was among the best 160-pounders for several years. But Hagler was one inch shorter than Stanley Ketchel, two inches shorter than the highly underrated Freddie Steele and Tiger Flowers, two and a half inches shorter than Gennadiy Golovkin, and three inches shorter than Sugar Ray Robinson. Carlos Monzon
into the ring in exquisite condition. However, there were initial questions about his ability to remain strong over an entire world title contest; Hagler’s energy ebbed just enough in the late stages of his first 15-round championship fight to allow Vito Antuofermo’s rally to lift the champ into a controversial title-retaining draw. Hagler’s all-out effort in the final two rounds of the Duran fight nearly four years later showed he had improved his pacing, and he consolidated that belief by scoring subsequent late-round stoppages over Juan Domingo Roldan (KO 10) and John Mugabi (KO 11). In terms of his presence, Hagler was literally drawn from central casting, both in terms of his boxing career and his post-boxing life as an actor. His “look” and his identity were unmistakable; his sculpted physique, shaved head, goatee and pugnacious temperament (in the lead-up to his matches as well as inside the ring) were menace personified. He never lost a staredown, and if he wanted to be left alone, a single look was the only deterrent he needed. On a side note, Hagler wasn’t alone as far as pursuing careers that occupied space far beyond boxing. Robinson famously interrupted his boxing career to become a song-and-dance man, and he also financed a wide swath of businesses in Harlem. During his heavyweight title reign, Fitzsimmons, following the precedent established
by predecessors John L. Sullivan and James J. Corbett, participated in stage plays, and after he lost the title to James J. Jeffries, he published a book entitled Physical Culture and Self-Defense . LaMotta was a stage actor, a comedian and a bar manager. Steele performed as a boxing double for Errol Flynn in the 1942 movie Gentleman Jim and appeared in nearly 30 films before shifting to the restaurant business. Walker became an accomplished painter and operated his own restaurant. Hopkins has advised many fighters to invest in real estate, as he has done. Zale was originally cast to play himself in the Rocky Graziano biopic “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” but according to Robert Wise’s book of the same title, Paul Newman, who portrayed Graziano, was concerned during rehearsals that the former champion would reflexively hit him too hard. For this reason, Zale was replaced with actor Court Shepard. Talent: Hagler is considered one of history’s greatest switch-hitters because of the fluidity and effectiveness he displayed from both stances. Although he was a natural right-hander, Hagler operated most comfortably as a southpaw, and because of his natural right-handedness, his jab was a powerful and precise weapon. If one wishes to assess Hagler at his zenith, watch his sixth-round TKO of Tony Sibson in 1983. He dismantled his
almost universally discounted. Hagler may not have been a marquee blue- chip prospect like Leonard was, but his hard work, his willingness to challenge himself, his supreme focus and his burning ambition served to amplify his natural-born gifts while also establishing the foundation for his eventual greatness. Statistics: Thanks to a combination of “retro counts” conducted off video and live counts of his final three fights against Hearns, Mugabi and Leonard, CompuBox has assembled data for all 15 world title fights. In those, Hagler was an offensive powerhouse; he averaged 65.7 punches per round – well above the 53.3 middleweight average – landed 8.8 jabs per round at a 36% clip (far exceeding the division norms of 4.3 and 19%, respectively) and connected on 43.2% of his total punches and 47% of his power shots compared to the division standards of 29% and 37%, respectively. Moreover, he averaged 28.4 total connects per round (nearly double the 15.6 middleweight average) and 19.5 landed power shots per round compared to the 11.2 average. On defense, however, Hagler was nothing special if one looks at the entirety of his reign: His opponents hit him with 31.1% of their overall punches (slightly above the 29.1% norm), 16% of their jabs (slightly better than the 19% norm) and 39.7% of their power shots (somewhat worse than the 36.5% average).
The great Hagler in action against Vito Antuofermo (left, in their first encounter) and Britain ’ s Alan Minter.
Marvelous reigned supreme in career- defining superfights against Roberto Duran (left) and Thomas Hearns.
and Bob Fitzsimmons were 5-foot-11½ while Bernard Hopkins was (and still is) a willowy 6-foot-1. As a point of comparison, today’s titleholders stand 5-foot-9 (Erislandy Lara), 5-foot- 11 (Carlos Adames) and 5-foot-11½ (Zhanibek Alimkhanuly). That said, while Hagler was on the shorter side in terms of height, BoxRec.com credits him with a 75- inch wingspan, one that far exceeds those of Walker and LaMotta (67 inches) and was longer than that of Zale (69 inches), Ketchel (70 inches), Golovkin (70 inches), Greb (71 inches), Fitzsimmons (71½ inches), Steele (72 inches) and Robinson (72½ inches). Hagler’s figure – which is identical to Hopkins’ – is only exceeded by Flowers and Monzon (76 inches) in this group. As for today’s titleholders, Alimkhanuly’s is 71½ inches, Adames’ is 73 and Lara’s is 75. Because Hagler’s reach was abnormally long for a man of his height, he created an optical illusion for his opponents: Just when they thought they were out of range, Hagler was able to strike them with speed and precision. Hagler’s physique was trim yet muscular; he was seemingly carved from marble, and he always stepped
mandatory challenger with knifing jabs that connected with almost unerring accuracy, used his lively legs to easily maneuver around the Briton, then smoothly shifted into knockout mode – a mode that produced two knockdowns in what was the final round. While Robinson was highly gifted, Hagler may well have been the most versatile operator among the middleweights and one of the best multidimensional fighters of all time. It can be argued that had Hagler-Leonard taken place in 1983, “The Marvelous One” not only would have been the betting favorite, he may well have scored the knockout expected of him in April 1987, because he had enough technical skill to box with Sugar Ray while also possessing the natural middleweight power Leonard didn’t yet have. At his best, Hagler fought behind a bladed stance, used his legs to maintain his preferred distance in any situation, and applied his ring IQ to score points and set up knockout punches executed with either hand. Hagler was an efficient finisher, and although he was vulnerable to eye cuts, Hagler owned a rock-solid chin. In 67 fights, he suffered only one official knockdown, but that opening-round slip against Roldan is
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