BoxRec

Sugar Ray on this night of April 6, 1987 wins his 3rd world championship in different weight classes after fighting once in 5 years.

Long-time reigning middleweight champion Marvelous retires in disgust after the fight.

To me, this fight should have been made in 1982 or 1983 when both were in their complete primes.

Your thoughts.

elmersalsa wrote: ↑06 Apr 2022, 20:19 Sugar Ray on this night of April 6, 1987 wins his 3rd world championship in different weight classes after fighting once in 5 years.

Long-time reigning middleweight champion Marvelous retires in disgust after the fight.

To me, this fight should have been made in 1982 or 1983 when both were in their complete primes.

Your thoughts.

Neither man could beat Duran at 135, if he’d had a good sleep that is.

And Duran could not beat Willie Pep at 126.
And Pep would not have beaten Eder Jofre at 118.

elmersalsa wrote: ↑06 Apr 2022, 20:19 Sugar Ray on this night of April 6, 1987 wins his 3rd world championship in different weight classes after fighting once in 5 years.

Long-time reigning middleweight champion Marvelous retires in disgust after the fight.

To me, this fight should have been made in 1982 or 1983 when both were in their complete primes.

Your thoughts.

Leonard would never have fought Hagler a few years earlier....beacuse he was a welterweight and he knew he couldn't beat him. He waited until Hagler had slowed down enough and his reflexes and skills had eroded enough before challenging. And then he still insisted on concessions to help him win, all of which he got. Far as I'm concerned this fight brought forward in a hurry, the start of the end of traditional boxing where a challenger works his way to the #1 position . Leonard has the biggest ego ever seen in the boxing caper and has a lot to answer for

Funniest thing about this fight was how all the excuses for why Hagler lost only came after the fight.

Seamus wrote: ↑10 Apr 2022, 17:17 Funniest thing about this fight was how all the excuses for why Hagler lost only came after the fight.

- The conditions Marv had to concede to get the fight made were well known in advance.

And if someone had told me Marv wouldn't be around to talk about it...well, most of boxrec seem not to care or understand it, so grrrr to that.

My eldest was 2 months old and already something of perfect dream baby, so I took some quick Saturday down time to go to MSG for the fight, one of the earliest sports bars in town. Sat in the custom maple "grandstand" with just a smattering of fight fans, so it was easy to get to know the barkeep who got to watch most of the fight since we were all drinking beer with no mixed drinks.

Early on I was wondering 1-why Marv was boxing orthodox, 2-Why wasn't he going after Ray instead of belatedly with some success enough to win the fight in most of our eyes. Let's face it, that one judge of near anonymity that had Ray in near a shutout was a sham. I was the last one of fans to leave and sat up with the barkeep talking about that fight.

And of course AFTER the fight has happened, the blueprint of how the fight progressed provides most of the answers, however...

Nobody but a handful of sworn to secrecy at the threat of not receiving their lucrative final installment, nobody knew Ray had been in secret training for a year with Angelo and staged private fights where he might have to fight 20 rounds vs 4 opponents who would go after him as hard as they could for 5 rounds before getting swapped out by the next fighter as one example.

And in fact, the barkeep and I both talked about Ray being in fabulous shape in what turned out to be grueling fight of attrition as Marv turned up the heat in what turned out to be too late as he couldn't knock out Ray.

And then Ray promptly retired again ushing in the new diva strategy of lucrative retirements, but not for Marv who only wanted Ray who strung him along for a joy ride of promises. Marv finally got fed up and announced his own retirement after a year of inactivity. 2-3 days later, Lo & Behold, Ray announces a lucrative comeback that the press and potential opponents all swoon over, and the rest history not so beneficial to Ray's legacy, but fantastic for his bank.

Marv like any good hero rode out West with the sunset to end up in Italy making Spaghetti Westerns and the like to thrive instead of being some broken down drug addicted pug. Marv was always at the higher scale of humanity and my only disappointment was never being able to run into him since we ran in different circles with him being international now.

What else you need to know?

Seamus wrote: ↑10 Apr 2022, 17:17 Funniest thing about this fight was how all the excuses for why Hagler lost only came after the fight.

Beofre the fight it was expected to be a massacre. Hagler was supposed to destroy him.

Still unbelievable that we hear these lame excuses. The ring was too small, it was scheduled for 12 rounds instead of 15 blah, blah.
When was the last time you ever heard anyone say that the other guy would have won had the ring been smaller? Nobody ever talks about this in any other fight. Ever. Leonard fought in the same conditions as Hagler. Hagler didn't have to agree to these conditions anyway.

