RIP Marv Hagler

[texasdave]

An all-time great fighter. RIP. https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/31059483/marvin-hagler-middleweight-boxing-great-dies-66

[adkindo]

The first boxing match that I watched and kind of had an idea what was taking place was his final fight against Sugar Ray Leonard. I recall I liked Sugar Ray and was glad he won, but my grandfather watched it with me and claimed they stole it from Hagler. We would argue about the outcome, but I basically did not know the difference between a jab and a HR in 1987. Crazy thing is I watched the fight again on ESPN Classic when I was in college, and as the fight was nearing the end I just laughed with watery eyes because I realized that my grandfather who had passed at that point was right....they stole that fight from Hagler.

[cumberlandreds]

An all-time great fighter. RIP. https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/31059483/marvin-hagler-middleweight-boxing-great-dies-66

Hagler, Hearns, Duran and Leonard were four great middleweight fighters that came along at the same time. It was a true golden age of boxing and the last one too.

[RichRed]

Hagler really seemed to be very much his own man who knew what he wanted and knew when he was done with boxing. I love this recollection from Bob Arum:


Leonard was willing to do it again. “He deserved a rematch,” Leonard said. Hagler wanted no part of it. In 1988, Arum, Hagler and Leonard were in Las Vegas for an event. Spotting Hagler, Leonard approached Arum. “He said, ‘Bob, go over and talk to Marvin, and tell him not to be a dope. Let’s do the rematch, we’ll make a lot of money,’” recalled Arum. Arum did. He told Hagler that Leonard really wanted it. He reminded him of the millions he could make for that fight. “He just looked at me in this really cold way,” says Arum. “And he said, ‘Bob, go tell Ray to get a life.’”

[RedsBaron]

Hagler really seemed to be very much his own man who knew what he wanted and knew when he was done with boxing. I love this recollection from Bob Arum:

So many great boxers stayed too long, often to the detriment of their health. Hagler did not. Great fighter, smart man.

[M2]

In 1989/90 I was working at a luxury condo in Boston just off the Public Gardens (parking cars). One night a very drunk Marvin Hagler stumbled in, supposedly looking to meet up with somebody who lived in the building. It wasn't that odd for famous people to show up. For instance, David Mamet lived there. Nice guy. Whistled a lot while he walked. Anyway, I wasn't there when Hagler first arrived, so I've always been vague on the details, but I think he only had the first name of the guy he was looking for. The doorman (yeah, it was one of those buildings) was star-struck and offered to take Hagler on a tour of the building to look for whoever it was. I got called up to man the door. For about 30 minutes, the Marvelous One staggered through the corridors of the building, yelling out some guy's name and shouting he was sick and tired of this blanker playing blanking games.

Complaints then started coming in to the front desk, where the concierge had to explain that Marvin Hagler was loose in the building and we were doing our best to contain him. Seriously, that was the explanation. "Yes, it is Marvin Hagler. We're very sorry for the disturbance."

Eventually Hagler, who clearly had his load on, get in an elevator with the doorman, insists he's got to take a piss, whips it out and goes in the corner of the elevator. The doorman, who's pretty exasperated at this point, is insisting "Champ, you can't piss in the elevator!" I hear about this via the concierge who can see them on the elevator cam. We have them take the elevator down to the parking garage. I get sent over to meet them and escort them out. Hagler can't walk a straight line. So we end up at the building loading dock and give him a chair. As he begins to dry out a bit, he apologies profusely.

Then he offers us some cash for our troubles. Like, from a roll of hundreds. I beat the doorman (who wants to take the cash) to the punch and tell him we don't need any money. Hagler keeps insisting. Eventually we agree to take some cash for the people who are going to have to clean the elevator in the morning. As far as I know, the doorman has never forgiven me for this. Hagler eventually leaves via the loading dock, still mumbling apologies.

And that's the night I met Marvin Hagler.

[adkindo]

In 1989/90 I was working at a luxury condo in Boston just off the Public Gardens (parking cars). One night a very drunk Marvin Hagler stumbled in, supposedly looking to meet up with somebody who lived in the building. It wasn't that odd for famous people to show up. For instance, David Mamet lived there. Nice guy. Whistled a lot while he walked. Anyway, I wasn't there when Hagler first arrived, so I've always been vague on the details, but I think he only had the first name of the guy he was looking for. The doorman (yeah, it was one of those buildings) was star-struck and offered to take Hagler on a tour of the building to look for whoever it was. I got called up to man the door. For about 30 minutes, the Marvelous One staggered through the corridors of the building, yelling out some guy's name and shouting he was sick and tired of this blanker playing blanking games.

Complaints then started coming in to the front desk, where the concierge had to explain that Marvin Hagler was loose in the building and we were doing our best to contain him. Seriously, that was the explanation. "Yes, it is Marvin Hagler. We're very sorry for the disturbance."

Eventually Hagler, who clearly had his load on, get in an elevator with the doorman, insists he's got to take a piss, whips it out and goes in the corner of the elevator. The doorman, who's pretty exasperated at this point, is insisting "Champ, you can't piss in the elevator!" I hear about this via the concierge who can see them on the elevator cam. We have them take the elevator down to the parking garage. I get sent over to meet them and escort them out. Hagler can't walk a straight line. So we end up at the building loading dock and give him a chair. As he begins to dry out a bit, he apologies profusely.

Then he offers us some cash for our troubles. Like, from a roll of hundreds. I beat the doorman (who wants to take the cash) to the punch and tell him we don't need any money. Hagler keeps insisting. Eventually we agree to take some cash for the people who are going to have to clean the elevator in the morning. As far as I know, the doorman has never forgiven me for this. Hagler eventually leaves via the loading dock, still mumbling apologies.

And that's the night I met Marvin Hagler.

I thought when you said you beat the doorman to the punch, you were going to say in accepting way too much cash from a drunk rich man. I would have taken the roll, and peeled off a couple Benji's to give back to him in case of emergency....then disappeared. :D

[M2]

I thought when you said you beat the doorman to the punch, you were going to say in accepting way too much cash from a drunk rich man. I would have taken the roll, and peeled off a couple Benji's to give back to him in case of emergency....then disappeared. :D

There was a Haitian guy who might be the nicest person I ever met and two older Chinese women who were also sweethearts who were going to have to clean that elevator. We got a cool story. They were going to earn that cash.

[Kingspoint]

Next to Joe Frazier, my favorite boxer of all time.