BoxRec

This is well worth a read if you haven't already come across it

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/698 ... vs-leonard

How about this piece?

Tompkins: I know exactly when Ray decided that he could beat Hagler. Ray and I were doing the Hagler-Duran fight in 1983. Hagler won, but it went the distance and it wasn't easy. And you have to understand, Ray and Roberto had a relationship. They had great respect for each other. At the end of the fight, Duran came to where we were sitting at ringside and stuck his head between the ropes right after the decision had been announced, and he said to Ray, "You can beat this guy." About six months later, Ray and I were in Florida for a fight, and the day before, he called me. "You want to know how to beat Marvin Hagler?" he said. "You gotta fight three times each round. For 15 seconds at a time, just don't stop throwing punches, and then get out. You've gotta do it at the beginning of the round, once in the middle of the round, and you've gotta finish the round. And that way you steal the fight."

Oh yeah, then why didn't Ray fight Hagler in 1984, 1985 or 1986? If he knew in 1983 he could beat Hagler, why wait another four years until he stepped up to the plate?

Hagler who fought Hearns would have done Leonard.

Ezzard wrote:This is well worth a read if you haven't already come across it

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/698 ... vs-leonard

How about this piece?

Tompkins: I know exactly when Ray decided that he could beat Hagler. Ray and I were doing the Hagler-Duran fight in 1983. Hagler won, but it went the distance and it wasn't easy. And you have to understand, Ray and Roberto had a relationship. They had great respect for each other. At the end of the fight, Duran came to where we were sitting at ringside and stuck his head between the ropes right after the decision had been announced, and he said to Ray, "You can beat this guy." About six months later, Ray and I were in Florida for a fight, and the day before, he called me. "You want to know how to beat Marvin Hagler?" he said. "You gotta fight three times each round. For 15 seconds at a time, just don't stop throwing punches, and then get out. You've gotta do it at the beginning of the round, once in the middle of the round, and you've gotta finish the round. And that way you steal the fight."

And that's exactly what he did, too. Fought 30 or 40 second of every round and stole the fight. Notice Leonard didn't say "win" the fight, he said "steal" it.

Leonard goes on to say later that it's not really stealing the rounds. The bottom line is that he still had to land more clean punches to win rounds and he did that. Maybe if Hagler would have done more than look mean in the first four rounds it would have been a different story. He didn't and Leonard won more rounds. All the whining in the world is not going to change that.

Ambling Alp wrote:Leonard goes on to say later that it's not really stealing the rounds. The bottom line is that he still had to land more clean punches to win rounds and he did that. Maybe if Hagler would have done more than look mean in the first four rounds it would have been a different story. He didn't and Leonard won more rounds. All the whining in the world is not going to change that.

Disagree . . . I scored it 7-5 Hagler.