BoxRec

I have heard and read many times that during the late 1970's top Middleweight contender and future Middleweight Champion Marvin Hagler was very much avoided by top contenders and Champions alike. I saw a recent Hagler interview were The Marvelous One stated that Gil Clancy once told him "I don't want you anywhere near my boy" when refering to then champion Rodrigo Valdez.

But was he? Or was it a case that he just lacked the right backing with brothers Goody & Pat Petronelli? Hagler stayed loyal and eventually got his shot but if he had more influencial backers would his shot have come a few years earlier?

I understand that Goody & Pat Petronelli even resurted to a vigurous letter writing campaign to many political figures to try and get their fighter a shot at the title.

Any views, information or memories fight fans?

I think it's true to some extent, his loss to the Willie Monroe definately slowed him down in terms of people's excuses of "why not" to fight him as it was his second L in close proximity. In spite of those L's everyone recognized you needed to take this guy very seriously and it remained very smart to avoid him. I remember everyone thinking he was a very substantial contender.

At that time I also remember Eugene Hart and Willie Monroe were getting a lot of positive write ups. When he lost the decision to Monroe he somehow managed to be put on Eugene's supposed hit list (very fortunate) and made the cyclone one of his next victims. This set him up for another crack at Monroe. He won that one dramaticaly and I think that made a shot at the title inevitable. At least you would think so.

But amazingly it would be a long time before he got his shot. (From early 77 to late 79) His fight with Monroe worked against him avoidance wise again for different reasons this time. Briscoe and he then went the distance and perhaps based on that Vito's camp thought Marvin had lost something. Vito gave him his shot and had his hands full unfortunately thats when judges leaned to the champ. So no title for the Marvelous one.

Minter comes along and his camp thinks he is going to establish a bit of a reign and he really was dominating in my opinion over Vito though the scores don't reflect it.....So I'm sure Minter (pretty confident guy) figures he can take care of Hagler and sets the stage for what he thinks will be a lengthy stay as champion.

Does not happen that way. But you could argue Marvin would have had a longer reign if he would have had a shot right after the second monroe fight which at the time I felt he deserved. Being given credit for the first VA fight would have been helpful as well.

So thats my take on it.....so tell me was I smoking to much back then? Cuz that's how I remember it. I may have the Hart-Monroe stuff out of balance but that was my take on it at the time. I was in and around Philadelpia at the time and was having a lot of boxing conversations with what I considered to be some pretty connected folks on this particular subject.

The thing is that there were so many good Middles in the 70s that some got 'overlooked' and Hagler was certainly one of them. Its interesting though to note that two outstanding Middleweights of that time never got a shot at all... Ronnie Harris and Sugar RAY Seals.... both these guys should have got a shot at some time but never did. Harris was a Olimpic champion too. I was reading recently in a old KO mag about how Harris staged a sit-down in the ring after one of his fights in protest at being overlooked for big fights etc....... 8)

But Ronnie Harris did get his chance against Hugo Corro and lost in 1978.

I think Hagler being overlooked is a little overblown. He became a Top 10 contender in 1977 and got a title shot in 1979. After the draw with Vito, he still retained top status and got another title shot the next year. When you compare him to LaMotta, Joey Giardello, Holman Williams, and especially Charley Burley, he has nothing to complain about.

Ah yes I was going to mention Harris vs Corro!.... :x