Always loved the "secret training" one. Leonard had the nerve to actually be in the ring during this time. This is akin to saying Michael Jordan somehow had an "advantage" by playing pickup basketball games (while opponents were actually playing real games) before he made his basketball comeback.
During Leonard's time off, Hagler was fighting real opponents in real fights.
It was Halger that had huge advantages.

The real story of the fight is that Leonard had for three years, moved up in weight and beat a great fighter. This has never been done at any other time in over 140 years of boxing. Never.

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑11 Apr 2022, 10:43

Seamus wrote: ↑10 Apr 2022, 17:17 Funniest thing about this fight was how all the excuses for why Hagler lost only came after the fight.

Beofre the fight it was expected to be a massacre. Hagler was supposed to destroy him.

Still unbelievable that we hear these lame excuses. The ring was too small, it was scheduled for 12 rounds instead of 15 blah, blah.
When was the last time you ever heard anyone say that the other guy would have won had the ring been smaller? Nobody ever talks about this in any other fight. Ever. Leonard fought in the same conditions as Hagler. Hagler didn't have to agree to these conditions anyway.

Always loved the "secret training" one. Leonard had the nerve to actually be in the ring during this time. This is akin to saying Michael Jordan somehow had an "advantage" by playing pickup basketball games (while opponents were actually playing real games) before he made his basketball comeback.
During Leonard's time off, Hagler was fighting real opponents in real fights.
It was Halger that had huge advantages.

The real story of the fight is that Leonard had for three years, moved up in weight and beat a great fighter. This has never been done at any other time in over 140 years of boxing. Never.

I always like that one too.
They literally try to say SRL training for a fight is cheating.

These same people also make sure never to mention the fact that Hagler was the undisputed champ and reigning P4P #1 at the time of the fight.
Widely considered THE best boxer on the planet but that doesn't fit their stupid excuse narrative so they act like it didn't happen.

Hagler got his strategy wrong and was probably slightly past his prime. But no taking away from what SRL did that night he was brilliant. I think he just about deserved the decision, Hagler didn't quite do enough and basically gave away the early rounds. Would loved to have seen a rematch but it was never going to happen, SRL was clever enough to know he struck lightning once, twice would have been too much.

I am big fan of Hagler and definitely not a fan of Leonard. But that robbery talks are pretty nonsense to me. Leonard won close fight in this one. But former welterweight coming back after 3 years and defeating undisputed middleweight champ who de facto looked unbeatable for years. That is one of best achievements in our beloved sport IMO.

Irrespective of backstories and third hand gossip there was something amiss with Hagler in this fight. He just candidly didnt perform as the Hagler we knew, Leonard did and quite rightly got the nod. Bad day at the office, overawed at the occasion who knows, but a p!ss poor representation of the Hagler we once knew. Personally feel Hagler for whatever reason suffered from stage fright that night, was a shadow of the boxer we were expecting to see.

Cent0089 wrote: ↑15 Apr 2022, 12:27 I am big fan of Hagler and definitely not a fan of Leonard. But that robbery talks are pretty nonsense to me. Leonard won close fight in this one. But former welterweight coming back after 3 years and defeating undisputed middleweight champ who de facto looked unbeatable for years. That is one of best achievements in our beloved sport IMO.

It is a phenomenal achievement. There is a reason why so many people were shocked. Yet as Perseus alluded to, people often try to play it down; they talk about the crybaby excuses for Hagler, or that Hagler was just off, blah, blah.

The real story is that Ray Leonard had not had a fight in 3 years, and only one fight in 5 years, moved up in weight, and beat one of (some would say the best) middleweight in history. Kind of a big deal.

Perseus wrote: ↑15 Apr 2022, 06:37

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑11 Apr 2022, 10:43

Seamus wrote: ↑10 Apr 2022, 17:17 Funniest thing about this fight was how all the excuses for why Hagler lost only came after the fight.

Beofre the fight it was expected to be a massacre. Hagler was supposed to destroy him.

Still unbelievable that we hear these lame excuses. The ring was too small, it was scheduled for 12 rounds instead of 15 blah, blah.
When was the last time you ever heard anyone say that the other guy would have won had the ring been smaller? Nobody ever talks about this in any other fight. Ever. Leonard fought in the same conditions as Hagler. Hagler didn't have to agree to these conditions anyway.

