- 20 hours ago
Marvelous
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Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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00:04Music
00:20They used to intimidate this opponent.
00:22They used to be afraid to just be going into the ring with it.
00:25You've got the muscles, the veins, the power.
00:31That's what you look like.
00:33Power.
00:34It's more of a pounding.
00:37Just think of a piston, just costly.
00:39Pounding, pounding.
00:40It's like a third.
00:42It's like boom.
00:47He had a chin of iron.
00:49He had the heart of a lion.
00:52He had the killer instinct in him.
00:54He hated his opponents.
00:57That's his mentality.
00:58To be angry.
01:01So that when he's in that ring, he just wants to just squash you.
01:06I never believed anyone could ever do what happened to me tonight.
01:10I got a couple of cuts, a black eye.
01:13I've never had those marks before in my life.
01:16There was no wrapping on this package.
01:18You got what was there.
01:21War.
01:23Destruct and destroy.
01:26Everything about him.
01:27Focus.
01:28And this bullet head.
01:30Made the whole Marvin Hagler look like exactly what he should have been.
01:36In execution.
01:40Heart punching.
01:41Heart punching.
01:42I.
01:43Most fearsome person in the Four Kings.
01:47Against the rope.
01:48He's out of him.
01:50Marvin Hagler has knocked him out.
01:56Marvelous Marvin Hagler ruled the middleweight division with an iron fist from 1980 to 1986.
02:02Behind a cultivated aura of intimidation, he was the real thing, gifted with speed, imagination, and versatility.
02:10He fought mostly southpaw, but he would switch, and he was equally as good both ways.
02:17The punch that you don't see, that's the punch that hurts you and knocks you out.
02:22And a lot of those punches from Hagler, you don't see them coming.
02:26They come from a different angle.
02:28Somebody examined his skull once and pointed out that the muscle above the temples was almost like he had a
02:38football helmet inside.
02:39And under the skin.
02:40So you couldn't hurt Marvin.
02:46Impregnable though he was in the ring, Hagler was afflicted by one of the deepest of human hurts.
02:52Alienation.
02:53I think he always painted himself as the guy on the outside in a lot of ways the public thought
02:58he was.
03:01And I think it drove him.
03:02He can't whoop Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
03:04That's it.
03:05Nobody can whoop me.
03:06I'm the best.
03:07They won't give me the credit, not even you.
03:10I don't think the public understood how insecure this guy really was.
03:14I think the best clue of that is the fact that he had his name legally changed to Marvelous,
03:19because he felt like he never gave him his due.
03:21Marvin, it's not always been Marvelous.
03:24Marvelous.
03:25You'd be forced to say it.
03:26You'd be forced to write it.
03:27But I think it also speaks to the issue of a sort of inner voice that was diminished and a
03:33sort of lack of self-esteem and a real feeling that he wasn't getting what he deserved.
03:40Marvin Hagler's attitude that the boxing establishment was always against him and wanted to win.
03:46It was mostly paranormal.
03:48People loved him.
03:49Fans adored him.
03:51They admired him.
03:52Marvin was so insecure about that.
03:54For some reason, he was like a horse with blinders on him.
03:58He didn't see that.
03:59But it was out there.
04:00It was always out there.
04:01He just never let it in.
04:03A lot of Marvin's rage was born in the fact that he was disrespected his whole career.
04:11That served to motivate him.
04:18Never was that disrespect more clearly demonstrated than on November 30th, 1979 at Caesars Palace, where the 25-year-old
04:27Hagler was one of two fighters getting title shots.
04:30The other was the deft and charismatic Sugar Ray Leonard.
04:34Marvin Hagler challenges Vito Antifromo for the middleweight title, gets $40,000.
04:38Ray Leonard is also a challenger, and the same card gets paid a million.
04:44It's very hard to swallow.
04:46He is real, chewing up Antifromo at this point.
04:52Dominant through most of the early and middle rounds, Hagler, a 4-1 favorite, was believed by his corner to
04:58be well ahead when he dropped into a defensive mode as the champion rallied late in the 15-rounder.
05:04Mills Lane, who was the referee in that fight, stood there in the center of the ring, and he said
05:11to Martin Hagler,
05:12congratulations, now when they make the announcement, you face this way, and I'll raise your arm.
05:19The decision is a draw.
05:21It's a draw.
05:22The draw is good.
05:24Vito retains the title.
05:27Hagler absolutely disgusted.
05:31When the decision was announced, it upset me so much that I went back behind the stand of garbage can,
05:37because we just didn't do right that night.
05:40He never forgot that night that he won the title and didn't get it.
05:43To him, it was a confirmation of all the things that had happened to him all his life.
05:48He was never going to get a fair shake, not in boxing, not anywhere.
05:53You can't leave it up to the referee, and you can't leave it up to the judges.
05:57There's only one way to do it, is to do it my way.
06:07With narcotic power in either hand, Hagler raged against his opponents, winning his next 14 bouts, 12 by knockout.
06:15In 1985, he met an equally lethal puncher, known as the hitman, Tommy Hearns.
06:23This man is coming.
06:25This man is coming at me, trying to do damage to me.
06:27I got to get him out.
06:29And I was just, and I was just, and I thought, I was, I was, I was, I was, I
06:35was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I
06:36was, I was trying to hit with everything I had.
06:38And he caught it with two good jams, and a right hand at the left hand.
06:43Tremendous pass in the first round.
06:45You asked yourself, how can they take him?
06:50Because they're throwing bombs.
06:53I mean, each punch, it's like, it's loaded with, with dynamite.
