Wikipedia

Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard

Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, billed as The Super Fight, was a professional boxing match contested on April 6, 1987 for the WBC and The Ring magazine middleweight titles.[1] Leonard won by a controversial split decision and ultimately this became Hagler's final fight in his career.

The Super Fight
DateApril 6, 1987
VenueCaesars Palace, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the lineWBC and The Ring middleweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Marvin Hagler Ray Leonard
Nickname Marvelous Sugar
Hometown Brockton, Massachusetts, U.S. Palmer Park, Maryland, U.S.
Purse $12,000,000 $11,000,000
Pre-fight record 62–2–2 (52 KO) 33–1 (24 KO)
Age 32 years, 10 months 30 years, 10 months
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 158+1⁄2 lb (72 kg) 158 lb (72 kg)
Style Southpaw Orthodox
Recognition WBC, IBF and The Ring
Middleweight Champion		 2-division world champion
Result
Leonard wins via 12-round split decision (118–110, 115–113, 113–115)

Background

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In the late summer of 1986, negotiations began for a proposed super fight between long-reigning undisputed middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler and former two-weight champion Sugar Ray Leonard.[2] Leonard had fought only once since his first professional retirement in 1982, defeating Kevin Howard in 1984, retiring again immediately following the fight after being dissatisfied with his performance.[3] In March 1986, Hagler defeated John Mugabi via 11th round knockout, though Mugabi gave Hagler a tough fight and swelled his right eye. Leonard was in attendance of the Hagler–Mugabi fight and after seeing Hagler having slower speed than usual against Mugabi, thought he could beat Hagler,[4] and in May 1986, Leonard announced that he would come out of retirement only to fight Hagler.[5]

Hagler was initially reluctant to fight Leonard, announcing in July 1986 that a fight with Leonard wouldn't happen as he was "seriously thinking of retirement."[6] By the following month, Hagler had a change of heart and agreed to face Leonard in 1987.[7] Hagler was guaranteed $12 million plus a percentage of the revenue, while Leonard was guaranteed $11 million plus 50 percent of the closed circuit television rights in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Hagler ended up with around $20 million and Leonard with around $12 million.

The Leonard camp initially proposed a ten round, non-title fight. Leonard insisted on three conditions for the fight that would be crucial to his strategy; first the ring was to be 22x22ft instead of a smaller ring; second the gloves were to be 10 ounces rather than 8 ounces; and third the fight was to be over 12 rounds instead of the 15 rounds favoured by Hagler. Mike Trainer, Leonard's lawyer and advisor, stated that it was "12 rounds or no fight."[8] In return for accepting these conditions, Hagler was offered a large share of the purse.[9][10] Hagler had previously held the middleweight title belts of all three major sanctioning bodies, the WBA, WBC and IBF. While the WBC agreed to sanction the bout against Leonard, the WBA stripped Hagler of their title after he chose to face Leonard instead of their mandatory challenger Herol Graham.[11] The IBF, while keeping Hagler as their champion, refused to sanction the fight against Leonard, and said that the IBF middleweight title would be declared vacant if Hagler lost to Leonard.[12]

In a poll of sportswriters before the fight, 46 out of 50 picked Hagler to win. Leonard was expected to struggle because of his long lay-off and having never had a fight at middleweight before.[13] Unknown to Hagler or the media at the time, in preparation for the fight Leonard had secretly engaged in four warm-up bouts in private with "top-20-type opponents, against whom he had gone 4–0 with two KOs".[14]

The fight

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In what would go down to be among the most controversial fights in boxing history,[15] Leonard would ultimately earn a split decision victory. Hagler started the fight abandoning his usual southpaw stance in favor of an orthodox stance, which would prove costly as he lost the first two rounds on all three judges' scorecards. By round three, Hagler switched to starting rounds in his normal southpaw stance. Hagler would spend most of the fight as the aggressor, while Leonard would pepper Hagler with combinations before retreating away. During the last 30 seconds of each round, Leonard would attack Hagler with a flurry of punches in an effort to "steal" the rounds on the scorecards. Overall, Leonard landed 306 of his 629 thrown punches (49%) compared to Hagler's 291 out of 792 (37%). Hagler landed more jabs than Leonard, but neither boxer came close to knocking the other man out. Hagler later complained about Leonard not standing and fighting him face-to-face and stated that he didn't dominate the fight enough to take it from a defending champion; Leonard's supporters dismissed the notion that a defending champion has a lesser burden of performance, stating that the only advantage they have is that winning half of the rounds will retain their title, and Hagler failed to do that.

