MARVIN HAGLER-RAY LEONARD
MARVIN HAGLER A BLUE COLLAR GUY TURNED CRACK-HOE
San Francisco, CA– If ever there was a fighter who exemplified the “blue collar” worker here in the United States it was one-time undisputed world middleweight (160 lbs) champion Marvin Hagler. Although he officially changed his name to “Marvelous,” having spent a decent amount of time around Marvin, the name “Marvelous” fit him about as well as a pair of shoes three sizes too big.
WRITER RESPECTED MARVIN UNTIL THE END
That being said, I’m not going to spend the majority of this piece ripping him a new orifice as Hagler, with the exception of one fight, of which I’ll go into in detail later, was the epitome of a champion.
BEST AMATEUR AT HIS WEIGHT IN THE COUNTRY
Having won the National Golden Gloves title fighting out of Massachusetts some 30 years ago, a feat duplicated only once since by current super middleweight (168) contender Edwin Rodriquez, Hagler still broke into the professional ranks with little or no fanfare. Marvin would go 24-0-1, the draw coming to 1972 Olympian “Sugar Ray” Seales in 1974, this after besting the almost “blind” boxer by Majority Decision earlier in the same year. Having trained alongside Marvin at Johnny Tocco’s “Ringside Gym” leading up to the Thomas Hearns fight in 1985, I never found Marvin as self-confident as I did while training for Ray Leonard or Roberto Duran, who turned out to be the fighter that intimidated Hagler the most once they stepped between the ropes.
BEAT THE TWO GUYS THAT BEAT HIM!
To his credit, Mavin defeated “Boogaloo” Watts and Willie Monroe, the only two men who had beaten him prior to his sell out against Ray Leonard. I credit Marvin for he had great ability in the ring, but like many fighters, he wasn’t the smartest fighter I’ve ever met, although was perhaps the greediest! To his detriment, Hagler had cornermen in Pat and Goody Petronelli that I would have never used in my corner while winning seven amateur championships. Their lack of boxing acumen and common sense likely cost Hagler the 1987 fight, his last, against Ray Leonard. On a scale of 1-10, the Petronelli’s would score about a five in my judgement.
LEONARD WAS CONSIDERED A BOWL OF MUSH
While Marvin thought he would spoon his way through Leonard as if he were a bowl of Cream of Wheat, the training camp surrounding the Duran fight was serious and was focused far beyond anything I had seen when Marvin trained at Johnny Tocco’s boxing temple. With Duran coming off his clock-cleaning effort against Davey Moore in June 1983, I could sense the fear and respect Marvin had for Roberto. When they fought, Duran was ahead after 12 rounds, and had Marvin not turned it on in the championship rounds, he would have lost. While some will say Marvin over respected Duran, nothing could be further from the truth.
LITTLE ROBERTO DURAN MADE HAGLER SOIL HIS SHORTS!
Duran made Hagler fret, call it fear, being scared, whatever you chose, Duran was making Marvin look like a middleweight fool and not the middleweight champion. Had the natural lightweight (135) who peaked at 147 lbs., not tired down the stretch, Marvin would have certainly lost that November 1983 bout in Las Vegas. Although he was talking plenty of s*it after the Tommy Hearns KO 3 win, Hagler was almost silent after the Duran win, and was totally mute after the Leonard fight. With the exception of saying he thought he won the Leonard fight, Marvin was whisked off to count his $24+ million, an amount he secured by selling his legacy and middleweight title to “Sugar Ray.”
MARVIN STRETCHED $12-15 MILLION TO NEARLY $25 MILLION!
Always a “blue collar” type form the start, when it came to the Leonard fight, Marvin became a pugilistic prostitute who sold Leonard every advantage he could. The size of the ring, the distance of the fight, 12 rounds instead of 15, the glove manufacturer and size, Marvin did everything but his sell his then-wife or offspring to Leonard during negotiations.
SPENT TIME WITH HAGLER “ONE ON ONE” IN MEXICO
By the early part of this century, Hagler dumped his longtime spouse and was now enamored with a blonde female who protected him in the manner the Revolutionary Guard protected Sadamm Hussein. During a Mexico City interview, she jumped in so often that I terminated the interview, much to Marvin’s amazement, for nobody had ever walked away from him during an interrview. But unlike today’s keyboard writers who would all but suck somebody off for an interview, I abruptly got up and left the room WBC President Jose Suliaiman had set aside for my interviews. Needless to say, although he had some admirable performances as a prize-fighter, I found there was little difference between Hagler and a Crack-hoe, in other words, anything for a buck!
Pedro Fernandez