06:58I hear Hagler with a punch, punch, impact, go up my arm and to my shoulder.
07:03So I knew I hit him hard, and he still was standing, he was just still coming, just coming.
07:09Hagler, there were 165 punches in 180 seconds, and every one of them thrown with the intention to hurt the
07:17opponent.
07:18This may be the most brutal even round you've ever seen in boxing.
07:23Marvin Hagler had a cut above his eye, and then you had this, like, this stunned look, like, he didn't
07:30know what had hit him.
07:31That was the wildest first round in the history of mankind.
07:35Amen.
07:38In the second and third rounds, Hagler stayed on the attack, absorbing punches and pressing forward, banging away with both
07:45hands.
07:46But he got as good as he did.
07:47He absorbed punches that put other people in the hospital, put other guys in the hospital.
07:53Uh, and I don't even know if he bled, but he didn't fall.
08:00Okay.
08:02Herms was always considered one of the hardest punchers in boxing.
08:06He throws the vicious right hand and busts Hagler's head wide open.
08:14So the doctor comes in, and he blotched the blood, and he says to Marvin, can you see Marvin?
08:19And Marvin says, I ain't missing him, am I?
08:22Hagler immediately thought the same thing he always thought.
08:25They're going to screw me again.
08:26They're going to deny me again.
08:28This is my moment.
08:29You've been ripped off before.
08:31He wanted to end that fight as soon as he could.
08:34And when that blood started pouring down his face, you saw the real tiger, Marvin Hagler.
08:43He's going, he's going, he's going.
08:46Now, it's over.
08:47This one is history.
08:49Marvin Hagler, a tremendous victory.
08:52Tommy was very cocky, and I had something for him.
08:54This is what...
08:58This was...
08:59Yeah!
09:15The Newark, New Jersey, into which Marvin Hagler was born on May 23rd, 1954, was a city
09:22rife with political and moral decay.
09:24But Marvin's mother was a steady light in the dark.
09:28His father left home early.
09:30He was basically raised by his mother, a very vibrant, energetic woman, Ida Mae.
09:35His family never really wanted for food or wanted for love.
09:39It was a family whose unity was forged and woven and created by the mother.
09:47With the help of welfare and her earnings as a caterer and housekeeper, Ida Mae maintained
09:52a safe haven in an urban grid of violence, crime, and spiritual neglect.
09:57Early on, her son showed a characteristic that would become permanent.
10:02He grew up basically as a loner.
10:05He lived a very remote, solitary existence.
10:08It was not safe to go outside.
10:16Dominated by poverty, despair, and pent-up rage, Newark's African-American neighborhoods
10:22hit a flashpoint in the summer of 1967.
10:25The trouble began when a black cab driver was arrested and beaten by police.
10:30The next thing you know, the store windows are getting broken.
10:34Mile-top cocktail.
10:35This was a city that had become a nightmare.
10:39Bullets were flying everywhere.
10:41They could hear police running across the rooftops, cursing and screaming, looking for snipers,
10:48looking for looters.
10:50During six days of rioting, 26 people were killed.
10:54More than 700 were injured, and nearly 1,500 were arrested.
10:59There were nights when literally she and all the kids would be on the floor
11:02because they were afraid of bullets coming through the windows.
11:05And she would say,
11:06I gotta get these kids out of here.
11:08This is not a place I'm gonna raise them.
11:12When relatives in Massachusetts offered Ida Mae gave,
11:15she moved her family there.
11:16I don't think about Brockton, Massachusetts, guys, that is tough,
11:21because Rocky Marziano's from there.
11:24In 1969, but the factory town had few easy streets.
11:29After losing a sidewalk scuffle when he was 16,
11:32Haglis sought enlightenment at a boxing gym run by Pat and Goody Petronella.
11:38We sat down, quiet, very respectful.
11:42I says, are you interested in learning how to fight?
11:45He says, yeah, man.
11:46He says, that's what I'm here for.
11:47I said, okay, let's get going.
11:50We gloved him up, right, put a headgear on him,
11:52and a mouthpiece, threw him in a ring,
11:54and this guy belted him around a little bit,
11:57bloodied his nose, cut his lip,
11:58and then the kid just washed his face upright,
12:03and he just walked out the door, you know?
12:06So me and Goody, we were talking,
12:07and we said, well, I guess that's the last we're gonna see at that kid.
12:10Right?
12:11Next night, he's back.
12:16Right away, I liked what I saw.
12:18He seemed like he picked up a lot quicker than the other guys.
12:22Finally, I said to him, I says,
12:23boy, you're putting these punches together pretty good.
12:25I said, I've been practicing.
12:28And I said, what do you mean you've been practicing?
12:30He said, these different punches you show me,
12:32and when I go home, I look in the mirror in the bedroom,
12:34and I practice all those different punches.
12:37He said many times, I wanted to be somebody.
12:42Didn't know what he was, but I wanted to be somebody.
12:45I didn't want to just be another run-of-the-mill guy,
12:48and boxing was the thing that was foremost on his mind.
12:56Following his dream, Hagler lied about his age to qualify for amateur fights.
13:01Then, over the next two years, won 50 of 52 bouts.
13:05At 18, he entered the National Golden Gloves Tournament.
13:09Among the contestants in a lighter division was Hagler's future nemesis.
13:13Sugar Ray Leonard in 73 was the superstar in amateur boxing.
13:18Marvin Hagler was just one of many of the amateur champions,
13:20nothing special at all.
13:22He was just a basic, fundamentally determined kid.
