The Super Fight Explained - Sugar Ray Leonard vs Marvin Hagler | Fight Breakdown

in 1987 sports fans around the world awoke to extraordinary news boxing superstar sugar ray leonard had come out of retirement to face off against the unstoppable southpaw champion marvelous marvin hagler for nearly a decade this had been the one fight that many fans had hoped for the most but as the years ticked by it became more and more apparent that it was the one fight they would probably never see that all changed on the night that hagler fought formidable contender john mugabe although mugabe had stopped 25 of his 25 opponents via ko or corner stoppage pretty much everyone still expected hagler to steamroll over him after all hagler had proven equally dominant in beating 11 strong challengers over his six years holding the middleweight belt knocking out every single opponent but roberto duran but on the night of the fight mugabe surprised everyone by giving hagler trouble staying at range and out boxing the southpaw equally surprised with sugar ray leonard watching the back and forth fight intently from his front row seats leonard had a crazy idea creep into his head if the knockout artist mugabe was giving hagler trouble by outboxing him then how much trouble could the great boxer sugar ray leonard give him leonard turned to the man he was seated next to who happened to be the movie star michael j fox and proclaimed that he was certain he could beat hagler sure you can said michael have another beer but rey was dead serious he had gotten the sense that hagler had weakened and now he was determined to test his lightning-fast hands against hagler's granite chin leonard was thrilled when hagler finally took mugabe out in the 11th if anyone was going to defeat marvin hagler he decided it was going to be him it would be a tough stylistic matchup for both men each having a unique unusual style and each being strong where the other was weak hagler was a southpaw switch hitter with knockout power in both hands the foundation of his style was an incredibly unique jab thrown off of a shuffle gazelle hooks are rare enough but hagler's gazelle jab was even more powerful as he could use it to move competitors into his left hand this is where hagler's fluid ability to switch stances really came in after compelling opponents to move inside with his right hagler would cut off the ring and rapidly close distance by turn-shifting into orthodox hagler was known for being a complete savage in the ring isolating himself for weeks before the fight to focus purely on the hatred he held for his opponents what he called feeding the monster that lived inside of him he was able to finally unchain this monster on the night of his fights it would be hard to think of a boxer more different in every way from hagler than sugar ray leonard leonard's style was inspired by muhammad ali and sugar ray robinson he could evade shots by rebounding back and forth in a wide stance [Music] or cross step around the ring to set up jabs like ali he could also seamlessly transition between the two whenever he felt like his hand speed was unmatched opponents were hit by leonard's second punch before they realized the first punch had landed while he was a boxer at heart he could turn into a puncher if he needed to as he had against thomas hearns but sugar ray preferred finesse making opponents miss with deft head movement and setting them up with rhythm manipulation ray was so great at fainting that he could land flagrantly telegraphed shots off of foot faints alone leonard was equivalent to hagler in one way and that was brutality leonard's charming attitude and big smile made people forget his true nature while inside the ring leonard himself would eagerly tell anyone who would listen just how much he loved putting his opponents on the canvas hagler had hounded rey for a fight for years his relentless pursuit based as much on resentment of leonard's quick climb to wealth and fame as much as boosting his own personal legacy it had taken 45 fights for hagler to win a title and longer still to gain popularity while leonard's olympic gold meant he was well known even before his first professional bout leonard made forty thousand dollars for his first fight hagler made 50 bucks hagler felt that rey had been given everything stealing ali's style and coach and taking sugar ray robinson's name in short he felt that leonard was a manufactured phony and had always been intent on proving it after months of intense training the knight finally arrived even now rey was still not sure what he'd gotten himself into the first round would let him know in no uncertain terms if he had made a huge mistake hagler on the other hand beamed confidence he had given rey everything he could ask for from a large ring to a shortened 12-round championship fight the only request haggar's team had made was to switch out one of the judges concerned that an english judge may still hold animosity towards hagler for his defeat of a popular british boxer but now it was his time time to prove to the world who the real superstar should have been all along the bell rang and leonard rushed to the center of the ring leonard happened to know that hagler liked to claim center ring at the beginning of each round he knew this because he had planted a spy in his camp to watch him spar this would be the first of many similar tactics that leonard hoped would destroy hagler's composure but hagler was looking to do the same coming out as an orthodox fighter with his left foot forward rather than his usual southpaw stance it had been three years since leonard had been in the ring and hagler now hoped to exacerbate his ring rest by giving him a look he had not prepared for but although hagler's strategy had some decent logic