Marvelous Marvin Hagler

Antuofermo lost his title later to British boxer Alan Minter, who gave Hagler his second title shot. Hagler went to Wembley Arena to face Minter. The tense atmosphere was stoked further when Minter was quoted as saying that "No black man is going to take my title"—Minter would later insist he meant "that black man". Hagler took command and his slashing punches soon opened up the cut-prone Minter. With Hagler dominating the action, referee Carlos Berrocal halted the fight during the third round to have the four glaring cuts on Minter's face examined. Minter's manager, Doug Bidwell, almost immediately conceded defeat. Once Berrocal waved the bout off, a riot broke out among the spectators. Clive Gammon of Sports Illustrated described the scene as "a horrifying ululation of howls and boos." Hagler and his trainers had to be escorted to their locker room by a phalanx of policemen, all the while enduring a steady rain of beer bottles and glasses. After seven years and 50 fights, Hagler was the World Middleweight Champion.

It wasn't even close...He didn't just outpoint Hagler, he exposed him. He made him look like a guy chasing a bus. In snowshoes. Leonard repeatedly beat Hagler to the punch. When he did, he hit harder. He hit more often. He made Hagler into what he perceived him to be throughout his career—a brawler, a swarmer, a man who could club you to death only if you stood there and let him. If you moved, he was lost.

Hagler spent his early years in Newark, New Jersey's Central Ward. Following the Newark Riots of July 12–17, 1967, in which 26 people were killed and $11 million in property damage was caused, including the destruction of the Hagler's tenement, his family moved to Brockton, Massachusetts.

He completed his amateur career with a 55–1 record.

Then came Juan Roldán of Argentina, who became the only man to be credited with a knockdown of Hagler, scoring one knockdown seconds into the fight – which was clearly a slip to anyone who saw it. Hagler protested bitterly that he had been pulled/pushed to the canvas. Hagler cut Roldan's left eye, then brutalized him over ten rounds and stopping him in the middle of round ten. Sugar Ray Leonard was calling the fight ringside with HBO analyst Barry Tompkins. He noted to Tompkins between rounds that Hagler looked older and slower. "Marvin might finally be slowing down, Barry" Leonard remarked. Many people believe this is the fight that gave Sugar Ray Leonard the idea that he could actually win a fight with the aging Hagler. Hamsho was given a rematch, but the Syrian was again TKO'd, this time in only three rounds. Hamsho angered Hagler with a trio of intentional headbutts in the second round and a fourth early in the third, goading the normally patient and cautious Hagler into a full-out attack that left Hamsho battered and defenseless in a matter of seconds.

Leonard was announced as the winner and new middleweight champion of the world by split decision (118–110, 115–113, 113–115), a result which remains hotly disputed to this day. The Hagler vs. Leonard fight divides fans, pundits, press and ringside observers arguably more than any other fight in boxing history, with scorecards varying as widely as 117–111 Hagler to 118–110 Leonard, and everything in between. The only near universally agreed views about the fight are that Hagler was foolish for starting the fight in an orthodox stance, that Leonard won the first two rounds and that Hagler won the fifth round. Every other round in the fight divides people as to who actually won them, or if the rounds were even.

Official ringside judge JoJo Guerra, whose scorecard of 118–110 in favour of Leonard was derided in many quarters, commented that:

Judge Dave Moretti, who scored it 115–113 for Leonard, said:

Judge Lou Filippo, who scored it 115–113 for Hagler and felt that Hagler's bodyshots and aggression earned him the nod, said:

McIlvanney also referred to Budd Schulberg's contention about a 'compound optical illusion', namely that by being the underdog and more competitive than expected against the dominant undisputed champion in Hagler meant that Leonard appeared more effective and to be doing more than he actually was. Leonard himself had said to journalists before the fight "the reason I will win is because you don't think I can". Harry Gibbs, the British judge who ironically had been rejected by Pat Petronelli from Hagler's camp and replaced by JoJo Guerra, said he scored it 115–113 for Hagler when he watched the fight at home.

Former middleweight southpaw boxer Robbie Sims is Hagler's brother. Hagler has five children with his first wife, Bertha: Charelle, Celeste, James, Marvin Jr., and Gentry. Although he owns a home in Bartlett, New Hampshire, Hagler currently lives in Milan. In May 2000, he married his second wife Kay, an Italian woman, in Pioltello, Italy.

After the loss to Leonard, Hagler moved to Italy, where he became a well-known star of action films. His roles include a US Marine in the films Indio and Indio 2. In 1996, he starred alongside Giselle Blondet in Virtual Weapon. Hagler has provided boxing commentary for British television. Another foray into the entertainment field includes work in the video game Fight Night: Round 3.

Hagler requested a rematch but Leonard chose to retire again (the third of five high-profile retirements announced by Leonard during his professional boxing career), having said he would do so beforehand. 14 months after their fight, Hagler retired from boxing in June 1988, declaring that he was "tired of waiting" for Leonard to grant him a rematch. Just a month after Hagler's retirement, Leonard announced another boxing comeback to fight against WBC light-heavyweight champion Donny Lalonde at the 168lbs super-middleweight limit. In 1990, Leonard finally offered Hagler a rematch which reportedly would have earned him $15m, but he declined. By then, Hagler had settled down into a new life as an actor in Italy and was now uninterested in his past boxing life. Hagler said "A while ago, yeah, I wanted him so bad, but I'm over that." At the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show Hagler and Leonard had a mock rematch by playing against each other in the video game Boxing Legends of the Ring, and claimed that an actual rematch was being planned.