13:24The very first meeting, Leonard outdoes Marvin.
13:28He grabs the attention.
13:29He wins the Nationals.
13:31Marvin loses.
13:33A month later, in the National AAUs in Boston, fortunes were reversed.
13:38This time, Leonard lost his final bout,
13:40while Hagler tore up the 165-pound weight class
13:43and won the Outstanding Fighter Award for the tournament.
13:46So Marvin gets a measure of revenge.
13:49This is just, they've known each other for a month,
13:51and they've already had this back and forth.
13:56This became a crossroads.
13:58Do you wait three years for the Montreal Olympics,
14:01or do you go out and try and make some money now?
14:05One or two hundred proists.
14:06Why, why don't you keep fighting damage here,
14:08and maybe we'll go for the Olympics?
14:10He's known me.
14:10He's just, man, he says, I want to make some money.
14:14While Leonard waited on the publicity and glamour
14:17that comes with an Olympic gold medal,
14:19Hagler rushed into a world run by hard cash
14:22where winning wasn't necessarily everything.
14:31Marvin Hagler searched for recognition
14:33in the back streets of the professional boxing world.
14:36Sugar Ray Leonard, meanwhile,
14:38rode a superhighway to fame and fortune.
14:41Marvin's fighting on undercards,
14:43and he's fighting through small arenas in New England,
14:46and his first fight he makes $50.
14:48Leonard, meanwhile, wins the Olympics,
14:51and he turns pro in February of 1977,
14:55and makes $40,000 for his first fight.
14:59At that point, that's more than Marvin's made
15:00in his entire career.
15:03Ray Leonard was a star.
15:04With that megawatt smile,
15:07he really succeeded Muhammad Ali
15:12as the superstar celebrity of boxing.
15:21Handled by the relatively unknown Petronelli's
15:24and regional promoters,
15:26Hagler had difficulty getting quality opportunities,
15:29despite going undefeated in his first 26 fights.
15:32Joe Frazier always told me
15:34he had three things going against me.
15:35He was a southpaw, he was black, and he was good.
15:38He was the easiest kind of guy to avoid.
15:41You know, you didn't want to fight him
15:42if you didn't have to,
15:43because he'd probably beat you.
15:45If you did beat him,
15:46you might not get that much bang for your buck,
15:48because he wasn't that well-known.
15:51Finally, Goody said,
15:52we are going to have to make our move
15:54to what he called the lion's den
15:56of middleweight fighters in America,
15:58which was the spectrum in Philadelphia.
16:03He'd lost to Bobby Watts,
16:04he'd lost to Willie Monroe.
16:05He had to go back to Philly one more time,
16:07and it was three strikes and you're out.
16:08If he loses the Cyclone Hart,
16:10it's Palookaville for Marvin.
16:13He comes out aggressively now,
16:14then comes up to the left,
16:15and he goes down.
16:17Eugene Cyclone Hart goes down
16:18to a left hand by Marvin Hagler.
16:21He just kept working and working and working,
16:23figuring the end of the rainbow.
16:25The pot of gold is there at the end of the rainbow,
16:27and I'm going to get it.
16:31Even though Hagler beat more ranked fighters
16:34than some champions had ever faced,
16:36a shot at the middleweight title
16:38continued to elude him.
16:40He always sort of felt denied,
16:41and that really drove him
16:43to have a great distaste
16:45for a lot of people.
16:45Sugar Ray Leonard being the most obvious example.
16:49The fact that my career
16:50continued to blossom,
16:53and he was still being knocked back
16:55to the back of the bus,
16:56I think it became almost like
16:58a resentment, if you will.
17:00You take the Olympians out of the mix,
17:03and Marvin did as well as anybody
17:05in that time.
17:06You couldn't get a title fight
17:07in those days with 15 fights.
17:09You had to have 35 or 40.
17:13Hagler's loyalty to the Petronelli's
17:15was regarded by many in boxing
17:17as the primary reason
17:18for his slow progress up the ladder.
17:21The bottom line was that boxing
17:22was run like a cartel,
17:24and they refused to play ball
17:27with the cartel.
17:28At one point, Marvin's thinking
17:30about going out to the West Coast
17:32and finding a different manager,
17:34they decided to stay.
17:36It wasn't long after that
17:37that Marvin's attorney,
17:40Stephen Wainwright,
17:41enlisted political help.
17:42I got two letters,
17:45one from Tip O'Neill,
17:47who was Speaker of the House,
17:48and the other from Senator Ted Kennedy,
17:51both of whom made it plain
17:54in their letters
17:54that if I didn't arrange
17:56for Marvin Hagler
17:57to fight for the middleweight championship,
18:00that there would be
18:01a congressional investigation.
18:05Promoter Bob Arum,
18:07a boxing world kingpin,
18:08got the message
18:09and gave Hagler a title shot
18:11against Vito Anafermo.
18:13Although his 50th bout
18:14ended in a stalemate,
18:16Hagler had finally broken through.
18:18Ten months later,
18:20in September of 1980,
18:22he met a new middleweight champion,
18:23Alan Minter, in London,
18:25but not before the match
18:26was tainted by a misguided remark.
18:30And I said,
18:30well, no black man's gonna take my title.
18:33But I was told to say it.
18:37What?
18:42It was just a nasty atmosphere
18:44in Wembley to begin with.
18:45There was this horrible
18:46right-wing element,
18:48soccer hooligans,
18:49National Front people,
18:51all this stuff in the audience.
18:52It was said,
18:55and it was angry,
18:56that people weren't right.
18:57You see them in their faces
18:58and kill him.