Always loved the "secret training" one. Leonard had the nerve to actually be in the ring during this time. This is akin to saying Michael Jordan somehow had an "advantage" by playing pickup basketball games (while opponents were actually playing real games) before he made his basketball comeback.
During Leonard's time off, Hagler was fighting real opponents in real fights.
It was Halger that had huge advantages.

The real story of the fight is that Leonard had for three years, moved up in weight and beat a great fighter. This has never been done at any other time in over 140 years of boxing. Never.

I always like that one too.
They literally try to say SRL training for a fight is cheating.

These same people also make sure never to mention the fact that Hagler was the undisputed champ and reigning P4P #1 at the time of the fight.
Widely considered THE best boxer on the planet but that doesn't fit their stupid excuse narrative so they act like it didn't happen.

- OK then, it's ON!

Stupid vs the Dullard Gang, and who you got? Stay tuned boys, this gonna git good!

Widely reported a 24' ring in the day, supposedly the largest legal ring size possible. I see Boxrec has changed it to 20. It was still 24' when we was debating the fight on AOL before boxrec was ever birthed, and even in grade school I knew ring sizes mattered, but nope, not to a Dullard.

Marv invincibility took a hit with Duran where he squeaked that fight over the championship rounds. Yes, we were all worried about the health of Duran going into that fight, but 160 turned out as a perfect come backing wt for him.

The cards were split when Hearns was stopped and Marv took some shots.

By Mugabi, Marv was thinking retirement, esp after the beating he took from Mugabi so late in his career. Those cards were close at the stoppage, so clearly Marv was winning these fights, but not looking invincible, but you're #1 until you ain't.

We've all played some pickup basketball against scrubs, but we never just picked up to step into the ring for a title fight against the biggest names in boxing. Super LAME alert****WARNING that.

Ray's year long secret camp utilized top fighters, say Boxrec top 20 and prob had 3 full fights in between time off as when active, all perfectly legal, but nobody buy Ray had the $$$ to pull it off. Of course we were all worried about Ray health since he'd been off so long after looking like poo in the ring, so that the theme played out for the bookies as well. If Marv or the gamers had known, completely different strategy and fight...Duh for you Dullards

Nobody then accused Ray of cheating by training for this fight. Anyone here accusing Dullards beating their girl?

BTW, John Scully talked Ray into coming on our AOL forum to talk about that after we found out 15 years later about the scam. That was a bad idea because most all of us were outraged, but it's perfectly legal cheating that boxing is well noted for, ie signing up for BALCO Vic VADA approved BALCO vitamins and his costly hyperbolic training camps that po' fighters could never afford.

Anyway, net result for me was I was a fan of Ray, Roberto, and Marv going in, but soon dropped Ray who was more interested in his glitter and popcorn flurries that wooed new suckers every day, so he didn't need us and we didn't need him, the way it's always been.

Oh, did I fail to mention the fact that Hagler was the undisputed champ?

Well, DUH!

Hard to decipher all this.
Will point out that Hagler was not the undisputed champion. The WBA had stripped the title from him. Nobody cared.

Hagler was considered pound for pound the best fighter in the world going into the fight. Many thought Hagler would beat him in a one-sided fight.
Hagler had the advantages and Leonard still beat him. Why? AS great as Hagler was, Leonard was that much greater.

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑18 Apr 2022, 10:54 Hard to decipher all this.
Will point out that Hagler was not the undisputed champion. The WBA had stripped the title from him. Nobody cared.

Hagler was considered pound for pound the best fighter in the world going into the fight. Many thought Hagler would beat him in a one-sided fight.
Hagler had the advantages and Leonard still beat him. Why? AS great as Hagler was, Leonard was that much greater.

True. Also, people have made a fuss for years about the fight having been negotiated for 12 rounds. As you said the WBA stripped Hagler of its title. The IBF would not sanction the fight because Leonard was unranked. And the WBC did not sanction 15 round fights. So Leonard-Hagler would have never been a championship fight unless for the WBC title at 12 rounds. By the way, it was a pretty good fight, a close one, but Sugar Ray deserved the decision.

