BoxRec

Hagler's competition does not impress me all that much. The Hearns kayo is considered impressive but Iran Barkley was able to kayo Hearns yet nobody seems to think Barkley was anywhere near as good as Hagler.

What hurts Monzon in comparison with Hagler is that it appears Hagler beat far more good fighters prior to winning the title than Monzon did.

BoxBuzz wrote:That's my take Ezz, In my lifetime he was the best Middleweight I've ever seen...Mike Casey's article really represents what I believe and what I've seen. I will never disrespect Hagler he was one of the greats as well.

http://www.boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... sey+monzon

That's exactly how I see it. Hagler is one of the greatest ever, I just think Monzon has a very slim edge.

Buzz, if Monzon is your number one from your lifetime then who is 2 and 3?

Serious question, and I'm honestly not trying to antagonize anyone, but exactly what did Carlos Monzon do better than Marvin Hagler ?

On paper it made sense (for me anyway) to assume that Hagler could beat Leonard. But he did not. So it transcends physical attributes to some degree. Monzon won his fights in his head first, he "engineered his wins" after the first few rounds with each opponent. Ray did this to some degree as well. Monzon was a much better engineer than Ray and he had more steam.


What did he do better? He kept his cool better, he developed a winning plan in real time better. He would never have lost to Monroe or Leonard under the same circumstances.

Don't underestimate Monzon's speed or his power, however part of his engineering brilliance was to get his opponents to do both within the context of a fight. His opponents were Rubicks cubes.....and he seemed to figure them out quite well. I do think he would bring "something new" into the later rounds better than any fighter in history.

It seems to set him apart IMHO.

Seamus I'm not as good as Mike Casey at making the case, so if you read his words and are not moved, that's about as good a case as can be made. After that it's just a difference of opinion on two greatly talented warriors.