19:02I said,
19:03Marvin,
19:03you know what you have to do tonight?
19:04He said,
19:05yeah, man, I know.
19:06I said,
19:06you can't leave it up to the judges.
19:08He said,
19:08I don't plan to.
19:11Hagler with a good left and a right.
19:13Minter says,
19:14come on, fight!
19:15And Minter's leaving himself open
19:17with this tactic.
19:19And I've gone,
19:20come on.
19:22And he come on.
19:23And that was my downfall.
19:25Minter is hurt.
19:26Minter is ready to go.
19:28It's only the third round
19:29and Hagler is all over.
19:32Minter's helpless on his feet.
19:34And Marvin hits him
19:35with hooks,
19:36uppercuts,
19:37jabs,
19:38knocks him so senseless.
19:40The plate's stopped.
19:40It's over.
19:41Not quickly.
19:42The middleweight champion
19:43of the world
19:44is Marvin Hagler.
19:46It was too quick.
19:48It was too bloody.
19:49And a riot ensued.
19:51The fans there just
19:53couldn't handle it.
19:54Now bottles are being
19:55thrown into the ring.
19:56And beer cans.
19:58And the corner people
20:00are trying to protect
20:01Marvin Hagler.
20:02Here we are.
20:03We finally won the world title.
20:05And we had to run like burglars.
20:08Like we did something wrong.
20:09It was another example
20:10of what drove him
20:11to become the man he was.
20:12They denied him,
20:13even then,
20:14the right,
20:15stand in the middle of the ring
20:16with his hand up
20:17and the belt around his waist.
20:22Robbed of his moment,
20:23Hagler guarded his title
20:24jealously,
20:25knocking out
20:26the next five challengers.
20:28But,
20:28for all his skill,
20:29he hadn't had
20:30the kind of payday
20:31he had been seeking
20:32since he turned pro.
20:33Only one fighter
20:34could raise Hagler's stature
20:36and deliver the mega purse.
20:38He used to talk to Ray
20:39about it all the time.
20:41And Ray used to just
20:41kind of lead him on,
20:42you know,
20:42almost just like a fish on a hook,
20:44you know,
20:44he would just kind of
20:45lead him on.
20:45The people want to see it,
20:46let me.
20:47We don't want you to retire yet
20:48until you come with
20:49the marvelous one.
20:49It's got to be the big one,
20:51right?
20:51That is the biggest one.
20:53Prospects were the biggest one
20:55dimmed in 1982
20:56when Leonard was diagnosed
20:58with a detached retina.
20:59Six months after
21:00undergoing eye surgery,
21:02Leonard alerted the media
21:03to a major announcement
21:04in Baltimore.
21:05Hagler was advised
21:06to be on hand.
21:08We figured that
21:09he was going to make
21:09the official announcement
21:11that he was going to
21:12take that fight
21:13with Marvin Hagler.
21:14So we were all tickle pick.
21:16A fight
21:17with this great
21:18man,
21:19this great champion
21:20to be one of the greatest
21:22fights in the history
21:23of boxing.
21:25Talking about money,
21:27you talk about Ford Knox.
21:28And this is the only man
21:30who could make that possible.
21:31Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
21:36But unfortunately,
21:37it'll never happen.
21:38Thank you
21:40and God bless you all.
21:43Marvin was crestfallen.
21:46Not only his chance
21:48for redemption
21:48against Sugar Ray
21:50and to put him
21:50in his place
21:51and assume his place
21:52was gone,
21:54millions of dollars
21:55were also gone.
21:56Here he is,
21:57a prop
21:58in this one-man play
22:00where Ray Leonard
22:01humiliates
22:02and embarrasses him
22:03and then he walks
22:04away from boxing
22:05and Lee's Hagler
22:05is standing there
22:07stripped to the core
22:08with nowhere to go.
22:11Was I cold
22:11to have him there
22:12knowing fully well
22:13that I was going
22:13to say no?
22:14Yeah,
22:15it was pretty cold.
22:17But was it smart
22:17to have him there?
22:19Yes,
22:19it was smart
22:20to have him there.
22:21I just want to continue
22:22to create that drama,
22:24that intrigue.
22:25I did that.
22:28Hmm.
22:35I was really
22:36a Marvin Hagler believer.
22:37He was the most
22:38dedicated fighter
22:38I've ever been around
22:39in my life.
22:40I mean,
22:40when he went to training camp,
22:41he used to call it
22:41going to prison
22:42and he meant it.
22:43I mean,
22:44he isolated himself
22:45usually out in Provincetown,
22:47you know,
22:47way at the tip
22:48of Cape Cod.
22:51Whether it rained,
22:52whether it snowed,
22:53whether the sun was shining,
22:55we were up
22:55with a crack of dawn
22:56and we felt
22:57they would hit that rope.
22:58I can't think about it.
23:00I can't do it.
23:02Who's the chair?
23:03I'm the chair.
23:05No family,
23:06no friends,
23:07nothing.
23:08As the fight
23:09would approach,
23:10he would purposely
23:11get mean.
23:12We'd have four or five
23:13spire partners
23:14sitting at ringside
23:15with headgear on,
23:16ready,
23:16ready to go.
23:17Two rounds,
23:18three rounds,
23:19man would say,
23:20get him out of here,
23:20give me somebody else
23:21in here, right?
23:22Fresh body.
23:23That was him.
23:24He was vicious and mean.
23:28By the mid-1980s,
23:30marvelous Marvin Hagler
23:31had taken on
23:32all comers.
