The fight between Marvin Hagler and John ‘The Beast’ Mugabi was originally set for November 14, 1985, but Marvin suffered a broken nose which delayed the bout 5 months. On March 10, 1986, the fight took place at the Outdoor Arena at Caesar’s Palace on a cold, rainy night. Thomas Hearns knocked out James Shuler in the first round in the co-main event with a single right cross. James would tragically die in a motorcycle accident a week later and in respect, Thomas Hearns went to his funeral and put the NABF belt he just won in his casket.
I went to the Spectrum in south Philadelphia to see the closed-circuit event and had a great seat in the first row on the floor. It was fun sitting next to a bunch of kids that were boxers and chatting about different fights before the main event came on. John Mugabi had become a personal favorite of mine, since so many of his fights were on NBC and it was exciting seeing him knock everybody out. Personally I didn’t think he had any chance of beating Hagler, since he was moving up in weight class and only tipped in at 157 lbs.
After sitting through a replay of the Hagler-Hearns war from a year earlier, both men arrived into the ring. Hagler was aggressive but cautious from the opening bell, but Mugabi wasn’t taking a backward step and was landing big bombs from the start. The action was brisk and exciting, better than the Hearns fight because Thomas was shot after one round.
Halfway through the bout, I had Marvin slightly ahead but was impressed with how many big shots John was landing, consistently and often. Marvin started to wear Mugabi down with his incredible conditioning however, and by the end of the 10th round, I knew the end was near. John finally went down from exhaustion as much as anything else in the 11th, he was dropped and counted out and Marvin retained his middleweight belt.
Hagler said that Mugabi was the toughest opponent of his career in his post-fight interview, but Mugabi had nothing to be ashamed of and earned the respect of boxing fans around the world with his brave performance. Hagler kept his spot as the number one fighter on the planet and continued to enjoy the laurels that came with it after years in anonymity. Sugar Ray Leonard was in the audience that night and he later said that watching the bout convinced him to come out of retirement to fight Hagler. However on March 10, 1986, Marvelous Marvin Hagler proved he was still the king of the sport.
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