Hagler vs Leonard: An Illusion of Victory?

Hagler vs Leonard: An Illusion of Victory?

In the bitter aftermath of the scoring controversy, we forget that there were genuine fears for the eyesight and indeed the health of Sugar Ray Leonard leading up to his fight with Marvelous Marvin Hagler in 1987. Some even labelled it a public execution and not a competitive fight in any way shape or form.

Leonard hadn’t been seen inside a boxing ring since 1984, an uninspiring win over the journeyman Kevin Howard. After climbing off the canvas for the first time in his professional career in the 4th round of his comeback fight, Leonard rallied to stop Howard in the 9th round, but in the minutes after the fight, Leonard retired once again. This time it looked final until Leonard announced he would return for one fight against the undisputed middleweight champion of the world. Very little from the fight could be taken as a sign of hope that Leonard could inflict the first defeat on Hagler’s record since Willie Monroe beat Hagler in 1976. Leonard remarked that “every punch hurt” against the tough but limited Howard. If that were the case what would Hagler do to him? The world middleweight champion had said that Leonard had no business being in the ring with him. Very few disagreed. It wasn’t just the inactivity, just the fight with Howard in five years before the April showdown with Hagler. But also that Leonard, a natural welterweight, was just too small for Hagler.

Hagler had conceded plenty in the long negotiations preceding the fight getting signed, sealed and delivered. A smaller ring and getting the fight scheduled for twelve rounds were crucial wins for Leonard in hindsight. They seemed irrelevant at the time, but come fight night, they were pivotal. Add those concessions to the baffling decision to fight orthodox and so cautiously in the opening rounds, and you could quite easily conclude that Hagler and his team were masters of their downfall in many ways. Hagler would undoubtedly have many regrets about that night in Las Vegas for the rest of his life.

There was of course prior history with Las Vegas judges, Hagler never trusted them. He had good reason. In his first world title attempt against Vito Antuofermo in 1979, ironically on the same card that Leonard captured his first world title against Wilfred Benitez, Hagler was denied deserved a deserved victory when the judges only felt fit to award Hagler a highly-controversial draw. And in 1983, Hagler needed a desperate late rally to save his world titles against the legendary Panamanian Roberto Duran. Most observers had Hagler winning comfortably, the Las Vegas judges disagreed and he only won by a point on two of the cards, and by two points on the third. With previous mistrust arising from previous visits to Sin City, the slow start of Hagler was even more baffling. Where was the rage and fire he had shown against Thomas Hearns two years earlier, or even what he served up against John Mugabi in his previous fight in 1986. Hagler had flirted with retirement in recent times, and he confided in Leonard his waning interest in boxing at a social gathering the pair had at an opening of a restaurant. Leonard never forgot that seemingly innocent conversation. The seeds of his return to the ring were already being planted.

The pre-fight contractual concessions were undoubtedly made out of overconfidence, Hagler strongly believed Leonard couldn’t win and whatever his rival did wouldn’t make any difference, and equally, what Hagler did wouldn’t change anything. Hagler would win regardless.

Hagler once told one scribe that he was not only the best middleweight on the planet boxing out of his natural southpaw stance, but he was also the best fighting orthodox. It was that belief, delusion maybe, that led to what he did in those opening few rounds. Another little twist to the tale that helped Leonard win the fight. Hagler and his team made many mistakes in the lead-up to the fight and in the fight itself. The Hagler camp even insisted on having Harry Gibbs replaced as a judge, and when Jo-Jo Guerra was chosen as the replacement it must be a decision of many nightmares. Guerra somehow had Leonard winning by a landslide of 118-110. Even Leonard’s biggest fan knows that wasn’t a scorecard of reality.

As the fight got closer and closer Leonard was contemplating going toe-to-toe with Hagler, surely nothing but a suicide mission. But a sparring partner, Quincy Taylor probably played a crucial role in Leonard reverting to what he did best against Hagler. Taylor caught Leonard with a big overhand left in sparring as the first bell edged closer. Leonard admitted he was out on his feet and almost knocked out. Taylor backed off and the sparring was called to a halt. Even some of Leonard’s inner circle now started to think Hagler would stop Leonard. That one solitary left hand from the hired hand probably cost Hagler a certain victory.

The pre-fight polls were heavily favouring a Hagler victory, and most predicted that Leonard wouldn’t see the final bell. The long odds had narrowed slightly but it was still a matter of when and not if Leonard would fall.

But everything that led up to the first bell helped Leonard. Hagler hadn’t learned from his fight with Duran, a night where a slow start and too much respect for Duran nearly cost Hagler his title. Another slow start trying to prove he could outbox the master boxer and trying to do it leaving his southpaw stance behind will always be one of life’s great mysteries. Leonard was allowed to shed plenty of his ring rust in those early minutes and crucially put rounds in the bank with minimum effort. The scoring of the fight will be debated until the end of time. But in simple terms, Hagler let Leonard build up such a huge early lead on the cards and he never quite managed to close the gap on the scorecards. Hagler undoubtedly had more success in the second half of the fight, but even then, he looked a pale imitation of the raging fighter of old. Leonard executed the perfect game plan, with a little help from Hagler of course. An illusion of victory some said. It wasn’t. A great boxing myth started the second Leonard had his hand raised. At the very worst it was a close fight. Cries of robbery were a million miles away from the truth. The scorecard of Guerra equally so.

For everything that Hagler did or didn’t do, Leonard deserves immense credit for what he did do. It was a masterclass of a performance. A mixture of a little bit of everything. There were times when Leonard had to gut it out, especially in the 9th round. Fighting exhaustion and more, Leonard not only survived but he won rounds whilst doing so. Heart was always an underrated skill of Leonard.

Hagler always disputed the result, as did many others: “I feel in my heart I’m still champion.” Hagler said post-fight trying to process why his night had gone so badly wrong.

While a jubilant Leonard said: ‘‘I did what I was capable of doing. I was up against the odds, but I did it. I beat him to the punch. It was nothing new to me. I had fun.”

Never has a result been scrutinised and debated harder. Some argued that rounds were given to Leonard because he was doing better than was expected. Hagler was the aggressor throughout, but he only found success in the second half of the fight, and by then, the fight was already lost on the cards. There was no illusion in that Las Vegas ring in 1987. Just a magical performance against all reasonable odds.

The former world middleweight champion struggled with the defeat and left the sport a bitter man. But unlike Leonard, he left it. There was talk of a rematch that thankfully never came. A year after his loss to Leonard, Hagler made the call to leave the sport behind. It’s hard not to have some sympathy with Hagler. The fight he always wanted, the fight he thought would never come, eventually came. But in many ways, it came at the wrong time. But Hagler did in some ways contribute to him losing to his bitter rival. The fighter he had always resented. But Hagler gave us a lifetime of memories, his career was far more than that one fight in 1987. One fight too many was all it was.

Sadly, Leonard carried on, splitting further retirements with a handful of fights that did little to enhance his resume. He was fighting many demons as well as his own ego. Demons that were eventually conquered. Probably the greatest victory of Leonard’s life.

It was a special moment in boxing history, more a great occasion rather than a truly great fight. But it delivered in other ways. It wasn’t a Hagler/Hearns type of ferocity. It served up a different kind of drama. Leonard had a plan and executed it quite brilliantly. Hagler just had the wrong plan. What was supposed to be a public execution turned into a stunning performance by one of the greatest fighters that ever lived.