23:33After 11 title defenses
23:35over five years,
23:36he stood alone,
23:37wealthy,
23:38respected,
23:39and satisfied.
23:41Long-time champions
23:42are rare.
23:44Hagler was one
23:45of those champions
23:46who wanted to stay
23:48on top of the mountain.
23:49The only thing
23:50that counts, man,
23:51is that I'm taking
23:51these back home.
23:53That's all that counts, man.
23:54That's all that means
23:55anything to me.
23:55I think there was
23:57a feeling of
23:59being somebody
24:01because that championship
24:02belt met the world
24:03to him.
24:03That was his
24:04identity.
24:06That was Marvin Hagler.
24:08With Sugar Ray Leonard
24:09still in retirement,
24:11Hagler focused on
24:12breaking Carlos Monzon's
24:13middleweight record
24:14of 14 title defenses.
24:16In 1986,
24:18he looked for number 12
24:19against John the Beast Mugabe,
24:21who had won all 26
24:23of his fights
24:23by knockout.
24:26Mugabe is a sluggers,
24:27total slugger.
24:29And I noticed that
24:30Mugabe was outboxing
24:31Marvin for a while.
24:34When Leonard sat there
24:35that night,
24:36the Marvin Hagler
24:37he saw
24:37wasn't marvelous anymore.
24:38A little bit lack
24:39of reaction time,
24:41a little bit off
24:42on his speed.
24:43Some of the body shots
24:45that he sustained
24:46from Mugabe
24:48were unbelievable.
24:50While Marvin
24:50won that fight,
24:51I think it took
24:53more out of him
24:53than any other fight
24:54in his career.
24:55And I'm not sure
24:56physically
24:57he was ever
24:58the same afterwards.
25:00It was the first time
25:01I saw a fighter
25:02when he urinated
25:04in the cup
25:05that it was blood.
25:06What?
25:07Mugabe was a rough customer
25:08and Marvin finally beat him.
25:10And then he said to me,
25:12he said to Pat,
25:13that's it.
25:14I'm not fighting
25:15any war.
25:20Though he didn't
25:21announce his retirement,
25:23Hagler settled
25:24into a comfortable life
25:25with his wife Bertha
25:26and five children.
25:28Financially secure,
25:29he emerged a man
25:30in full
25:31from those scary
25:32bullet-riddled nights
25:33in Newark.
25:34He didn't even
25:35harbor ill will
25:36toward the man
25:36who had ridden
25:37in limos
25:38while he fought
25:38to survive
25:39back in the day.
25:41Marvin and I
25:42were pretty good
25:43associates,
25:44friends in a sense.
25:45He gave me the courtesy
25:47of coming to my restaurant
25:48that I co-own
25:49with Mike Treanor
25:50and that evening
25:51we sat around
25:52and had a couple
25:52glasses of champagne
25:53and every question
25:54that I asked him
25:55it was always
25:56response of being
25:57somewhat negative.
25:59Like I'm not motivated.
26:00I cut too easy.
26:01It's just not
26:02in my heart anymore.
26:03What?
26:03He's telling me
26:04all these things.
26:05I'm saying to myself,
26:07this would be
26:07the perfect time
26:08to fight him.
26:10It was all a con
26:11by Leonard.
26:11He was never
26:12Marvin Hagler's friend
26:13but Marvin Hagler
26:14mistakenly thought
26:15that he was.
26:16He got sort of
26:16lured in
26:17by the same things
26:18ironically
26:20that he hated.
26:21The smile,
26:22the slap on the back,
26:23the phony
26:24hey, how you doing?
26:26He bought into it too.
26:31On May 1st, 1986,
26:33just seven weeks
26:34after the Mugabe fight,
26:35Leonard announced
26:36he would come out
26:37of retirement
26:37to fight Hagler
26:38for the middleweight crown.
26:40Yet the champ,
26:41after years of denial,
26:43was slow to accept.
26:45He wouldn't want
26:45to do that fight.
26:46Not because he was
26:47afraid of Ray,
26:48but because he was enough.
26:50He didn't want
26:50to fight anymore.
26:51He couldn't concentrate
26:53on the fights
26:54the way he had
26:55in the past.
26:56It was an agonizing period
26:58because Bertha
26:59was opposed
26:59to the fight.
27:00They were having
27:01some marital problems
27:02at the time
27:03and it wasn't
27:04any secret.
27:04I always felt
27:06that Bertha,
27:07more than most of us,
27:09knew that Marvin
27:11had slipped.
27:13Pat Petronelli,
27:14his manager,
27:15and myself
27:16drove through the night
27:17to where Hagler
27:18was living
27:19in New Hampshire.
27:20Pat sat down
27:21with Marvin
27:22to convince him
27:23to take the fight.
27:31The hype machine
27:32churned for six months,
27:34enriching a tale
27:35of two starkly
27:36contrasting characters.
27:38Opposites in temperament,
27:39outlook,
27:40and style,
27:41Hagler and Leonard,
27:42it was said,
27:43were born to define
27:44one another in the ring.
27:46Show Ray Leonard
27:46was a guy
27:47that you pulled for.
27:48He was America's boxer.
27:50I mean,
27:50he was a lovable guy.
27:51Where Hagler
27:52was a guy that,
27:53yeah,
27:54it was kind of hard to love.
27:56But you respected him.
27:57I've been saving my body,
27:58my mind,
28:00just for this occasion.
28:01Now I have the opportunity
28:02to finally show the world
28:05that I am
28:06the best fighter
28:07in the world.
