Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard talks began as early as 1982, mostly because Hagler was looking for a huge payday. Ray Leonard was a welterweight at the time and the idea of him bulking up to middleweight seemed ridiculous to me, since was slightly built and moving up the 154 was a stretch. When Ray announced his retirement on November 9, 1982 following retina surgery on his eye, Hagler had to look for someone else to make money with.
Leonard continued to work as an analyst for both CBS and HBO and seemed content in that role. But underneath the surface, it was killing him that he was forced to retire at just 26 years old against his will while he was the best in the world at what he did. Marvin moved on and met Roberto Duran in November 1983, but didn’t look good and struggled by giving Duran way too much respect.
A month later, Sugar Ray announced, “I’m Back!” in a press conference and was scheduled to meet Kevin Howard in February. Another eye procedure moved the bout back to May 11, 1984 in Worcester, Massachusetts on HBO, and I had the privilege to get to see Ray train in person for the return fight. Leonard was knocked down in the fourth round by Howard, rallied to stop him in the ninth, but announced his retirement after the fight. He said to Larry Merchant at the post fight press conference, “It just wasn’t there tonight Larry, and if not tonight, it never will be.” It disappointed me to hear the news, which meant losing one of my favorite in fighters again, along with the excitement only he could bring to the sport.
Hagler became the biggest name in boxing by knocking out Thomas Hearns on April 15, 1985. He finally starting getting the commercials and the attention he craved from the public. Marvin was scheduled to face John ‘The Beast’ Mugabi in November 1985, but an injury moved the date back to March 10, 1986. I watched the fight on closed circuit at the Spectrum in Philadelphia which saw Hagler wear Mugabi down and stop him in the eleventh.
Two months later, Ray Leonard announced that he was interested in fighting Hagler after watching him struggle with Mugabi. After months of negotiations, the Super-Fight was inked for April 6, 1987 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
I was thrilled at the news and in mid March, 1987, flew to Hilton Head, South Carolina to watch Ray train for 3 days in preparation for the Hagler bout. Leonard looked more muscular and sharp in workouts, which bolstered my confidence that he could pull off the miracle needed to upset the great Marvin Hagler.
As I sat in my $25 seat at the Spectrum filled with nerves and anxiety before the opening bell, they were settled when I saw how good Ray looked from the start. He was outboxing Hagler and scoring points often, enough to win the first four rounds of the bout. Marvin rallied and took rounds 7 through 9, but Ray boxed well in the last 3 rounds to earn the split decision announced by Chuck Hull in ring center after the fight.
I was on a high for weeks after the upset, thrilled that Leonard had done the near impossible. He seemed intent on going back into retirement, satisfied with his defeat of Hagler and his proving the experts wrong. Hagler seethed at the decision, insisting he was robbed and never laced up another pair of boxing gloves again.
Whether Sugar Ray Leonard would fight again was only something time would tell, but his upset over Marvin Hagler on April 6, 1987 make it me one of ‘Boxing’s Classics’.
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