Sugar Ray Leonard’s victory over Marvin Hagler was in fact a remarkable accomplishment. To rise a full weight class , after only one bout in five years to defeat an all time great middleweight champion was miraculous. I felt going into the fight that if Leonard was still 85% of what he had been, that he would win. Considering the fact that in his previous fight 3 years earlier that he had given an underwhelming performance versus Kevin Howard, and suffered the first knockdown of his career, it didn’t seem likely he would improve especially after a long layoff. But he amazed so many of us. Leonard’s speed, defense, and durability carried the day. But despite what some may think, Leonard did hit Hagler with some hard shots during the fight. Ray at other times sacrificed power for speed and threw arm punches, but the name of the game was to outscore the opponent, not to ko him.

Hitting Hagler was like hitting a brick wall. He had one of the greatest chins in history, pound for pound. Trying to take him down would have been a fool’s errand. But Leonard did brawl with Hagler quite a bit in the bout’s second half. People were surprised how well Ray could take Marvin’s punches. Leonard had proven his toughness once again. And his heart and intelligence.

Marvin Hagler was a phenomenal pugilist. Tough, skillful, powerful, and tenacious. He was more than a simple brawler. Despite overpowering Thomas Hearns in their fabulous fight, Hagler was more technician than slugger in most of his bouts. And one of the top twenty fighters of all time. But I have Leonard just inside my top ten all time fighters pound for pound list. What a shame his career was so short. He was truly, as one boxing writer put it, The Balletic Bomber.

771034 wrote: ↑23 Apr 2022, 02:23 Sugar Ray Leonard’s victory over Marvin Hagler was in fact a remarkable accomplishment. To rise a full weight class , after only one bout in five years to defeat an all time great middleweight champion was miraculous. I felt going into the fight that if Leonard was still 85% of what he had been, that he would win. Considering the fact that in his previous fight 3 years earlier that he had given an underwhelming performance versus Kevin Howard, and suffered the first knockdown of his career, it didn’t seem likely he would improve especially after a long layoff. But he amazed so many of us. Leonard’s speed, defense, and durability carried the day. But despite what some may think, Leonard did hit Hagler with some hard shots during the fight. Ray at other times sacrificed power for speed and threw arm punches, but the name of the game was to outscore the opponent, not to ko him.

Hitting Hagler was like hitting a brick wall. He had one of the greatest chins in history, pound for pound. Trying to take him down would have been a fool’s errand. But Leonard did brawl with Hagler quite a bit in the bout’s second half. People were surprised how well Ray could take Marvin’s punches. Leonard had proven his toughness once again. And his heart and intelligence.

Marvin Hagler was a phenomenal pugilist. Tough, skillful, powerful, and tenacious. He was more than a simple brawler. Despite overpowering Thomas Hearns in their fabulous fight, Hagler was more technician than slugger in most of his bouts. And one of the top twenty fighters of all time. But I have Leonard just inside my top ten all time fighters pound for pound list. What a shame his career was so short. He was truly, as one boxing writer put it, The Balletic Bomber.

Why did Leonard make so many demands on prospective opponents before agreeing to face them, later in his career? Truly great fighter don't have to resort to this type of rubbish

p s 3 or 4 years earlier he didn't want a bar of Hagler. It was only after seeing Hagler starting to lose some of his edge that he thought it'd be a good idea

771034 wrote: ↑23 Apr 2022, 02:23 Sugar Ray Leonard’s victory over Marvin Hagler was in fact a remarkable accomplishment. To rise a full weight class , after only one bout in five years to defeat an all time great middleweight champion was miraculous. I felt going into the fight that if Leonard was still 85% of what he had been, that he would win. Considering the fact that in his previous fight 3 years earlier that he had given an underwhelming performance versus Kevin Howard, and suffered the first knockdown of his career, it didn’t seem likely he would improve especially after a long layoff. But he amazed so many of us. Leonard’s speed, defense, and durability carried the day. But despite what some may think, Leonard did hit Hagler with some hard shots during the fight. Ray at other times sacrificed power for speed and threw arm punches, but the name of the game was to outscore the opponent, not to ko him.

Hitting Hagler was like hitting a brick wall. He had one of the greatest chins in history, pound for pound. Trying to take him down would have been a fool’s errand. But Leonard did brawl with Hagler quite a bit in the bout’s second half. People were surprised how well Ray could take Marvin’s punches. Leonard had proven his toughness once again. And his heart and intelligence.