behind it it backfired tremendously rey jabbed and danced like the leonard of old dominating the round leonard had been terrified before the bell ring but now he gained more confidence with each jab landed and every punch evaded this would have been far more difficult with hagler's right foot forward as was evident when hagler finally switched to southpaw near the end of the round in southpaw hagler's shoulder was in the way of leonard's jab and his new lead foot made it difficult for leonard to move to his left the bell rang out just as leonard was throwing out a hard hook and ray stopped himself mid-punch smiling at hagler's over-enthusiastic defense man he's scared too thought leonard ray returned to his corner more certain than ever that he still belonged in the ring both men had tried to break the other's composure but only hagler had weakened himself in doing so in round two hagler came out left foot forward once again and now that leonard had cleared off the cobwebs he felt it was time to throw more than just jabs the second was an important round as it established two key battlegrounds upon which the middleweight war was to be waged the first was leonard's use of broken rhythm leonard circled and danced as he had in the first but now he would suddenly stop short breaking his rhythm to plant down and throw then he would angle off once again what leonard was doing was setting up a consistent rhythm for hagler to follow and then breaking it to let hagler walk himself into leonard's shots leonard's coach the great angelo dundee had noticed from watching tapes of hagler that he liked to set up his punches with a certain rhythm calling hagler a two-stepper someone who liked to hop in with a one and a two cadence before throwing a punch and once thrown off his rhythm he noted he would be a sucker for a right-hand counter and so leonard intended to get off his punch in the time it took hagler to prepare his but hagler was a far better boxer than most gave him credit for while leonard surprised hagler the first time catching him clean with the rare body hook the second time hagler ducked under leonard's overhand and then threw a hard body shot the next time leonard stopped short to throw hagler elbow blocked and shot out a rear hook but this time leonard successfully evaded throwing back a straight right to counter hagler's counter which hagler also evaded this had all happened in under a second these high-level counters and counter-counters would be a staple throughout the remainder of the fight both men pitting their boxing knowledge and intelligence earned from years of experience against the other the second major battleground would be at close range as leonard attempted to clinch whenever hagler came close to cornering him for this dundee had taught leonard a tactic from one of his former fighters muhammad ali leonard looked to grab hagler behind his neck and walk him back to the center of the ring this protected leonard's head but came at the expense of exposing his midsection hagler's shots in the clinch would have been far more impactful on the judges of yesteryears however the shots wore money in the bank damage that could accumulate over rounds and slow leonard down only time would tell if hagler's body blows would reap the same benefits against leonard as they had done for frasier against le noting that hagler's changing stance wasn't doing him any favors his coaches the patronelli brothers begged him to switch to his normal stance pleading stay southpaw marvin you're a southpaw hagler took their advice storming out with his right foot forward for many this was now the actual start of the fight immediately there was a noticeable difference hagler could now rely on his signature shuffle jab to close the distance rey was having a much harder time driving haggler into his shots because hagler's leaping jab came from so far away that ray simply wasn't close enough to throw first what's more hagler's job was putting him in range to score with his left but while hagler was doing better at long range leonard was figuring out close range when hagler and leonard had both been in orthodox leonard used the traditional method of resting on hagler's left shoulder in order to keep his head safe from hagler's right hand and smother his left hand but now that hagler was in southpaw leonard positioned his head on hagler's right shoulder and stepped in the southpaw himself this created the same safe position of two orthodox fighters only in reverse rey was still vulnerable to body blows but he had hoped to offset this by landing head shots as he exited but for now the clinch still favored hagler hagler had done considerably better in the third but it had also been leonard's first round adjusting to southpaw stance the fourth would be crucial in determining who would truly control the remainder of the fight the two stood for the fourth hagler banging his gloves against his head and rey still intent on stealing center ring in the third hagler had caught rey with several lefts as he attempted to lateral shuffle away from the ropes perhaps in response to this leonard stayed more sideways this put him in a better position to defend and counter but he was now forced to use more complex footwork to escape he pivoted 180 degrees and used linear shuffles to exit but as the round wore on hagler was closing the distance more and more consistently perhaps sensing the shift in momentum rey played to the crowd by winding up a bolo punch the blow landed low but it did its job distracting the audience from hagler's improving performance and just as ray intended it infuriated hagler who according to the ref shouted fight me like a man perhaps leonard should have been careful what he wished for within the space of one round hagler had