John’s first bout of 1985 was on March 17, 1985 against Earl Hargrove in Tampa, Florida. ‘The Beast’ easily disposed of his opponent in the opening round in his last bout for a while at super-welterweight. He wouldn’t climb through the ropes again until August 6 in Atlantic City, where he knocked out Bill Bradley in four. That set up a November shot at Marvin Hagler’s middleweight crown, since John couldn’t get a title shot at 154 lbs. However, Hagler had suffered a broken nose, forcing a cancellation, and setting a new date for March of 1986.
I went to the Spectrum in Philadelphia in my 1985 while Pontiac Firebird to see the closed circuit action on March 10, 1986. The card took place at the outdoor arena at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and featured Thomas Hearns taking on James Shuler in addition to the Hagler-Mugabi main event.
After purchasing a bag of Philly soft pretzels in the parking lot, I settled into my seat in the first row on the floor of the Spectrum. I was sitting next to a kid from Philly with his friends, and it was fun talking to some fellow boxing fans.
Hearns made easy work of James Shuler, knocking him out with a beautiful straight right hand in the first round. Sadly, Shuler died in a motorcycle accident a week or so later, and Thomas was kind enough to attend his funeral, and put the NABF middleweight belt he had won from James in his casket.
It was a chilly, damp evening in Vegas, and many of the boxers wore plastic baggies over their boxing shoes on the way to the ring. I was certainly voting hard for Mugabi to win, but knew it would be a tall order against a great fighter like Hagler. Many celebrities and boxers were in attendance, including Sugar Ray Leonard, who would make a major announcement a month or after this bout.
Mugabi tipped the scales at 157 lbs., while Marvin weighed 159 1/2 lbs. Both were magnificently trained, and I had the usual butterflies as the bell for the opening bell rang. John was obviously not intimidated by Hagler, and fought aggressively from the start. Both men traded heavy blows, but Marvin’s jab was effective the whole night. Mugabi landed his share of big shots, and even though he was losing the fight in my opinion, was certainly holding his own. Hagler’s eye was closing as round eleven began, but it obvious that John was tiring. Halfway through that round, Mugabi dropped to the canvas from fatigue as much as anything, and was counted out.
Overall it was an exciting night at the fights. Hagler said that “Mugabi was the toughest fighter he ever fought.” , which is certainly quite a statement coming from a great fighter like Marvin. John suffered no shame with his courageous effort, and earned some new fans instead. What he did after this loss, would determine what kind of a future he would actually have.
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