Hagler's next challenger was Sugar Ray Leonard, who was returning to the ring after a three-year retirement (having fought just once in the previous five years). During the pre-fight negotiations, in return for granting Hagler a larger share of the purse, Leonard obtained several conditions which would be crucial to his strategy: a 22x22ft ring instead of a smaller ring, 10 ounce gloves instead of 8 ounce gloves, and the fight was to be over 12 rounds instead of the 15 rounds favoured by Hagler. Leonard was 2 years younger, had half as many fights, and unbeknownst to Hagler, had engaged in several 'real' fights behind closed doors (i.e. gloves, rounds, a referee, judges and no head gear) in order to shake off his ring rust. The fight took place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on April 6, 1987. Hagler was the clear betting favorite after a dominant six and a half years as the reigning undisputed middleweight champion of the world, having knocked out all opponents as champion except in winning a very close unanimous decision over 15 rounds against Roberto Durán. It was Leonard's first fight at middleweight (160lbs weight limit). The fight was to be for Hagler's WBC, lineal and Ring middleweight titles only, as the WBA stripped Hagler of their belt for choosing to face Leonard instead of WBA mandatory challenger Herol Graham. The IBF, while keeping Hagler as their champion, refused to sanction his fight against Leonard, and said that the IBF middleweight title would be declared vacant if Hagler lost to Leonard.

Next was Olympic silver medalist John Mugabi of Uganda, who was 25–0 with 25 knockouts and was ranked the number one contender by all three major bodies. The fight took place on March 10, 1986 as Hagler had hurt his back and could not fight on the first date booked in 1985. Hagler stopped Mugabi in the 11th round of a brutal fight. Many ringside observers, including analyst Gil Clancy, noticed that Hagler was showing signs of advanced ring wear and age. He was much slower of hand and foot and seemed much easier to hit. He had also completely morphed his ring style from a slick, quick-fisted, boxer/puncher to a strictly flat-footed, stalking, slugger to compensate for his loss of speed and reflexes. Hagler was now said to be seriously considering retirement. Hagler's promoter Bob Arum was quoted as saying he was expecting Hagler to retire in the face of being challenged by Sugar Ray Leonard.

On April 15, 1985, Hagler and Thomas Hearns met in what was billed as The Fight; later it would become known as "The War." Round One: Three minutes of blistering violence. Within the first fifteen seconds, Hearns landed his best punch, a straight right, onto Hagler's chin. The champion stepped back, then came forward. At this point, Hagler began to walk through Hearns' power punches.

Hagler is an inductee of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. He was named Fighter of the Decade (1980s) by Boxing Illustrated magazine, and twice named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. In 2001 and 2004, The Ring named him the fourth greatest middleweight of all time and in 2002 named him the 17th greatest fighter of the past 80 years. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Hagler as the 6th greatest middleweight of all time, while BoxRec rates him the 12th greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound; and the 4th best middleweight of all time. Many analysts and boxing writers consider Hagler to have one of the most durable chins in boxing history.

In November 1979, Hagler fought World Middleweight Champion Vito Antuofermo at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. After fifteen rounds, most ringside observers thought that Hagler had won, even though Antuofermo had been closing the gap in the second half of the fight. Hagler claimed the ref said he won, but the ref denied ever saying it. Hagler claimed that he and many others were surprised when the decision was announced as a draw. This only added to Hagler's frustrations, as Antuofermo retained his title. Hagler had the boxing skills and killer instinct to knock Vito out, but instead he played it safe as Antuofermo closed the gap late in the fight and it cost Hagler the title.

National Golden Gloves (Light Middleweight), Lowell, Massachusetts, March 1973:

United States National Championships (Middleweight), Boston, Massachusetts, May 1973:

Boston promoter Rip Valenti took an interest in Hagler and began bringing in top ranked opponents for Hagler to face. He fought 1972 Olympics gold medalist Sugar Ray Seales; Hagler won the first time, the second was a draw and Hagler knocked out Seales in the third fight. Number 1 ranked Mike Colbert was knocked out in the twelfth and also had his jaw broken by Hagler. Briton Kevin Finnegan was stopped in eight. Afterwards Finnegan required 40 stitches in his face. He dropped a controversial decision to Bobby 'Boogaloo' Watts, but knocked out Watts in two rounds in a rematch. Hagler won a ten-round decision over 'Bad' Bennie Briscoe. By then, promoter Bob Arum took notice and signed him.

In 1969, Hagler took up boxing after being roughed up on the street by a local boxer—whom he later defeated—with his friends watching. The very next day after being roughed up, Hagler, determined to become a boxer himself, walked into a gym owned by brothers Pat and Goody Petronelli, who became his trainers and managers. As Hagler needed to be 16 in order to enter some amateur tournaments, he lied about his age, saying that he was born in 1952 instead of 1954. Hagler's real birth year publicly came to light in 1982 when he had to state his date of birth in order to change his legal name from Marvin Nathaniel Hagler to Marvelous Marvin Hagler. In 1973, Hagler won the National AAU 165-pound title after defeating a U.S. Marine from Atlanta, GA, Terry Dobbs:

Marvelous Marvin Hagler (born Marvin Nathaniel Hagler; May 23, 1954) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 1987. He reigned as undisputed middleweight champion from 1980 to 1987, making twelve successful defenses of that title, and currently holds the highest knockout percentage of all undisputed middleweight champions, at 78%, while also holding the second-longest unified championship reign in boxing history at twelve consecutive defenses. At six years and seven months, his reign as undisputed middleweight champion is the second-longest of the last century, behind only Tony Zale, whose reign included several years of inactivity during his service in World War II. In 1982, annoyed that network announcers often did not refer to him by his nickname "Marvelous", Hagler legally changed his name to "Marvelous Marvin Hagler".