Marvin Hagler, one of the greatest boxers in the history of his sport – obituary

Marvin Hagler, the former undisputed world middleweight champion who has died aged 66, ruled the 160lb division for seven years; having participated in some of the most thrilling clashes of the 1980s he was voted Fighter of the Decade.

The hard-hitting shaven-skulled New Jersey southpaw (left-hander) exuded menace with his flint-eyed stare, chiselled body and old-school, no-nonsense approach to the hardest game of all.

A man so committed to his craft that he once said: “If they cut my head open they’ll find a big boxing glove inside,” Hagler had little time for the sport’s murky politics and professed on more than one occasion that his sole objective was to simply get between the ropes and annihilate his opponent.

“Nothing can intimidate me,” he claimed. “I just go out and destruct and destroy.”

Dubbed one of “The Four Kings”, alongside Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, Hagler beat Duran, and overcame Hearns following a wild shoot-out consisting of three of the most exciting rounds ever seen, before losing his world crown to Leonard, who was coming out of retirement to face him, in one of boxing’s most hotly contested decisions.

Appalled at Leonard’s subsequent decision to retire again, thereby denying him the opportunity of a rematch, Hagler walked away from boxing, eschewing all offers to return. And unlike his fellow all-time greats who could not resist mounting a series of ill-advised comebacks until well into middle age, Hagler never laced on a glove again.

Indeed, he had the foresight and wisdom to recognise that the hunger, anger and intensity that fuelled him as a young man from the poverty-stricken streets of New Jersey could never be recaptured. “It’s hard to get out of bed to run at five in the morning when you’re wearing silk pyjamas,” he observed.

Marvin Hagler – nobody argued when he added the moniker “Marvelous” to his name by deed poll at the height of his fame – was born in Newark, New Jersey, on May 23 1954, although some observers put his birth date as two years earlier.

Hagler’s family moved to Brockton, Massachusetts, following the Newark race riots of 1967 and, having discovered boxing, he gradually developed into a compact switch-hitter, equally at home in both the orthodox or southpaw stance, with a killer punch in either hand.

Having turned professional on winning the US amateur title in 1973, Hagler quickly became known as a fighter to avoid after beating the former Olympic champion Ray Seales in only his 15th paid fight. It proved the start of a long and frustrating wait for Hagler, whose bitterness at being cast in the role of outsider festered the longer he remained frozen out of the title picture.

“You’ve got three strikes against you, kid,” world heavyweight champion Joe Frazier once told him. “You’re black, you’re a southpaw and you can fight.”

Despite only losing two of his first 50 fights Hagler was forced to wait until 1979 for a title chance; and even then a draw allowed the Italian Vito Antuofermo to retain his World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council crowns.

But Hagler’s era was about to dawn. He seized the WBA and WBC middleweight titles on a shameful night for British boxing when fans rioted at Wembley after the American’s slashing fists ripped Crawley’s Alan Minter to pieces inside three rounds in September 1980.

As bottles rained into the ring, Hagler and his cornermen had to have a police escort to the dressing room, and the fighter did not receive his title belt until a belated presentation in a Brockton restaurant.

“The violence never bothered me,” recalled Hagler. “I just kept my head down and then we were out of there.”

Despite lacking the glamour of Leonard and Hearns, the southpaw proceeded to make 12 successful defences over the next seven years, including a close decision against Roberto Duran in November 1983, prior to that legendary Las Vegas clash with “Hitman”’ Hearns in April 1985, which became known as “The War”, or simply “The Fight”’.

The first round is widely regarded as the most exciting in boxing history as both fighters went toe-to-toe, striving to knock one another out. Hagler was cut high on the forehead when referee Richard Steele stepped in to ask if he could still see. “I’m hitting him, aren’t I?” came the snarled reply.

The relentless action continued in the second, with Hagler’s face smeared in blood and Hearns somehow managing to remain upright despite shipping some frightful punishment.

Allowed by a ringside doctor to come out for the third, Hagler then caught Hearns flush with a right hook, before sending him down with a cascade of shots. Although Hearns bravely managed to beat the count Steele waved the fight off.

“I’d taken all my lumps and bumps, Hearns hadn’t,” Hagler reflected afterwards. “That’s how the ‘Hit Man’ became the hurt man.”

Hagler’s great reign ended unsatisfactorily two years later, in April 1987, when he quit the sport, disgusted at dropping that contentious split decision to Leonard.

In the run-up to their fateful encounter, Hagler did little to disguise his dislike of an opponent whose personable image and likeable personality differed so greatly from his own.

“Young women are coming up all the time pleading with me not to spoil Leonard’s handsome face,” he revealed. “But I tell them: ‘Don’t worry, lady, I ain’t just going to spoil it – I’m going to scar it for life’.”

Hagler also disclosed – somewhat prophetically as things turned out – his nagging concern at the possibility of being on a receiving end of a disputed points decision.

“I’m not sure you can get a fair shake in Las Vegas,” he told one reporter. “I mean, they’ve got very bad judges there and it’s a town where they’ll bet on which cockroach will get across the sidewalk first.”

This fight was the one Hagler had craved for some time. Leonard, who had undergone an operation for a torn retina, had not fought in three years and some fight fans feared for his safety.

“I’m going to go for the eye, the nose, the mouth, the neck, the arms, the stomach – anything above the waist,” Hagler replied when asked if he would focus on Leonard’s damaged eye. “And if he wants to fight dirty I might go for things below the belt.”

Although the relentless Hagler hurt his opponent on occasions, Leonard’s artful hit-and-run tactics, combined with holding and grabbing, destroyed his opponent’s rhythm and saw him ultimately awarded a split decision, much to the Brockton man’s consternation.

“It ain’t fair, man, it just ain’t fair,” a devastated Hagler told Leonard as the pair embraced in the ring afterwards.

Nor did Hagler pull any punches at the post-fight press conference. “Leonard fought like a girl,” he growled. “He should have had points deducted. I fought my heart out. I can’t believe they’ve taken my title off me.”

Indeed, the pain of that defeat ran so deep that Hagler quit boxing with a record of 62 wins (52 by knockout) against only three defeats and two draws. His premature exit undoubtedly enhanced his legacy despite huge financial incentives to return.

Hagler subsequently moved to Italy where he took up acting, appearing in a number of action films, including Indio (1989), Indio 2 (1991) and Virtual Weapon (1997).

Having mellowed with the years – that old snarl now replaced by a smile – Hagler revealed himself as something of a renaissance man, developing a great love for art and fine wine as well as opera. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993, he occasionally appeared as a respected big fight analyst on British television.

Hagler had five children with his first wife, Bertha, and later moved back to New Hampshire with his second wife Kay, who he met while living in Milan. She survives him along with his children.

Marvin Hagler, born May 23 1954, died March 13 2021