The Marvelous Marvin Hagler
In Chapter 17 of Mix Tapes and Stolen Tests, Mix’s father is watching a rerun of a fight between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and John Mugabi. He taped the fight on VHS, which was the way people recorded shows to watch later.
Most of this information comes from Marvin Hagler’s own website, marvelousmarvin.com with additional info from wikipedia.
Hagler was one of the all-time greatest boxers in America. He was definitely one of the 1980s best. He had a total of 67 fights with 62 wins, 52 of those came from knockout. He had 3 losses and 2 draws.
He was born in Newark New Jersey on May 23, 1954. His family lived in Newark till 1967 when his family moved to Brockton Massachusetts. Hagler’s first fight was May 18, 1973. He won in the second round. He fought steadily and multiple times a year until he won the middleweight title on September 27, 1980 when he beat Alan Minter in England for the title.
His fight schedule slowed but he still defended the title several times a year. This made him a name in sports and a presence on HBO. He would have a major payday fight in 1985 when he fought against Thomas Hearns. Hearns was already a major star in boxing and he had millions of fans. Pay per view hadn’t come around yet, so the fight was shown on “closed circuit.” This meant only certain licenced locations could show the fight. Hagler won the fight in the third round. It was non-stop action from the first bell to the end. The fight would later be shown on HBO. It’s also on Hagler’s website.
The next fight Hagler had was against John Mugabi, a 1980 silver medalist at the Olympics. Hagler would win the fight in the 11th round.
Ominous signs showed in this fight. When he fought Hearns, Hagler’s punches were quick and powerful. He could cut opponents with his slashing fists. When he fought Mugabi, the speed wasn’t there. He was menacing and powerful, but plodding. Analyst Gil Clancy said Hagler “was showing ring wear and age.”
Hagler would have one more fight. On April 6, 1987, Hagler faced Sugar Ray Leonard. He lost that fight in a controversial split decision. People called that fight fixed for years afterward because it didn't look like Leonard beat the champ. People saw Leonard run from Hagler until he was cornered. Hagler would tag Leonard with hard punches while Leonard would throw flurries of punches and get away. At the end, Leonard would land more punches than Hagler, it didn't translate to being more dominant. Hagler danced to his corner at the end of the fight, Leonard was exhausted.
When it was announced that Leonard won, people immediately wanted a rematch. It never came.
In later years, Mugabi would win the WBC super-welterweight title on July 8, 1989. His career would be a see-saw with spurts of wins then a loss. He would retire with 42 wins and 7 losses.
Hagler would move to Italy and make movies. He wrote a children’s book in 2015 called Lost Wings.
There were no good videos on Youtube that I could share to show Hagler in his prime. Here's a Pizza Hut ad.
Here's a link to his book