Marvin Hagler was a phenomenal pugilist. Tough, skillful, powerful, and tenacious. He was more than a simple brawler. Despite overpowering Thomas Hearns in their fabulous fight, Hagler was more technician than slugger in most of his bouts. And one of the top twenty fighters of all time. But I have Leonard just inside my top ten all time fighters pound for pound list. What a shame his career was so short. He was truly, as one boxing writer put it, The Balletic Bomber.

Why did Leonard make so many demands on prospective opponents before agreeing to face them, later in his career? Truly great fighter don't have to resort to this type of rubbish

p s 3 or 4 years earlier he didn't want a bar of Hagler. It was only after seeing Hagler starting to lose some of his edge that he thought it'd be a good idea

771034 wrote: ↑23 Apr 2022, 02:23 Sugar Ray Leonard’s victory over Marvin Hagler was in fact a remarkable accomplishment. To rise a full weight class , after only one bout in five years to defeat an all time great middleweight champion was miraculous. I felt going into the fight that if Leonard was still 85% of what he had been, that he would win. Considering the fact that in his previous fight 3 years earlier that he had given an underwhelming performance versus Kevin Howard, and suffered the first knockdown of his career, it didn’t seem likely he would improve especially after a long layoff. But he amazed so many of us. Leonard’s speed, defense, and durability carried the day. But despite what some may think, Leonard did hit Hagler with some hard shots during the fight. Ray at other times sacrificed power for speed and threw arm punches, but the name of the game was to outscore the opponent, not to ko him.

Hitting Hagler was like hitting a brick wall. He had one of the greatest chins in history, pound for pound. Trying to take him down would have been a fool’s errand. But Leonard did brawl with Hagler quite a bit in the bout’s second half. People were surprised how well Ray could take Marvin’s punches. Leonard had proven his toughness once again. And his heart and intelligence.

Marvin Hagler was a phenomenal pugilist. Tough, skillful, powerful, and tenacious. He was more than a simple brawler. Despite overpowering Thomas Hearns in their fabulous fight, Hagler was more technician than slugger in most of his bouts. And one of the top twenty fighters of all time. But I have Leonard just inside my top ten all time fighters pound for pound list. What a shame his career was so short. He was truly, as one boxing writer put it, The Balletic Bomber.

Why did Leonard make so many demands on prospective opponents before agreeing to face them, later in his career? Truly great fighter don't have to resort to this type of rubbish

p s 3 or 4 years earlier he didn't want a bar of Hagler. It was only after seeing Hagler starting to lose some of his edge that he thought it'd be a good idea

771034 wrote: ↑23 Apr 2022, 02:23 Sugar Ray Leonard’s victory over Marvin Hagler was in fact a remarkable accomplishment. To rise a full weight class , after only one bout in five years to defeat an all time great middleweight champion was miraculous. I felt going into the fight that if Leonard was still 85% of what he had been, that he would win. Considering the fact that in his previous fight 3 years earlier that he had given an underwhelming performance versus Kevin Howard, and suffered the first knockdown of his career, it didn’t seem likely he would improve especially after a long layoff. But he amazed so many of us. Leonard’s speed, defense, and durability carried the day. But despite what some may think, Leonard did hit Hagler with some hard shots during the fight. Ray at other times sacrificed power for speed and threw arm punches, but the name of the game was to outscore the opponent, not to ko him.

Hitting Hagler was like hitting a brick wall. He had one of the greatest chins in history, pound for pound. Trying to take him down would have been a fool’s errand. But Leonard did brawl with Hagler quite a bit in the bout’s second half. People were surprised how well Ray could take Marvin’s punches. Leonard had proven his toughness once again. And his heart and intelligence.

Marvin Hagler was a phenomenal pugilist. Tough, skillful, powerful, and tenacious. He was more than a simple brawler. Despite overpowering Thomas Hearns in their fabulous fight, Hagler was more technician than slugger in most of his bouts. And one of the top twenty fighters of all time. But I have Leonard just inside my top ten all time fighters pound for pound list. What a shame his career was so short. He was truly, as one boxing writer put it, The Balletic Bomber.