28:09Before we put on
28:10our fight face,
28:11I'd like to take this time
28:12to thank
28:13Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
28:17Thanks, man.
28:21Apparently,
28:21he has his fight face on.
28:25Perhaps weary
28:26of his opponent's
28:27easy praise,
28:28Hagler quit the publicity tour
28:30and began training
28:3111 weeks before the fight.
28:33While Leonard worked out
28:34before crowds,
28:36Hagler kept off the radar,
28:37taking only urgent calls
28:39from his family.
28:40As fight night approached,
28:42the champ entered
28:43that dark place
28:44where his motivation lived.
28:46He wouldn't eat the food
28:47that was brought
28:48on his plate.
28:49He would always switch it
28:50with his trainers,
28:51Goody and Paco
28:52Ternelli,
28:53because he figured
28:53if they would have
28:54poisoned anybody,
28:54they would poison him.
28:56Marvin's camp
28:56was very paranoid.
28:57They didn't want to have
28:58any Ray Leonard spies
28:59in there.
29:00And Marvin was just
29:01in this war mode.
29:02He was like a bull
29:03that was snorting.
29:08Hagler and Leonard
29:09finally met
29:10on April 6, 1987
29:11at Caesar's Palace,
29:13the location where,
29:15seven and a half years earlier,
29:16each fought
29:17for his first title.
29:18I was the inspector
29:20that night
29:21in Ray Leonard's
29:22dressing room.
29:23And the dressing rooms
29:24were adjacent to each other.
29:25When Ray was getting
29:26his hands taped
29:27by Angelo Dundee,
29:28that they were yelling
29:29through the wall,
29:30Hagler, you're an old man.
29:32You're not going to win tonight.
29:34The intensity of Marvin Hagler
29:36at that point
29:38was unlike any other fighter
29:40I'd ever seen.
29:41While I examined him,
29:44I don't believe
29:45that he even acknowledged
29:47anything I said or did.
29:50He stared straight through me.
29:53He was scary.
30:03For Marvin Hagler
30:05it was really his legacy
30:06going into that fight
30:07because he had been
30:08the middleweight champion
30:08for a long time.
30:10Sugar Ray Leonard
30:11was kind of like
30:11the cherry on top
30:12and he really needed that
30:14to sort of validate himself.
30:15This is the main event
30:17of the night.
30:18Twelve rounds of boxing
30:20for the WBC
30:22Middleweight Championship
30:24of the World.
30:26It meant more than
30:27just being a champion.
30:29It was about
30:30bragging rights.
30:31It was that
30:31moment
30:34a victory
30:35that would
30:38define who we are.
30:39What we all wanted to see
30:41was another
30:42Hearns Hagler.
30:43We all wanted to see
30:44Marvin tear into
30:45this pretty boy
30:46here
30:47and make him
30:48sorry that he took
30:49this fight.
30:54Marvin
30:55started boxing him
30:57when he should have
30:57put a little more
30:58pressure on him
30:59and he's going
31:00right-handed
31:00more than he should have.
31:02He boxed conventionally
31:03which to Ray
31:04was going to be like
31:04wow this is great
31:05I don't have to deal
31:06with southpaw
31:07he couldn't have
31:07made him any more
31:08comfortable than
31:08if he had drawn him
31:09a bath and gotten
31:10in his slippers.
31:11Leonard was like
31:12a bumblebee
31:13and Hagler was out
31:14there with a net
31:15trying to catch him
31:16and he just couldn't
31:16catch him.
31:17You could hear
31:19his trainer
31:20yell 30 seconds
31:25and then Leonard
31:26would go into a flurry
31:27I used to call him
31:28every 30 second
31:30pitter-patters.
31:31That gets rounds
31:32that makes you know
31:33catch the attention
31:34of the judges
31:35so he tried to take
31:36every advantage.
31:42The first four rounds
31:43Sir Ray Leonard
31:46waited until he was old
31:49at every advantage
31:50catered to him
31:51in that ring
31:53and still arguably
31:54lost that fight.
31:56I was floating
31:58I was rather surprised
32:00how easy
32:01I was able to hit him
32:03and how slow he was.
32:06He was also
32:07really messing
32:09with Hagler's mind
32:10he was really
32:11trying to get
32:11into his head
32:12and get him
32:13to fight
32:14his fight
32:15trying to tell Hagler
32:16you're nothing
32:17but a puncher
32:18you know
32:19you're a slugger
32:20you don't know
32:21how to box.
32:22He said
32:22slow down
32:22you little bitch
32:24fight like a man
32:26fight me like a man
32:27I said
32:28not right now
32:29not right now.
32:30Now he's starting
32:32even to taunt Hagler
32:35smiling at him
32:36and just essentially
32:37saying come on
32:37and now Hagler's
32:38getting angry
32:39no question about it.
32:41When that fight
32:42started
32:42it was a Hagler crowd
32:43by the sixth round
32:45it was a Leonard crowd
32:46because people
32:47were shocked
32:48that Ray was
32:49not only in there
32:50but that he was winning.
32:52Hagler was really
32:53frustrated
32:54and then
32:55he started coming
32:56you know
32:56forget this box
32:57and I'm going to
32:58go ahead and
32:59knock this guy out
33:00and that's when
33:01the fight really
33:01got exciting
33:02and got very close
33:03because he was
33:04winning those rounds.
33:06As Shooter
33:07was tired
33:08he began to linger
33:09dangerously
33:10within marvelous
33:11Marvin Hagler's range.
33:13In the ninth round
33:14the champion
33:15a three to one
33:15favorite
33:16appeared to be
33:17in control.