Two judges had the fight close, seven rounds to five each way, with judge Lou Filippo scoring the fight 115–113 for Hagler, and judge Dave Moretti scoring the fight 115–113 for Leonard. The third judge, JoJo Guerra, had Leonard winning by a lopsided score of 118–110, having had Leonard winning 10 rounds and Hagler winning only 2 rounds.[16] Guerra's scorecard was widely derided in the media following the bout. Guerra later acknowledged that he made a mistake and should have scored two more rounds for Hagler, but didn't state that Hagler should have won the fight.[17] Ironically, the judge who was removed from the three-man panel at Hagler's request in place of Guerra (he was British and Hagler's camp felt he would have inherent bias because he had been present when Hagler won a 1980 fight in London against a popular British boxer named Alan Minter), said later that he did his own scorecard at home as a viewer and would have given the fight by a 2-point margin to Hagler.

Scorecards

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Official scorecards

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Nevada Athletic Commission
Official score card
Title: The Super Fight   Referee: Richard Steele   Supervisor: Antonio Sciarra
Date: April 6, 1987 Venue: Caesars Palace Promoter: Bob Arum
Marvin Hagler vs. Ray Leonard Marvin Hagler vs. Ray Leonard Marvin Hagler vs. Ray Leonard
RS TS Rd TS RS RS TS Rd TS RS RS TS Rd TS RS
9 1 10   9 1 10   9 1 10
9 18 2 20 10 9 18 2 20 10 9 18 2 20 10
10 28 3 29 9 9 27 3 30 10 9 27 3 30 10
10 38 4 38 9 9 36 4 40 10 9 36 4 40 10
10 48 5 47 9 10 46 5 49 9 10 46 5 49 9
9 57 6 57 10 9 55 6 59 10 9 55 6 59 10
10 67 7 66 9 9 64 7 69 10 10 65 7 68 9
10 77 8 75 9 9 73 8 79 10 10 75 8 77 9
10 87 9 84 9 9 82 9 89 10 10 85 9 86 9
10 97 10 93 9 9 91 10 99 10 9 94 10 96 10
9 106 11 103 10 9 100 11 109 10 9 103 11 106 10
9 115 12 113 10 10 110 12 118 9 10 113 12 115 9
FINAL SCORE 115 – 113 FINAL SCORE   FINAL SCORE 110 – 118 FINAL SCORE   FINAL SCORE 113 – 115 FINAL SCORE
Won Lost Lost Won Lost Won
Judge: Lou Filippo Judge: Jose Juan Guerra Judge: Dave Moretti
Suspensions: None Point deductions: None Decision: Split Decision

Press row scorecards

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The scorecards from the ringside press and broadcast media attest to the polarizing views and opinions of the fight:

  • ABC (Howard Cosell): 117–112 Leonard
  • Bob Arum: 7–5 Hagler
  • Associated Press: 117–112 Hagler
  • Baltimore Sun: 7–5 Leonard (115–113 Leonard)
  • Boston Globe (Ron Borges): 115–113 Hagler
  • Boston Globe (Steve Marantz): 117–111 Leonard
  • Boston Herald: 116–113 Leonard
  • CBS (Gil Clancy): 115–113 Leonard
  • CBS (Tim Ryan): 115–114 Hagler
  • Chicago Sun-Times: 115–114 Hagler
  • Chicago Tribune (1 - Bob Verdi): 115–113 Hagler
  • Chicago Tribune (2 - Bernie Lincicome): 115–113 Hagler
  • Chicago Tribune (3 - Sam Smith): 115–113 Hagler
  • ESPN (Al Bernstein): 115–113 Hagler
  • ESPN (Dave Bontempo): 114–114
  • HBO (Harold Lederman): 115–113 Leonard
  • HBO (Larry Merchant): 114–114
  • Houston Chronicle: 115–114 Leonard
  • Newark Star-Ledger (Jerry Izenberg): 115–113 Hagler
  • KO Magazine: 118–111 Leonard
  • Miami Herald: 116–112 Hagler
  • Miami News: 116–112 Hagler
  • Los Angeles Times: 117–111 Leonard
  • Newsday: 115–114 Hagler
  • New York Daily News (1): 117–111 Leonard
  • New York Daily News (2 - Michael Katz): 117–112 Leonard
  • New York Post (1): 114–114
  • New York Post (2 - Jerry Lisker): 115–113 Hagler
  • New York Times (Dave Anderson): 114–114
  • Oakland Tribune: 117–112 Leonard
  • Philadelphia Daily News (1): 116–112 Leonard
  • Philadelphia Daily News (2): 115–113 Hagler
  • Ring Magazine (Nigel Collins): 115–113 Leonard
  • Ring Magazine (Phill Marder): 114–114
  • San Jose Mercury-News: 116–115 Hagler
  • Seattle Times: 115–113 Hagler
  • Sports Illustrated (Hugh McIlvanney): 116–112 Hagler
  • Sports Illustrated (William Nack): 116–114 Leonard
  • Sports Illustrated (Pat Putnam): 115–113 Hagler
  • United Press International: 116–112 Leonard
  • USA Today: 115–113 Leonard
  • Washington Post: 114–114