figured a way around leonard's modified clinch hagler went to work creating room for his shots by stepping back into orthodox although a bit out of character haggler's retreating footwork created the space he needed to sneak in tight uppercuts and hammer leonard's body everyone was looking for me to knock him out hagler would later explain but i just wanted to beat him rey was often able to counter hagler's body shots with headshots evening out the exchanges still haggler hit harder and an even exchange would damage leonard far more over time if leonard could not rely on the clinch he would be far more vulnerable in the corner leonard came out for the fifth with the new strategy with hagler's jab making it difficult for leonard to walk him into power shots leonard instead looked to keep him at bay with his own jab hagler's jab hit much harder but rey a naturally gifted boxer was having an easier time setting up combinations off of his jab but then hagler once again showed his own boxing acumen sneaking into orthodox he intercepted leonard's jab by crossing over a huge right a classic power hand counter from orthodox then hagler turned shifted into a big left hook leonard retorted with the multi-punch combination but every punch missed its smart hagler smelled blood he pressured leonard to the ropes repeatedly leonard tried to fight fire with fire throwing a flashy flurry mid-ring that whipped hagler's head around but the next time hagler punched with him sensing danger rey tried to clinch however hagler had already found the solution to this in the last round he stepped back into orthodox to make space and let loose a tremendous uppercut that shook leonard to his core with 30 seconds left in the round ray would have to do his best to simply survive but just as he had with hearns leonard stayed totally calm under fire falling back on experience he leaned on the ropes covered up his body with his arms and relied on head movement to protect his jaw every few seconds he would barely avoid a knockout punch then throw a huge flurry that mostly failed to hit anything leonard would later say when you get hit by marvin hagler his punches are like a thud like a boom just think of a piston constantly pounding it's the wear and tear that eventually takes control thankfully for leonard the round ended before hagler could fully capitalize on his weakened condition hagler gave leonard a small shove rey would later admit that he was shocked to realize at that moment that hagler had no idea how close he had come to taking him out it had undoubtedly been hagler's best round in the fight but while hagler won the round on all of the judge's scorecards his clear frustration sent off the signal that he had not done as well as he had hagler gave no consideration to the mood of the crowd or the message that he was sending to the judges sugar ray on the other hand was a natural showman easily able to play to the crowd this state of affairs would only get worse the longer the fight went on then again if hagler kept up this momentum the fight might not last long enough for it to matter in the corner dundee gave leonard some simple advice shouting don't stay on the ropes you're trying to load up don't load up ray agreed hagler on the other hand was determined to finish leonard this round after a tough start to the fight he had finally heard him however it was in the sixth that sugar ray demonstrated exactly what made him such a great boxer leonard put every piece of combat knowledge that he possessed into this one round he first went to his versatile jab he used it to break up his rhythm double or triple jabbing to set up hard crosses and uppercuts and erratic tempos that hagler could not predict and because of this element of unpredictability leonard could get away with hurling blatant 1-2 combos at hagler with no setup he also used his jab to smother hagler's lead hand denying him his own jab or he left it extended to push hagler's head or shoulder off balancing him he blocked hagler's vision he drew punches so he could counter or make hagler miss by slipping or pulling it was the complete and total master class leonard put on only one round after nearly being finished while the sixth only confirmed what leonard had learned in the fifth that it was a terrible idea to clinch leonard still remained physical pushing hagler away or barreling into him but regardless of how many punches the champion took hagler's iron chin meant he could afford to simply take shots until he had leonard against the ropes but here too leonard switched tactics firing off tight combinations to force hagler to shell up leonard used his brief moment of immobility to pivot away for the entirety of the round hagler came at leonard with everything that he had but miraculously leonard had pulled himself out of the fire winning the sixth on the scorecard of all three judges rey returned to the corner triumphant but with his clinch gone he would have to continue relying on his footwork and boxing for the entire second half of the fight it was anyone's guess just how far the aging boxer's legs could carry him against one of the most aggressive fighters to ever lace up gloves the seventh and eighth proved what a difficult proposition this would turn out to be leonard found he could still clinch for brief moments incorporating a cross block to avoid uppercuts nonetheless he was still taking far too much punishment at close range to allow him to clinch with any consistency hagler was also making it harder and harder for leonard to counter hagler returned to jabbing but now followed up with mostly body shots hagler had realized that it was exceedingly difficult to connect with leonard's chin as he could simply lean out of the way however he could not do the same with his torso