35th bout of Ray Leonard The WBC World Middleweight Championship (Age 30 Fights 34 Won 33 Lost 1 Drawn 0 ) vs Marvin "Marvelous" Hagler from - Brockton, Massachusetts (Age 32 Fights 66 Won 62 Lost 2 Drawn 2 ) Apr. 6 1987 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA SD 12/12 HBO countdown starts at 19:49 Broadcast starts at 1:01:07 Etrance at : 1:04:38 The bout starts at : 1:11:00 On May 1, 1986 Leonard made his desire to come back and fight with Hagler. On July 2 Hagler held a press conference and said he was considering retirement and didn't know if he would fight Leonard or anyone else. On August 18, Hagler announced that he would fight Leonard, and the fight was officially announced Hagler and Leonard fought for the WBC title only. The WBA stripped Hagler for not fighting Herol Graham, its top-ranked contender. The IBF did not strip Hagler, but it refused to sanction the fight and said the title would be declared vacant if Hagler should lose to Leonard. Leonard had not fought in 3 years and had fought just once in the previous 5 years Hagler entered the fight ranked as the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world by KO Magazine. Leonard came out dancing and moving and making Hagler lunge and miss. In the early rounds he was the consummate boxer, firing combinations as he kept from harm's way. Leonard was getting off more quickly, consistently stealing a march on Hagler who issed frequently and often wildly. Leonard won the first four rounds outright, but by the fifth and sixth, Hagler was beginning to find the range and Leonard was no longer moving with his early verve. In the seventh, a Hagler hook rocked Leonard and the challenger briefly sagged. Now, Hagler battled Leonard to the ropes, firing shots up and down. He had Leonard in trouble as the bell sounded. But the champion was still behind in the scoring, and it was patently clear that, if his legs held up, Leonard would win. In the eighth round, an impatient Hagler snarled to Leonard, "Come on, slug!" "No chance," said Leonard. But Hagler was beginning to catch Leonard on the ropes, and the challenger was growing weary. In the ninth, surely the best round of the fight, Hagler pinned Leonard in the latter's corner and was whaling at him ferociously with both hands, rocking the challenger and looking to finish him, but in an instant, Leonard retaliated with a flurry that had Hagler's head snapping left and right. Leonard then spun away and escaped. Hagler pursued, thinking he still had Leonard in trouble. But when Hagler caught up, Leonard flurried again, drawing upon reserves he had no right to have. Throughout the fight, even with Leonard right in front of him, Hagler had problems solving his foe's rich boxing style. He couldn't seem to put combinations together, and whenever he seemed to have Leonard in trouble, he couldn't muster the savvy to put him away. Leonard landed 306 of 629 punches (49 percent), and Hagler connected on 291 of 792 (37 percent). The split decision in favor of Leonard was very controversial. Judge Jose Guerra's score of 118-110 in favor of Leonard was heavily criticized. "JoJo Guerra should be put in jail," Pat Petronelli, Hagler's co-trainer, said. Harry Gibbs of England was originally scheduled to be a judge, but the Hagler camp objected. They said they believed English judges favor boxers and requested a Mexican judge, so the commission replaced Gibbs with Guerra. Watching the fight at home two weeks later, Gibbs scored the fight for Hagler. Hagler announced his retirement after watching his half-brother, Robbie Sims, lose to WBA Middleweight Champion Sumbu Kalambay by a 12-round unanimous decision on June 13, 1988. Unlike Leonard, Hagler stayed retired. He moved to Italy and acted in several action movies. There was talk of a rematch, but it never happened. Seth Abraham, who was president of HBO Sports, said, "Marvin made it very clear — he thought he was jobbed and he was never going to fight again. And he never did. There were conversations, but they were never at the level of negotiations. If people say Marvin wanted the fight and Ray didn’t, that’s revisionist history." Hagler vs. Leonard was named Fight of the Year and Upset of the Year by The Ring. The fight was later named Upset of the Decade. 36h bout of Leonard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N71pmbYf3w

• published: 03 Nov 2016
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