I think a large portion of you are not new to the game so I was wondering what your take is on this old school fight. I only ask because I got into a recent debate with two individuals who strongly disagreed with me. Some of you probably will too. It amazes me how two people can watch the same fight and after viewing have completely different views about who won. Granted there are those who can "see" things in a fight that others cannot. But these individuals did not convince me that I missed anything. They only got emotional as they disagreed with me. It's also amazing that these many years later a fight can bring about such a serious debate. I guess that's the beauty of boxing. You could slap in a classic fight and watch certain rounds over and over again, few sports can make this claim. But anyway the point of this thread is just to get opinions. Who do you think won and why? My opinion is that Hagler got robbed. Feel free to agree or strongly disagree if that's what makes you happy.
LOL! Well, having watched this particular fight several times, I'll say this: Leonard put on a show, and a good one at that! Hagler....scored the points, dealing some VERY noteworthy blows. Indeed, I also feel that Hagler should have won. But hey, Leonard was trying to get back on top, everyone knew it, and he was a pretty popular guy. Of course thats just my opinion . I too would like to hear other peoples views on this matter.
It's been a long time since I saw the fight and I'm lucky to remember things from last week. If I remember correctly, Hagler chased Leonard around the ring an awful lot. I recall thinking Hagler should have stood in the center and called him out, since Hagler was the champ. No way could Leonard stand toe to toe with Hagler.
That's how my memory serves me as well. It's just that the two guys I spoke to said they remember Leonard killing Hagler. But I think you guys are right, Hagler probably should have forced Leonard to fight him more and I think I remember Leonard doing a lot of showboating. The people who thought Leonard won probably just fell for the show. I'll probably just have to go the video store and see if it's available on classic fights are something because what I do remember is kind of vaque.
i dont know if im going to explain this well but ill give it my best shot. alot of times with close fights we veiw them through the eyes of the fighter that we are. a guy who is a heavy hitter and a workman type fighter saw hagler landing the power shots and chasing lenard around the ring. he will see lenard as a guy who dint stand and "fight like a man". and didnt bring it. lenard was all flash and put on a show for the judges. after the fight his talk of "stealing" rounds with a flurry at the last minute only cements this opinion. a flashy fighter. saw an electric sugar ray who danced his way out of trouble and hit hagler at will. his stealing of the round was just another display of lenards savy. haglers a workhorse up against a ring general. this is also true of refs. i my experence knock out fighters who become refs have quicker counts. why cause they like to see knock outs. all in all your personality as an athele come though in your personality as a fan. who won the fight...... i dont know ...but i always thought that the first lenard hearn fight was shouldnt of been stopped. but thats another topic.
When i forst watched the fight....as it happened. I was convinced that Leonard won it but years and years later watching it I was convinced that Haglar was robbed. I noticed it was being shown again sometime after and sat in front of the TV with a pad an pen and scored the bout myself trying to be as honest and as accurate as I could and the fight was pretty even with a slight edge going to Hagler......if I watched it today the outcome in my mind might be different yet again
Hagler won it. Not by a mile, but he definitely won it. Hagler made good, solid progres throughout the whole fight. Leonard - and you have to admire him for this - used to punch in flurries towards the end of the round so that he caught the judges eyes. Start strong and finish strong - the middle of the round is usually forgotten. But like most others I have not seen the fight for a while so who can say how I would score it now.
I thought Leonard sneaked it but you know what? Leonard only called for the fight when he realised that the wars with Hearns and Mugabi had taken their toll on Hagler. A prime Hagler beats a prime Leonard at middleweight any day of the week.
I'm pretty sure that I've got the old video at home somewhere unless, otherwise, my mom taped over it with her soap operas back in the 80's! All I remember is that SRL tried not to go one-on-one with MMH. He chose to move around and "tag" Hagler with light, but annoying shots although the odd one rocked Hagler. Classic Leonard, you might say. Hagler was looking for a hard-hitting brawl. Leonard was looking to win on points without duking it out toe-to-toe. Hagler looked flat-footed against Leonard (as did many fighters) in his futile attempt at trapping him in the corners. Leonard was just too fast (dare I say...scared? ). Well, he was smart in getting the W, but people wanted to see pounding leather. True, Leonard got the win by tapping Hagler for the most part. Making contact (albeit light taps for the most part) scores points and makes the puncher appear to be winning in the eyes of some judges and audience members. Still, IMHO, I think that it should've been declared a draw at the very least. I would've decided in favor of Hagler personally, as he came to fight that night, and I look beyond the fluff and showboating. But, at least Leonard didn't engage in Hagler's game. He stuck to his plan and it paid off for him. Credit should be given to Leonard in that he deserved to win because he played within the loopholes of the scoring system that allows such methods to have winning outcomes.