hagler's studying left to the body were sapping leonard's stamina bit by bit to quote leonard in the seventh my legs began to go they had carried me this far longer perhaps than i had any right to expect i would now have to rely on my will and intelligence to contend with the fresher haggler leonard tried his hardest to even the score by throwing combinations near the end of the round in fact leonard had told his corner before the fight began to yell out whenever there was 30 seconds left so that he could leave the judges with the dramatic display just before they marked their scores i wasn't really trying to steal rounds leonard would later explain i was keeping the rounds close and then piling up points near the end but perhaps leonard had spent too much energy on flurries he took hard damaging shots in the last seconds of the seventh the few punches he managed to return were thrown after the bell leonard didn't do much better in the 8th hagler continued punishing rey's body and was able to return several counters the one bright side for leonard was that hagler's work rate had slowed significantly with the pace reduced over the last round leonard thought that perhaps hagler was beginning to fade but as it turned out hagler's slowed work raid in the eighth was just the calm before the storm sensing that rain was wilting hagler came out swinging in the ninth catching leonard with less the body and to the head as the round wore on it became clear that hagler's relentless bodywork had taken his toll midway through the round rey found himself trapped against the ropes with no energy left to escape leonard desperately tried to evade hagler's endless torrent of punches pulling weaving and slipping as best he could but the longer leonard languished on the ropes the more punches got through i saw those punches coming said ray later but there was little i could do about them hagler was finally showing the world what he had hoped to prove for years he had shown himself to be just as intelligent as strategist as sugar ray leonard he had taken away leonard's clinch by the fifth and now he had destroyed his legs in the ninth for all of leonard's brilliance his strategy his psychological manipulation and ring finesse it now came down to this a dogfight against the meanest dog in the junkyard leonard's defenses had failed him he had been stripped bare and all that remained was him ray leonard the man it was time to find out if that was enough too tired to dance taking punishment in the clinch and against the ropes he endured hagler's onslaught until he had regained a small bit of stamina and then unleashed an insanely complex lightning-fast flurry after a torrent of 13 hard punches something unthinkable happened hagler backed up leonard used the split-second advantage to escape but hagler was right on his heels rey danced as far as his legs could take him then unleashed a nine-punch combination leonard's ability to smoothly double up on the same side helped him tremendously and rey again broke through hagler's defense hagler responded by barreling into leonard slamming two hooks into his stomach leonard tried another flurry but hagler shoved this one off ray was only moving through sheer force of will and his miraculous display of speed could not last forever near the end of the round leonard was again trapped on the ropes taking major damage even so it seemed he had done enough to survive staring hagler down face to face at the end of the round as the two went back to their corners it was very clear to all that the round had been hagglers but leonard had astonished everyone by fighting back just as it seemed he was finished what's more had ended up accidentally proving that he could hurt marvin hagler in hagler's corner his coach has informed him that he'd probably lost the first three rounds but he could make up the difference with these last three rounds besides hagler still thought it was very possible to knock rey out all he needed to do was prove it but after the bell rang for the 10th leonard continued to build on the small bit of momentum he had earned at the end of the 9th hagler frustrated and hungry for a knockout once again ignored his jab and failed to set up his power punches it soon became clear that hagler had completely spent himself trying to finish leonard in the 9th and his punches were not only widened and disciplined but dramatically slower that was the plan ray would later explain to cross his wires to frustrate him and make him mad leonard meanwhile continued to put together his own quick fire combinations he had taken mental notes of which had worked best over the rounds including a jab uppercut slip inside to hard right and a lead body hook to head hook now he put these combinations to good use even with all of this hagler's relentless pace and insane work rate allowed him to connect with enough punches to put the round in question in the end the tenth was nearly even with two of the three judges giving the nod to leonard sensing that the crowd had turned against him and never wanted to trust judges regardless hagler approached the 11th with incredible ferocity but this time he largely abandoned his high guard keeping his hands lower he entered into mid range with skillful head movement countering with perfect precision and timing it was haggler who was flirting now leaping across the ring to cover distance and then brutalizing leonard on the inside ever cognizant of the crowd leonard taunted he milled tagler's anger for all it was worth it gives off a certain kind of impression if one fighter looks mad and the other looks scared it's another kind of impression entirely when one looks mad and the other acts like it's funny leonard continued with his sporadic flurries hagler was administering punishment