33:18Leonard now
33:19with his back
33:20to the ropes
33:21and another
33:22left hand
33:23by Hagler
33:25Leonard's left hand
33:26down on his side
33:27Hagler peppering it
33:28Ray Leonard
33:29is hurt in the corner.
33:31Ray was getting
33:32battered by
33:33Marvin on the ropes
33:34and you could see
33:35Ray was thinking
33:35about giving it up
33:37and he admitted
33:38to me
33:39so yeah
33:39I did think
33:40about quitting.
33:41And I said
33:41Ray
33:43get out of that corner
33:44get out of the corner
33:45fight your way out.
33:51Ray Leonard
33:52was able
33:53to do
33:53in that round
33:54even more
33:55than he had done
33:56in other rounds
33:57of the fight
33:57making it appear
33:59that he had won
34:00in such a way
34:01that he implanted
34:02that clearly
34:03in the judge's mind.
34:05Hagler
34:05was still cool
34:06I didn't see
34:08at any time
34:09where the Petronelli's
34:11felt desperate
34:12like
34:12you know
34:13he's
34:14winning the fight
34:16you got to
34:16knock him out.
34:17The 12th
34:19and final round
34:20began with
34:21both fighters
34:21calling each other out
34:22and it concluded
34:24with both standing
34:25both signaling victory.
34:28Ladies and gentlemen
34:29we have a
34:32split decision
34:35and the winner
34:36by a split decision
34:38will be new
34:40literary champion
34:41of the world
34:44Lindner
34:48that one word
34:49knew
34:49when he heard
34:50the word knew
34:51the look in his face
34:52his whole world collapsed.
34:54Marvin
34:55you thought you won
34:56the fight?
34:56I didn't win the fight
34:57there's no doubt about it
34:59after about the fourth round
35:00I took the whole fight
35:01kept it going
35:02well the most difficult
35:03fight you could score
35:04is a banger
35:05versus a boxer
35:07and I'm sure Marvin
35:08felt here's another
35:09situation where I got
35:10jobbed.
35:13One judge
35:14Jojo Guerra
35:15had Leonard winning
35:1610 of 12 rounds
35:17but the other two judges
35:19made closer calls
35:20each with a different outcome.
35:22I gave the fight
35:24to Leonard
35:24I had 7 rounds
35:25to 5
35:26and
35:27the reason
35:28was
35:29he had the most
35:30effective punches
35:31he made Hagler miss
35:32Leonard was moving around
35:34hawking
35:35boom boom
35:36but
35:36Hagler
35:37was
35:38pressing him
35:39all the time
35:40and he was
35:41doing the harder punches
35:42I thought
35:43I think the reason
35:45why he lost the fight
35:45was totally up here
35:47and had to do
35:48with his own insecurities
35:49in regards to Leonard
35:50he almost felt
35:52inferior to Ray
35:54he always said
35:55his motto was
35:56destruct and destroy
35:57while he didn't have
35:59that mindset
35:59for this fight
36:00he really didn't
36:01surprisingly
36:02they fought
36:03at Leonard's pace
36:05and at Leonard's style
36:08and Marvin
36:09just couldn't
36:10put enough pressure
36:11on
36:12I cannot hurt
36:14Hagler
36:14I knew that
36:15but I could
36:16beat him on points
36:17I threw better punches
36:18cleaner punches
36:19and
36:20far more punches
36:22than he threw
36:22that's how you win
36:24a fight
36:25Ray Leonard
36:26stole that fight
36:28fair and square
36:29and of course
36:31Hagler was bitter
36:34when the fight
36:35was over
36:35Leonard told me
36:36himself
36:37you beat me
36:38and then when
36:39they take it away
36:39from me like that
36:40it's hard to believe
36:42all the things
36:43that had tormented
36:44him all his life
36:46there they were
36:47one more time
36:48full display
36:49in the whole world
36:50I won the fight
36:51they took my titles
36:53I got caught
36:54by this guy
36:56they gave it
36:56to Sugar Ray
36:57I'm not marvelous
36:58I'm just Marvin
36:59just like I always thought
37:01he just couldn't take
37:03losing to anyone
37:04but to lose to
37:05Sugar Ray Leonard
37:06I think that
37:08that hurt him more than
37:10words can describe
37:28I have never seen
37:30a more
37:32a dramatic unraveling
37:34of a fighter
37:34or an athlete
37:35after one event
37:37all the things
37:38that got him
37:39to the middleweight
37:40championship
37:41of the world
37:41the strength
37:43of character
37:44the ability
37:44to focus
37:45and concentrate
37:46the self-denial
37:47of earthly pleasures
37:48and all of the other
37:49things that got him
37:50there
37:52they all disappeared
37:54in the months
37:55following the loss
37:55to Sugar Ray Leonard
37:56his first defeat
37:57in 11 years
37:58marvelous Marvin Hangler
38:00went into seclusion
38:02he disappeared
38:03after the fight
38:04he had a place
38:05up in New Hampshire
38:06Goody and Pat
38:07couldn't reach him
38:09he was just
38:10in a funk
38:11you know
38:11he was
38:12he was in a depression
38:14this had become
38:15a toxic
38:16event in his life
38:17and I mean toxic
38:19by the sense
38:20that
38:20it was inside
38:21of him
38:22and it was
38:22eating him away
38:23and it was not
38:24only eating him away
38:25but it was eating
38:26his life
38:27with his family away
38:28his marriage
38:29which was always
38:30kind of shaky
