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Shaft's Golden Era of Boxing Series- Hagler VS Hearns
Posted on 6/19/18 at 10:05 am
Posted on 6/19/18 at 10:05 am
As a former boxer and a lifelong fan of the sport, I wanted to start a series of threads discussing the greatest fights of all time. Boxing is not as popular with the younger generations as it used to be, partly because of the lack of icons like Ali, Tyson, Roy Jones Jr., Sugar Ray Leonard, etc. Partly because of MMA becoming a mainstream sport. I want to take you back to the Golden Era, to a time when boxing was king.
We'll begin with the greatest short fight in history, Hagler Vs. Hearns. EVERY sports fan, regardless of whether you like boxing or not, should see this fight. It's 8 minutes of absolute WAR.
Lettuce begin with the Fighters:
Thomas 'Hitman' Hearns
Born: 10/18/1958 Memphis, TN
Height- 6'1
Reach- 78 inches
Style- Orthodox
Professional Record- 61-5-1 48 KOs
Titles held- Welterweight, Light Middleweight, Middleweight, Super Middleweight, Light Heavyweight.
Trainer- Emmanuel Steward
Notable fights:
Sugar Ray Leonard 1- Lost by TKO. Hearns was well ahead on all scorecards going into the 13th round when a desperate Leonard came back to force a stoppage in the 14th.
Roberto Duran- Hearns defended his Light Middleweight title by stopping Duran in the second round. Hearns became the first fighter to ever knock out Duran.
Sugar Ray Leonard rematch- fought to a controversial draw. Hearns floored Leonard in the 3rd and 11th Rounds
Hearns fought professionally from 1977- 2006 winning his last fight by TKO at 47 years old.
Most Devastating Punch- Overhand Right. If a fighter got caught with Hearns' right hand, it almost always meant Goodnight.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler
Born- 5/23/1954 Newark, NJ
Height- 5'9
Reach- 75 inches
Style- Southpaw
Record- 62-3-2 52 KOs
Titles held- Middleweight
Trainers- Pat and Goody Petronelli
Notable Fights:
Alan Minter- KO. Hagler's first title. Minter said before the fight "No black man will take my title". Hagler proceeded to destroy Minter for 3 rounds before Minter's manager was forced to stop the fight due to several cuts.
Roberto Duran- Duran was the first fighter to go the distance with Hagler. Behind by 1 point on 2 scorecards after 13 rounds, Hagler won a unanimous decision by winning the last 2 rounds in convincing fashion.
Sugar Ray Leonard- Hagler was unable to catch the younger Leonard in the early rounds but eventually started getting to him consistently in the 6th. as the fighters embraced in the ring after the fight, Leonard said to him, "You beat me man". Hagler said after the fight, "He said I beat him and I was so happy". Leonard denied making the statement and claimed he only told Hagler, "You're a great champion". HBO cameras and microphones supported Hagler's version of events.
Leonard was announced as winner by split decision, which remains hotly disputed to this day.
Boxing fans would never get the rematch they were begging for.
Hagler was the Undisputed Middleweight champion from 1980-1987 with 12 title defenses.
Now, lettuce get to the fight.
Hagler entered the fight as undisputed Middleweight Champion with a record of 60-2-2 (50 KOs)
Hearns entered as the #1 contender with a record of 40-1 (34 KOs)
The War
I want to hear your thoughts, let me know what you think of this fight and of this series. Feel free to suggest other fights you want to see.
I hope you enjoyed this first of hopefully many installments in Shaft's Golden Era of Boxing.
We'll begin with the greatest short fight in history, Hagler Vs. Hearns. EVERY sports fan, regardless of whether you like boxing or not, should see this fight. It's 8 minutes of absolute WAR.
Lettuce begin with the Fighters:
Thomas 'Hitman' Hearns
Born: 10/18/1958 Memphis, TN
Height- 6'1
Reach- 78 inches
Style- Orthodox
Professional Record- 61-5-1 48 KOs
Titles held- Welterweight, Light Middleweight, Middleweight, Super Middleweight, Light Heavyweight.
Trainer- Emmanuel Steward
Notable fights:
Sugar Ray Leonard 1- Lost by TKO. Hearns was well ahead on all scorecards going into the 13th round when a desperate Leonard came back to force a stoppage in the 14th.
