Hagler vs Leonard - 30 years on....

[Anzi]

The Hearns who fought Shuler vs the Hagler that fought Mugabi or Leonard, is a very interesting argument IMO

Hearns had no legs against Hagler, after he had a massage before the fight, it affected his legs, his legs were gone, that's why he went for the knockout, because he would not of done the rounds, but Hearns never had the best chin, if you was tough enough to take his shots, you could get to him, as Barclay did.

Don't use that 'someone massaged Tommy's legs' line.

It embarrasses The Hitman & he'd never use such an excuse.

Give Hagler some credit for forcing Hearns into streetfight & taking his legs away.

Tommy threw his kitchen sink at Hagler; Marvin caught it & smashed Tommy into the ground with it.

It's nothing to do with massaging of legs.

Emanuel Steward his trainer said it, he was furious, that they had massaged him so close to going in the ring, it affects the twitch mussles, his legs were gone, he told Steward that his legs were gone, before the fight, that's why they went for Hagler, he would have been better off boxing Hagler, but you could see that his legs were like jelly.

[Anzi]

In football every goal that is scored is a mistake by the defense, in boxing every knock out is a mistake by the fighter who has been knocked out, many things can cause defeat, preparation, diet, injury, even massage, if Emanuel Steward says that any of these things caused Hearns defeat to Hagler, the so be it, would you prefare him to lie and say it was all Hagler ? The best way to look at it would be to say that Hearns could not get away with these handicaps against a great fighter like Hagler. These are better excuses, then saying that the size of the ring, number of rounds or size gloves made Hagler lose to Leonard.

[stujones]

Going to be controversial and say Hearns vs Hagler was one of the most overated fights I have ever seen.... okay it is a classic, I'm not disputing that - but I don't know if I would have it as high as most pundits when they discuss the greatest fight of all time.

I just don't see the fuss sorry, the commentators (especially the American commentators) are going ballistic that Hearns is on the verge of KO ing Hagler.... I've watched it many times over and remember it live as a kid. I thought Hagler was always in control of that fight - the cut was the closest reason for it being stopped and again, I think the commentators went way over the top on how bad the cut was.

For me it was two one sided to be considered alongside Ali vs Frazier 3 and Morales vs Barrera 1. Hagler won all the rounds comfortably for me.

[Syntax Error]

In football every goal that is scored is a mistake by the defense, in boxing every knock out is a mistake by the fighter who has been knocked out, many things can cause defeat, preparation, diet, injury, even massage, if Emanuel Steward says that any of these things caused Hearns defeat to Hagler, the so be it, would you prefare him to lie and say it was all Hagler ? The best way to look at it would be to say that Hearns could not get away with these handicaps against a great fighter like Hagler. These are better excuses, then saying that the size of the ring, number of rounds or size gloves made Hagler lose to Leonard.

I get what you're saying, but I just get annoyed with the likes of Manny Steward & his excuses.

Isn't curious that for the two biggest fights of Hearns' life, his training team made two fundemental mistakes which allegedly led to Tommy being beaten?

For Leonard 1, he allegedly over trained & for Hagler, someone massaged his legs.

Tommy Hearns was great world class fighter & world champion: Manny Steward was a world class trainer with a support team that was probably as competent, yet they supposedly make these basic mistakes & in the intervening years, the excuses have become almost written into folklore & banded about as the definitive reasons for Tommy's defeats.

I just don't buy that all.

I prefer to believe that Hearns was beaten by better men on the night.

Leonard & Hagler were two nightmare opponents for Tommy; guys who could take a punch, had great skill, heart, tenacity & had the ability to put him under severe pressure.

If you could take Hearns' punch & pressure him, you could beat him & that's what those guys did.

[Ezzard]

Surprised some of you didn't know about the broken hand.

I love the fight but the drama is really over by round 1.

[Anzi]

In football every goal that is scored is a mistake by the defense, in boxing every knock out is a mistake by the fighter who has been knocked out, many things can cause defeat, preparation, diet, injury, even massage, if Emanuel Steward says that any of these things caused Hearns defeat to Hagler, the so be it, would you prefare him to lie and say it was all Hagler ? The best way to look at it would be to say that Hearns could not get away with these handicaps against a great fighter like Hagler. These are better excuses, then saying that the size of the ring, number of rounds or size gloves made Hagler lose to Leonard.

I get what you're saying, but I just get annoyed with the likes of Manny Steward & his excuses.

Isn't curious that for the two biggest fights of Hearns' life, his training team made two fundemental mistakes which allegedly led to Tommy being beaten?

For Leonard 1, he allegedly over trained & for Hagler, someone massaged his legs.

Tommy Hearns was great world class fighter & world champion: Manny Steward was a world class trainer with a support team that was probably as competent, yet they supposedly make these basic mistakes & in the intervening years, the excuses have become almost written into folklore & banded about as the definitive reasons for Tommy's defeats.

I just don't buy that all.

I prefer to believe that Hearns was beaten by better men on the night.

Leonard & Hagler were two nightmare opponents for Tommy; guys who could take a punch, had great skill, heart, tenacity & had the ability to put him under severe pressure.

If you could take Hearns' punch & pressure him, you could beat him & that's what those guys did.

I agree, they were fighting at the highest level and against great opponents, Tommy had one of the great jabs and right hands in boxing, but if you could get through them to his weakness, his chin, then you had a great chance. I don't think Hearns, even if he boxed against Hagler could of held him off for the whole fight, Hagler would of got to him late on, as Leonard did.