The amazing Marvin Hagler, who ruled boxing as the middleweight champion from 1980 to 1987, and defended his title 12 times until he lost in a very controversial decision against Sugar Ray Leonard, died on Saturday. He was 66.
Hagler’s death was announced by his wife, Kay G. Hagler, on the verified Facebook page of the Marvelous Marvin Hagler Fan Club. She said he died unexpectedly at his home in New Hampshire.
Hagler was one of the most formidable fighters of his era and defeated a series of challengers, including Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns, whom he defeated in the third round of a 1985 battle, which he considered the highlight of his career. .
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993.
“I always wanted to be someone,” Hagler told Sports Illustrated in 1982. ‘Baseball, I played like Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays; basketball, I would be Walt Frazier or Kareem; box, I would pretend I was Floyd Patterson or Emile Griffith. ”
Hagler was born on May 23, 1954 as Marvin Nathaniel Hagler. He said he later had his name legally changed to Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
He grew up in Newark, but his mother moved the family to Brockton, Massachusetts after the 1967 riots when fires and violent clashes between Newark police, National Guard troops and black residents devastated the city, killing 26 people. is.
He learned boxing in Brockton, the hometown of another great prize fighter, Rocky Marciano, where he was trained by brothers Pat and Goody Petronelli, who ran a gymnasium in the working-class city. During the day he worked for the Petronellis Construction Company and was paid $ 3 an hour.
“He needed a lot of money,” Pat Petelli recalled in 1987. “So he would just eat what he had to. He would borrow 50 cents for a submarine, 25 cents for a soft drink – we pull it off on Fridays. He did not spend unless he thought it was necessary. ”
At 18, Hagler clinched his amateur career by winning the 165-pound National Amateur Athletic Union Tournament. He became a professional a week later. For years he trained at the Cape Cod point, delighting in the isolation and managing the sand dunes in Provincetown, Massachusetts, to build his strength and fitness.
“You’re supposed to isolate yourself,” he told The New York Times from his room in the Provincetown Inn in 1981 as a blizzard raged outside. “All the great champions did the same. Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali on his mountain at Deer Lake. They put themselves in jail. I put myself in jail. ”
Mr. Hagler always considered himself an outcast in boxing, like contempt, and he gradually got up and took on Bobby Watts, Willie “The Worm” Monroe, Eugene “Cyclone” Hart and Bennie Briscoe before finally getting a chance. the title in 1979, according to the Boxing Hall of Fame.
In that year, however, the judges Hagler only drew against Vito Antuofermo, who remained the champion.
He had to wait until 1980 to claim the title of Alan Minter in London. Because the English spectators flooded the ring with bottles when the one-sided battle was stopped, Hagler’s hand was not raised in the victory.
Many boxing fans consider Hagler’s fight against Hearns to be his best, and Hagler said he was finally able to prove his greatness in that game.
In an outdoor arena next to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 16,000, Hearns and Hagler exchanged terrifying blows until the third round when Hagler threw a solid right that caught Hearns on the chin.
Horns stagger against the ropes and fall on the canvas. Slowly he lifted himself up, holding the ropes and standing on his feet at eight. The referee looked into Hearns’ glassy eyes and waved that the fight was over.
‘Tommy is a good fighter,’ says Hagler afterwards, ‘but he’s cocky. I had something for him. ”
Hagler’s career ended after Leonard, who has only fought once in the past five years, beat him in a 12-round relegation decision in 1987 at Caesars Palace outdoor arena. Hagler, who has not lost a fight since 1976, was the biggest favorite, and he had a special dislike of Leonard, whom he called ‘Mr. Politician ”and“ Mr. Middle class. “
“He’s a crook,” Hagler told The Times in 1987. “He was protected all his life. Besides, if he had not become a boxer, he would have been able to do other things. I? I have nowhere else to go. ”
But Leonard presented a beautiful display of boxing artists – painting with stitches and capital letters – to get one upset.
Hagler announced his retirement in 1988 and said he did not want to wait for a second chance with Leonard. The Boxing Hall of Fame fought 67 games during his career, winning 62, losing three and drawing two. He had 52 knockouts.
“I still feel the champion in my heart,” Hagler said after losing his title. “I hate the fact that they took it from me, and gave it to all the people, Sugar Ray Leonard.”