Roberto Duran- Hearns defended his Light Middleweight title by stopping Duran in the second round. Hearns became the first fighter to ever knock out Duran.
Sugar Ray Leonard rematch- fought to a controversial draw. Hearns floored Leonard in the 3rd and 11th Rounds
Hearns fought professionally from 1977- 2006 winning his last fight by TKO at 47 years old.
Most Devastating Punch- Overhand Right. If a fighter got caught with Hearns' right hand, it almost always meant Goodnight.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler
Born- 5/23/1954 Newark, NJ
Height- 5'9
Reach- 75 inches
Style- Southpaw
Record- 62-3-2 52 KOs
Titles held- Middleweight
Trainers- Pat and Goody Petronelli
Notable Fights:
Alan Minter- KO. Hagler's first title. Minter said before the fight "No black man will take my title". Hagler proceeded to destroy Minter for 3 rounds before Minter's manager was forced to stop the fight due to several cuts.
Roberto Duran- Duran was the first fighter to go the distance with Hagler. Behind by 1 point on 2 scorecards after 13 rounds, Hagler won a unanimous decision by winning the last 2 rounds in convincing fashion.
Sugar Ray Leonard- Hagler was unable to catch the younger Leonard in the early rounds but eventually started getting to him consistently in the 6th. as the fighters embraced in the ring after the fight, Leonard said to him, "You beat me man". Hagler said after the fight, "He said I beat him and I was so happy". Leonard denied making the statement and claimed he only told Hagler, "You're a great champion". HBO cameras and microphones supported Hagler's version of events.
Leonard was announced as winner by split decision, which remains hotly disputed to this day.
Boxing fans would never get the rematch they were begging for.
Hagler was the Undisputed Middleweight champion from 1980-1987 with 12 title defenses.
Now, lettuce get to the fight.
Hagler entered the fight as undisputed Middleweight Champion with a record of 60-2-2 (50 KOs)
Hearns entered as the #1 contender with a record of 40-1 (34 KOs)
The War
I want to hear your thoughts, let me know what you think of this fight and of this series. Feel free to suggest other fights you want to see.
I hope you enjoyed this first of hopefully many installments in Shaft's Golden Era of Boxing.
This post was edited on 6/19/18 at 11:22 am
6
Posted on 6/19/18 at 10:09 am to Vols&Shaft83
Ali - Frazier
Posted on 6/19/18 at 10:20 am to Vols&Shaft83
Boxing was done when Tyson ate Holyfield's ear. All down hill from there.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 10:33 am to kywildcatfanone
quote:
Ali - Frazier
We'll get to those fights for sure.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 10:37 am to Vols&Shaft83
I had completely forgotten about the Hearns/Leonard rematch.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 10:58 am to Vols&Shaft83
quote:
As a former boxer and a lifelong fan of the sport, I wanted to start a series of threads discussing the greatest fights of all time.
Support. Fan of boxing as well.
One suggestion on these threads though..
I would post the records at the time of the fight. They are more relevant to the fight itself. I believe at the time of this fight, both fighters were undefeated or only had 1 loss combined.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 11:00 am to Vols&Shaft83
quote:
Golden Era of Boxing
Hearns, Hagler, Duran & Leonard I remember well.
Most devastated punch was when Hearns hit Duran and spun him around.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 11:10 am to Wtodd
quote:
Most devastated punch was when Hearns hit Duran and spun him around.
I tried to add a gif of that punch but stupid giphy link wouldn't work
First time I saw that punch, I thought Duran was dead. Just brutal.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 11:11 am to Wtodd
quote:
Hearns, Hagler, Duran & Leonard I remember well.
Aaron Pryor belongs in this group as well. Nobody wanted a piece of The Hawk.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 11:16 am to Tiger n Miami AU83
quote:
One suggestion on these threads though..
I would post the records at the time of the fight. They are more relevant to the fight itself. I believe at the time of this fight, both fighters were undefeated or only had 1 loss combined.
Good idea. I'll edit and do that going forward.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 11:33 am to Vols&Shaft83
quote:
Nobody wanted a piece of The Hawk.
Especially the coked up version
Posted on 6/19/18 at 11:36 am to Vols&Shaft83
What a great contrast of styles between these two.