Why did Leonard make so many demands on prospective opponents before agreeing to face them, later in his career? Truly great fighter don't have to resort to this type of rubbish

p s 3 or 4 years earlier he didn't want a bar of Hagler. It was only after seeing Hagler starting to lose some of his edge that he thought it'd be a good idea

771034 wrote: ↑23 Apr 2022, 02:23 Sugar Ray Leonard’s victory over Marvin Hagler was in fact a remarkable accomplishment. To rise a full weight class , after only one bout in five years to defeat an all time great middleweight champion was miraculous. I felt going into the fight that if Leonard was still 85% of what he had been, that he would win. Considering the fact that in his previous fight 3 years earlier that he had given an underwhelming performance versus Kevin Howard, and suffered the first knockdown of his career, it didn’t seem likely he would improve especially after a long layoff. But he amazed so many of us. Leonard’s speed, defense, and durability carried the day. But despite what some may think, Leonard did hit Hagler with some hard shots during the fight. Ray at other times sacrificed power for speed and threw arm punches, but the name of the game was to outscore the opponent, not to ko him.

Hitting Hagler was like hitting a brick wall. He had one of the greatest chins in history, pound for pound. Trying to take him down would have been a fool’s errand. But Leonard did brawl with Hagler quite a bit in the bout’s second half. People were surprised how well Ray could take Marvin’s punches. Leonard had proven his toughness once again. And his heart and intelligence.

Marvin Hagler was a phenomenal pugilist. Tough, skillful, powerful, and tenacious. He was more than a simple brawler. Despite overpowering Thomas Hearns in their fabulous fight, Hagler was more technician than slugger in most of his bouts. And one of the top twenty fighters of all time. But I have Leonard just inside my top ten all time fighters pound for pound list. What a shame his career was so short. He was truly, as one boxing writer put it, The Balletic Bomber.

Why did Leonard make so many demands on prospective opponents before agreeing to face them, later in his career? Truly great fighter don't have to resort to this type of rubbish

p s 3 or 4 years earlier he didn't want a bar of Hagler. It was only after seeing Hagler starting to lose some of his edge that he thought it'd be a good idea

771034 wrote: ↑23 Apr 2022, 02:23 Sugar Ray Leonard’s victory over Marvin Hagler was in fact a remarkable accomplishment. To rise a full weight class , after only one bout in five years to defeat an all time great middleweight champion was miraculous. I felt going into the fight that if Leonard was still 85% of what he had been, that he would win. Considering the fact that in his previous fight 3 years earlier that he had given an underwhelming performance versus Kevin Howard, and suffered the first knockdown of his career, it didn’t seem likely he would improve especially after a long layoff. But he amazed so many of us. Leonard’s speed, defense, and durability carried the day. But despite what some may think, Leonard did hit Hagler with some hard shots during the fight. Ray at other times sacrificed power for speed and threw arm punches, but the name of the game was to outscore the opponent, not to ko him.

Hitting Hagler was like hitting a brick wall. He had one of the greatest chins in history, pound for pound. Trying to take him down would have been a fool’s errand. But Leonard did brawl with Hagler quite a bit in the bout’s second half. People were surprised how well Ray could take Marvin’s punches. Leonard had proven his toughness once again. And his heart and intelligence.

Marvin Hagler was a phenomenal pugilist. Tough, skillful, powerful, and tenacious. He was more than a simple brawler. Despite overpowering Thomas Hearns in their fabulous fight, Hagler was more technician than slugger in most of his bouts. And one of the top twenty fighters of all time. But I have Leonard just inside my top ten all time fighters pound for pound list. What a shame his career was so short. He was truly, as one boxing writer put it, The Balletic Bomber.

Great fighters don't make demands on prospective opponents like Leonard did later in his career

p s 3 or 4 years earlier lenoard didn't want a bar of Hagler

Again with the "demands."
p s Leonard beat Hagler. All the whining the world doesn't change that.

Big Marvelous Marvin Hagler fan. Sugar Ray was not my guy. I thought Marvelous would win in two rounds.

That being said, yes there were many concessions: Ring size, glove size, bout length. Hagler and his management team didn't have to agree, but they chose to, largely for the money. That's on them.

Hagler's strategy was incredibly foolish. For years, I've heard that he wanted to prove that he could out-box the master boxer. As I've said here before, it might've helped if he started fighting before the fifth round.

More to the point, let's speculate that he starts earlier and actually outpoints Sugar Ray. It wouldn't have been viewed as any kind of accomplishment. The challenger had one fight in three years, was coming off a serious eye injury and was a natural welter. If Leonard lost, all people would've said was, "It should've happened in his prime."

Hagler should've come out the way he did against Hearns. Had he done so and won, he probably wouldn't have been given a lot of credit, for all the reasons aforesaid. But it's better than what actually happened.

Both fighters were great. But Ray had Marvin's number. It's as simple as that.