Farewell to the great Marvin Hagler

RIP to a 'Marvelous' man, who died Saturday at 66

Mar 14, 2021

The untimely death of all-time legend Marvelous Marvin Hagler at age 66 on Saturday was like a gut punch. He was an absolutely beloved figure to boxing fans and so many throughout the boxing community.

While you can find somebody to criticize any all-time great, be it Muhammad Ali or even Hagler’s great rival Sugar Ray Leonard, I can truthfully say I have never heard a boxing fan ever be critical of Hagler, who fought his way to the top by never ducking a tough opponent.

When he finally reached the pinnacle as undisputed middleweight champion in 1980, he ruled the division for seven years through 12 successful defenses against all comers.

Hagler was one of the 1980s “Four Kings,” along with Leonard, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns, who carried the decade in the post-Ali era. He went 2-1 against the other three kings, with each of the three bouts, all major events, taking place at the famed outdoor arena at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

He lost a massively controversial 12-round split decision and his title to Leonard in what was Hagler’s final fight in 1987. He was so disgusted with the decision he never put on boxing gloves again, even with the prospect of an eight-figure payday for a rematch with Leonard. Fight fans still argue about the outcome of the fight to this day.

He beat Duran via 15-round decision in 1983, and in between the fight with Duran and Leonard, he collided with Hearns on April 15, 1985 in a battle for the ages that is universally revered as one of the greatest fights in boxing history despite its brevity of just over 2 1/2 rounds. Hagler and Hearns crammed several fights worth of unmitigated violence into those eight-plus minutes of ferocious fighting.

It was an awe-inspiring spectacle. From the absolutely electrifying first round — easily the greatest first round in boxing history — to a bleeding Hagler knocking Hearns out in the third round, it is on the Mount Rushmore of legendary action fights.

I didn’t know Hagler well but I did have a chance to meet him a few times over the years and what a wonderful guy he was. In 2007, I traveled to Las Vegas to cover Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright at Mandalay Bay both to write about the fight for ESPN and to be part of the crew covering the fight throughout the week for SportsCenter. Hagler was our guest analyst for the week since Hopkins’ idol was Hagler and Hagler, who saw so much of himself in Hopkins because of their similar hard road to glory, counted himself as a big Hopkins fan.

To have a chance to do television work with Hagler and to spend time that week hanging out with him, getting to know him and talking boxing with him regularly over the course of a few days was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career.

Hagler will be greatly missed. He was a true legend. Here is the obituary I wrote about him for BoxingScene on Saturday soon after news of his death emerged: https://www.boxingscene.com/marvin-hagler-all-time-great-dies-66-years-old--156114

Hagler-Hearns

If you have never seen Hagler-Hearns — and if you haven’t why do even read this newsletter? — or just haven’t seen in ages, here is the HBO replay of the epic battle.

Marvelous collection

If you read this newsletter you know that I’m a boxing collector and have been for decades. So, of course, I have many Hagler items. In his honor here are a few.

Here is his rookie card from the 1982 Panini sticker set from Italy. It’s a multi-sport set that includes several star boxers of the era, including rookies of Hagler, Leonard and Hearns, not to mention Duran and rookies also of Larry Holmes, Salvador Sanchez, Wilfredo Gomez and others.