Hagler wanted every fight to be waged in a closet. Everything he did was intended to be in a terrible close proximity. He was willing, and fortunately for him able, to eat a tremendous amount of punishment to get in close to his opponent and go to work.
Hearns is an oddity. With those long arms and lanky body he looked like a super skinny heavyweight in his fights but he was an extremely heavy handed fighter. If he could stand back and pop you with that right hand he was going to end the fight, whether by knockout or by stoppage due to cuts.
Hagler wanted to make it a brawl and Hearns wanted to stay at range and box. When Hearns was able to box he blistered Hagler but he wasn't able to stop Hagler from closing the distance. Hearns had a bad tendency throughout his career to keep his left hand down by his waist and it cost him dearly a few times. This would be one of those times.
As for future fights in the series. I'll go super old school. Marciano vs Archie Moore, Marciano vs Walcott 1, Louis vs Schmeling 2, and Sugar Ray Robinson vs Kid Gavilan 1.
Hagler wanted every fight to be waged in a closet. Everything he did was intended to be in a terrible close proximity. He was willing, and fortunately for him able, to eat a tremendous amount of punishment to get in close to his opponent and go to work.
Hearns is an oddity. With those long arms and lanky body he looked like a super skinny heavyweight in his fights but he was an extremely heavy handed fighter. If he could stand back and pop you with that right hand he was going to end the fight, whether by knockout or by stoppage due to cuts.
Hagler wanted to make it a brawl and Hearns wanted to stay at range and box. When Hearns was able to box he blistered Hagler but he wasn't able to stop Hagler from closing the distance. Hearns had a bad tendency throughout his career to keep his left hand down by his waist and it cost him dearly a few times. This would be one of those times.
As for future fights in the series. I'll go super old school. Marciano vs Archie Moore, Marciano vs Walcott 1, Louis vs Schmeling 2, and Sugar Ray Robinson vs Kid Gavilan 1.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 11:46 am to Vols&Shaft83
I'll throw out one that doesnt often come to mind as an all time great fight but sorta is and has my favorite round of boxing ever:
Holyfield v Bowe 1. Round 10 was on another level. How Holyfield did what he did was crazy.
Holyfield v Bowe 1. Round 10 was on another level. How Holyfield did what he did was crazy.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 11:50 am to Arksulli
quote:
Hearns is an oddity
If he could have EVER learned to jab no one would have beat him.
quote:
Hagler wanted every fight to be waged in a closet.
Fact
Posted on 6/19/18 at 12:02 pm to Arksulli
quote:
Hagler wanted to make it a brawl and Hearns wanted to stay at range and box. When Hearns was able to box he blistered Hagler but he wasn't able to stop Hagler from closing the distance.
In the first round, Hearns hit Hagler with that overhand right that would have dropped just about any other boxer. Either the adrenaline kept him up or his head was just that hard. Hagler survived it and kept working inside.
Hearns also broke his hand with that punch, and it was only a matter of how much longer he could survive at that point.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 2:44 pm to Vols&Shaft83
Ingemar Johansson -vs- Floyd Patterson 6/26/59
World heavyweight title
Paterson goes down 7 times in the third round. After the second knock down you will think the fight is over.
Link goes to brutal third round
World heavyweight title
Paterson goes down 7 times in the third round. After the second knock down you will think the fight is over.
Link goes to brutal third round
Posted on 6/19/18 at 4:40 pm to OlGrandad
quote:
Ingemar Johansson -vs- Floyd Patterson 6/26/59
World heavyweight title
Paterson goes down 7 times in the third round. After the second knock down you will think the fight is over.
Ingemar Johansson with his "toonder and lightning" punch had insane stopping power. That fight was over with the first knockdown in that round.
Sadly, for the only Swedish Heavyweight boxing champion, he had great stopping power... and nothing else. Not good stamina, not good boxing skills, not a good chin. Him and Floyd Patterson were two eggshells beating each other with hammers.
Posted on 6/19/18 at 9:39 pm to Arksulli
Anybody remember Duane “this is one white boy who can fight” Bobick? He was the American heavyweight at the ‘72 Olympics when he made this claim. Then he fought the Cuban, Teófilo Stevenson, who hit him in the throat with a straight right at about the 90-second mark of the first round. (At least that’s the way my old mind remembers it).
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