at a steady pace but leonard was dishing out damage in large unpredictable doses although hagler was outlanding leonard leonard's hand speed was so off the charts that it was difficult for any casual onlooker to tell how many of his punches were actually landing all leonard needed to do was connect once and fans would assume that every punch in the flurry had landed with the same power and precision but as great as leonard looked he had been running out of fumes since the 9th hagler's punches continued to find their mark and now rey's chin was being tested as well still leonard's last second barrages and showboating were doing their job even though hagler had outlanded rey in the 11th and thrown the harder punches it was leonard's name that the crowd was chanting as both returned to their corners as the bell rang for the 12th and final round leonard raised his hands in the air the crowd cheered the message was clear leonard was claiming that he had won the fight that he was so far ahead all he had to do was survive this last round to hagler it was audaciously delusional but it was also a little terrifying hagler had been at the end of questionable decisions a few times in the past i'm a little scared about this fight he had admitted earlier because las vegas is a gambling town hagler now feared that if he didn't finish leonardo himself the judges would award leonard a victory that hagler thought was clearly his after waiting over 10 years he simply could not let that happen even more livid than before hagler refused to uphold the tradition of touching leonard's glove for the final round it was up to the referee to touch the two men's gloves together hagler landed a solid left and leonard decided it was best to stay at a distance even in the last round hagler looked fresher than ever sharp and dialed in his guard remained active he easily waded through leonard's punches bullying him into the corner once again leonard answered with the lightning fast flurry and remarkably he managed to crack hagler's iron chin one more time leonard darted away haggler in pursuit true he wanted this out of the judge's hands but this was also personal it had only become more so after leonard's behavior during the fight leonard circled and danced showing no indication that he wanted to exchange it all this round still haggler caught leonard on the ropes again mid-round but oddly enough it was hagler who chose to disengage shaking out his wary arms before lunging in again leonard stuck his chin out even now taunting the champion he raised one arm in victory used the ali shuffle did everything he could to infuriate hagler and hide the fact that this was the most tired he'd ever been in his life several times he desperately looked over at his corner to see how much time was left all while projecting an air of extreme confidence but finally his legs were done and he was forced to clench and just take the shots hagler pounded into his midsection after what seemed to leonard an eternity his corner finally yelled out 30 seconds leonard unloaded one final combination then dashed around the ring ten seconds later and his legs had no more to give the fight was not over yet all leonard could do was lean against the ropes and cover up leonard would be a sitting duck for the last 20 seconds of the fight hagler began by landing two tight uppercuts leonard threw back his weary arms only moving at a fraction of the speed they were capable of haggler gave it right back nailing leonard with a rare cross to the chin he stumbled his legs buckling for a brief moment here was hagler's last best chance at a knockout ray threw a wild haymaker desperately trying to back hagler off hagler pulled and then came back with two hard straight lefts but then suddenly the bell ran leonard was still standing he raised his hands ecstatic hagler had lost his chance to put leonard down on the canvas but still he was certain that he had won the fight leonard smiled he knew he'd won the fight as well very shortly the two would find out from the judges which was right and which was wrong after a brief celebration by both fighters the judge's scores were read the first judge had it 115 to 113 for hagler the second judge had it 118 to 110 for leonard a score both fighters found utterly ridiculous ironically the original judge who haggler had switched out for this one was watching from home and would have scored it for hagler however it was now clear there would be a split decision the last judge held the fate of the fight in his hands he had scored it 115 to 113 for sugar ray leonard leonard had pulled off the impossible defeating one of the greatest boxers ever of full weight class up but to this day the fight remains one of the most controversial bouts in the history of combat sports i've been asked who i believe won the fight more times than i can count since beginning the four kings series so i put my opinion in the comments if you're interested and i'll be sticking around to discuss and debate if you'd like to reply with your thoughts and points while many feel to this day that hagler won the fight perhaps marvelous marvin hagler's greatest achievement came by how he handled the loss while the other four kings continued on well past their time hagler simply moved on although he still resented leonard and the boxing world in general he eventually decided that it was enough that he knew he had won he turned down a rematch and all the money that came with it and walked into the sunset to become a movie star in italy but leonard was not done yet he went on to fight hearns one more time and you could find that video along with the iconic bouts of the four kings in the playlist on screen from the modern martial artist this has been david christian wishing you happy training

