Marvin Hagler was a tough middleweight from Brockton, Massachusetts who had been boxing since 1973, and racked up over 40 victories and yet never fought for the title. In November of 1979 on the undercard of the Leonard-Benitez fight in Las Vegas, he finally got his chance.
I remember watching his bout with Vito Antuofermo, a small but rugged fighter from Brooklyn, New York. Vito had won the belts 5 months previously, and went into the ring with Hagler as an underdog. Hagler got off to an early lead, but the short and tough Antuofermo hung tough. Howard Cosell was the sole voice of ABC boxing, and as the brawl reached the 15th and final round, kept saying that Vito might have done enough to get a draw. That is in fact how the scorecards were read, and a disgusted Hagler left Vegas still beltless.
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