38:30fell apart
38:31from reports
38:32he began to drink
38:34quite a bit
38:34he went on
38:35an extended vacation
38:36he was down
38:37in St. Bart's
38:37maybe a month
38:38or so
38:39just hanging out
38:39at poolside
38:40drinking
38:40not wanting
38:41to be bothered
38:41by anybody
38:44conflict
38:45conflict between
38:45Hagler and his wife
38:47became public
38:47in June of 1987
38:49when Bertha
38:50filed an abuse
38:51petition
38:51a judge issued
38:53a temporary order
38:54barring Hagler
38:55from their house
38:56and gave Bertha
38:56custody of their
38:57five children
38:58while Hagler
38:59didn't contest
39:00the court order
39:01he did deny
39:02a news report
39:02alleging widespread
39:04abuse of alcohol
39:05and cocaine
39:07for about a year
39:09Hagler agitated
39:10for a rematch
39:10and he was almost
39:12frantic about it
39:12everywhere he went
39:13you know
39:14that's all I want
39:15to talk about
39:15rematch
39:16rematch
39:16rematch
39:16rematch
39:17Ray Leonard
39:18wasn't going to
39:19ever give him
39:19a rematch
39:20he says
39:21goody
39:21he says
39:22I'm having
39:23some problems
39:24thinking about
39:25getting a divorce
39:26for about a bar
39:26he says
39:27might as well
39:28hang him up
39:29he says
39:33I says
39:34Marvin
39:34I says
39:34great
39:35I says
39:35I'm on your
39:36side
39:36you did
39:36a great job
39:37we hugged
39:38and that was it
39:39he retired
39:40his career
39:40was bookended
39:41he was
39:42screwed in
39:43Vegas
39:43in the
39:44anafirma
39:45fight
39:45in 79
39:46and he was
39:47he felt
39:48screwed
39:49in his last
39:49fight
39:50in 87
39:50it was
39:51perfect
39:51bookend
39:52Ray left
39:53laughing
39:54all the way
39:55to the bank
39:56and went on
39:57to win
39:57several more
39:57titles
39:58and he left
40:00Marvin Hagler
40:01in an emotional
40:03lurch
40:03from which he's
40:04never really
40:05recovered
40:06he was going
40:07to go
40:07and he wasn't
40:09going to come
40:09back to something
40:10that he felt
40:11that he had
40:12respected for
40:13so many years
40:14and in the end
40:15conspired against
40:15him
40:16didn't treat him
40:16properly
40:17he found
40:18a sort of
40:19not only
40:20second home
40:21there
40:21but a home
40:22that fit
40:23his view
40:24of himself
40:24he became
40:25a minor
40:26movie star
40:27there
40:28he feels
40:29he gets
40:29there
40:30when he never
40:30got in the
40:31United States
40:32which is the
40:32great respect
40:33for being one
40:33of the great
40:34fighters of all
40:34time
40:36he met
40:36this girl
40:37that he fell
40:37in love with
40:38and married
40:38and he has
40:39a new type
40:40life
40:40speaks good
40:41Italian
40:41he seems
40:44to be pleased
40:45Hagler's goal
40:47of breaking
40:48into foreign
40:48films
40:49and then
40:49crossing over
40:50to Hollywood
40:50hasn't been
40:51realized
40:53he stays
40:54busy making
40:55personal appearances
40:56and doing
40:56speaking engagements
40:57in 2006
40:59at a charity
41:00event in Boston
41:01he showed
41:02that the old
41:03pain still
41:04lived
41:05the people
41:06were making
41:06noise
41:07in the crowd
41:08it was a long
41:09night
41:09and it was
41:10coming time
41:10to introduce
41:11him
41:11as our
41:13main guest
41:15and he came
41:16to me
41:17grabbed me
41:18behind the
41:18microphone
41:19and I actually
41:20had thoughts
41:20of not going
41:21up
41:21and he actually
41:23had tears
41:23in his eyes
41:24as he was
41:25saying
41:25these people
41:25don't understand
41:26we have got
41:27the best boxes
41:28in the house
41:29of the world
41:30we have here
41:32tonight
41:36and you're
41:37not giving
41:37us the proper
41:38respect
41:38by running
41:40around
41:42and not
41:42sitting down
41:43and listening
41:44to what we
41:44have to say
41:46because our
41:47whole life
41:47is right there
41:49on the screen
41:51all he wanted
41:52was people
41:53to care about
41:54him
41:54for people
41:56to love
41:56him
42:07Hagler
42:08was the type
42:09of fighter
42:09that
42:10hardcore fans
42:12always respected
42:14but his greatness
42:15was always in doubt
42:17the reward for him
42:18is that after years
42:19of not getting
42:21the limelight
42:22he's now considered
42:23among the greatest
42:24middleweights
42:25in history
42:26he took on
42:27all comers
42:29and he beat
42:30everyone
42:32but his legacy
42:34unfortunately
42:35will be
42:36forever
42:37diminished
42:38by the loss
42:40to Ray Leonard
42:42I don't think
42:43that's fair
42:45I don't think
42:46the world
42:46will ever know
42:48besides of this
42:49ring accomplishments
42:51they would truly
42:52never know
42:53who Marvin Hagler
42:54is
42:56because he's
42:57such a
42:58private man
42:59such a proud man
43:02he won't let you
43:03in
43:05he would never
43:06let us in
43:07to his world
43:08we just have to
43:09accept
43:10what he's given
43:11us
43:11what he's shown
43:12us
43:12that he's a champion
43:15inside and
43:15outside the ring
43:18yes sir
43:20yes sir
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