Channel: The Modern Martial Artist

Views: 549,510

Rating: 4.8662267 out of 5

Keywords: Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, The 4 Kings of Boxing, Fabulous Four, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Boxing, Technique Breakdown, Analysis, Explained

Id: nWbR1fXbEgQ

Length: 32min 2sec (1922 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/SkunkyMcNugg]

Who else thinks this is the best channel on youtube?

[u/OldDocBenway]

I still feel like Hagler won this fight. Not by much but still enough to win. I watched it live and scored it 115-113 for the Marvelous One. I do think it was a mistake for Hagler to come out in the orthodox stance for three rounds because Ray definitely got the better of him those first three rounds. But once Hagler went back to southpaw he won those middle rounds. Ray showed a lot smarts and it was close. One judge had it 118 to 111 or something ridiculous like that. Marvelous was so disgusted with the decision he walked away from boxing altogether and moved to Italy and became a movie star.

[u/AphidOverdo]

I've always felt the dominance of Leonard in the early rounds clouds subsequent closer rounds, easier to give rounds for Hagler simply because he does better than he had in earlier rounds. I think this fight is best scored by starting with Round 12 and work to 1

[u/sonnyking05]

Anyone else have this fight 114-114?

I gave rounds 1-4 to Leonard, 5-10 to Hagler and 11-12 to Leonard.

[u/JASON_THE_BEAR]

Should have at least be a draw. I would have loved a rematch !