Aftermath

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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.[18][19] In June 1988, 14 months after their fight, Hagler announced his retirement from boxing, 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.[20][21] Hagler said "A while ago, yeah, I wanted him so bad, but I'm over that."[20] 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.[22]

This would also be Leonard's last fight with long-time trainer and cornerman Angelo Dundee, who had worked with Leonard his entire professional career. Dundee felt insulted that he was only paid $150,000 (1.25%) from Leonard's $12 million purse and declined to be in Leonard's corner for his next fight against Donny Lalonde unless he had a contract, which was refused.[23]

Fight card

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Confirmed bouts:[24]

Weight Class Weight vs. Method Round Notes
Middleweight 160 lb. Ray Leonard def. Marvin Hagler (c) SD 12/12 Note 1
Middleweight 160 lb. Juan Roldán def. James Kinchen TKO 9/10
Light middleweight 154 lb. Lupe Aquino def. Davey Moore TKO 5/10
Light welterweight 140 lb. Anthony Jones vs. Frankie Davies D 8/8
Light welterweight 140 lb. Micky Ward def. Kelly Koble TKO 4/8

^Note 1 For WBC, The Ring and lineal middleweight titles

Broadcasting

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Country Broadcaster
  United Kingdom ITV
  United States HBO

References

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  1. ^ "Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  2. ^ Hagler-Leonard Fight Moves Closer to Fruition, Washington Post article, 1986-05-13 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  3. ^ Leonard Chooses Retirement After Finding Spark is Gone, NY Times article, 1984-05-13 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  4. ^ 30 years later: Marvin Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard superfight still resonates, USA Today article, 2017-04-05 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  5. ^ Leonard Wants to Fight Hagler, Chicago Tribune article, 1986-05-03 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  6. ^ With Hagler 95 Percent Retired, It's Other 5 Percent That Counts, Washington Post article, 1986-07-06 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  7. ^ Hagler Backing Leonard Bout, NY Times article, 1986-08-19 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  8. ^ "Hagler needed 15 rounds, manager says". The Sun Sentinel. April 8, 1987. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  9. ^ Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, Boxrec, 2020-02-16 Retrieved 2020-02-16
  10. ^ Hagler-Leonard Guarantee Worth Record $ 23 Million, Washington Post article, 1986-11-04 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  11. ^ WBA Strips Hagler of Middleweight Title, Orlando Sentinel article, 1987-02-26 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  12. ^ After a Year's Prefight, Bell Tolls for These, Sun-Sentinel article, 1987-04-05 Retrieved on 2020-02-14
  13. ^ "A Poll of the Experts: It's Almost Unanimous: the Fight Belongs to Hagler". LA Times. 6 April 1987. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  14. ^ Bernard Fernandez (4 April 2017). "Memories of Hagler-Leonard, 30 Years Later". The Sweet Science. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  15. ^ Hagler-Leonard: The Debate Rages On, Sports Illustrated article, 2017-05-01 Retrieved on 2020-02-16
  16. ^ 30 years later: Marvin Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard superfight still resonates, USA Today article, 2017-04-05 Retrieved on 2020-02-13
  17. ^ They Witnessed Same Fight, Saw Different Winner
  18. ^ Winderman, Ira (April 5, 1987). "After A Year's Prefight, Bell Tolls For These". Sun-Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  19. ^ "Sugar Ray Leonard Post Fight Press Conference After Defeating Marvin Hagler". Champsuk.com. April 6, 1987. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  20. ^ a b Telander, Rick (July 2, 1990). "With Friends Like These, Who Needs Sugar Ray?". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on July 8, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  21. ^ Carter, Bob (September 26, 2006). "You Look Marvelous". ESPN Sport. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  22. ^ "Famous Boxers Duke it Out". GamePro. No. 57. IDG. April 1994. p. 176.
  23. ^ Ray Leonard and Angelo Dundee, who have been together..., UPI article, 1988-10-19 Retrieved on 2020-02-19
  24. ^ "BoxRec - event".
Preceded by Marvin Hagler's bouts
7 April 1987 		Retired
Preceded by Sugar Ray Leonard's bouts
7 April 1987 		Succeeded by
Awards
Preceded by The Ring Fight of the Year
1987 		Succeeded by
Preceded by The Ring Upset of the Year
1987 		Succeeded by
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