By Terence Dooley
A fighter’s prime, like the appreciation of his skills, is a highly relative concept which some think they can render into an exact science. It is not quite so clear-cut. In fact the ascertaining of a fighters peak is more akin to the hit and miss of alchemy yet it does help immeasurably if one knows what they are looking for.
A person shouts “Eureka!” and comes to you with the means of identifying a fighter’s prime: “It is here during his peak physical years somewhere between the ages of 26 and 30.” “Very well” you retort “but how does that account for Lennox Lewis reaching his accepted peak in his thirties?” So the person goes away and shouts “Hallelujah!” and returns to tell you that a fighter hits their peak during their most impressive title showings. “Very well” comes the tolerant reply “but why is it that Sonny Liston looked sensational in twice defeating Floyd Patterson yet was clearly a better fight during his contendership, for example in his victories over Cleveland Williams?” Ironically, with a grim foreboding of your fatigue, the person will come back time and again with a pinpoint sign that a fighter peaked here, there and everywhere.
All the while we, who can do so, manage to ascertain with a certain degree of clarity a fighter’s peak and are well aware why the question perplexes you –who has the ring record to hand - as a fighter’s prime is found in those fights, those rounds, where everything comes together perfectly. Their age and experience gel, they become seasoned without being old and more importantly you sit down and watch them at work and can say: “This is the best I have ever seen this pugilist box.” For some of you I present the prime of Mr. Marvin Hagler, for others I present fresh fertile ground for an infertile argument or two.
Marvin Hagler was said to have bloomed late yet he differed from other late blooming fighters, he did not have the enforced hiatus of Bernard Hopkins, nor did he have to spend the early years of his pro career exorcising the demons of poor punch technique a fighter gains via amateur “pedigree.” Hagler reached a fairly early peak and there are clear signs - for the pedant out of the ring and for scholar within the ring – as to when he reached his peak. It was in the torrid pressure of the Philadelphian Palaestrae where Hagler unified his skill and his youthful zest to reach his apex.
Things started off poorly for Hagler in Philly - two losses from which many modern fighters would not recover - yet these losses were not shameful, Hagler lost to two Philly stalwarts in Bobby Watts and Willy Monroe. People smiled and gleefully pointed out that Hagler had also drawn with Sugar Ray Seales then asked if this was evidence that he cannot get past B-level fighters and therefore was not an A-level warrior at this point.
Therein lay the rub, as a Champion Hagler was an A-Level warrior, not an A-level boxer. Warriors war blindly - Hagler due to his earlier technical ability warred expertly when past his prime and finished each individual battle - and without any exactation of thought whereas boxers box with clarity of expression and drown their opponents by taking them into deep digressions, they set traps and pounce, warriors walk into traps and try their best. Hagler boxed far better during his Philly apprenticeship, you don’t believe me? Look at how easy to hit he was as a title-holder.
In these earlier, losing, Philly battles Hagler was not as rounded as he’d later become it was his inside skills that needed working on, little technical appreciations of the dimensions of the ring.
Hagler regrouped and in doing so he forced the tough Eugene Hart to quit-out in a fight that was the last chance saloon for both men, it was another big night for Hagler in Philly and he seized the moment plus showed that the errors had been amended.
Hagler came out against Hart circling and throwing bursts of punches, a jab, a left, some more jabs and then when he had moved Hart to the ropes he opened up with up and under punches.
Finally, in the second, Hart had to open-up and he was out-fought as well as out-thought by the rampant Hagler. After successfully eluding a one-two in the corner Hagler pounded in a spiteful left to the belly - he was rounding before our very eyes, every fight produced a new wrinkle, every request he asked of his body was granted.
By round eight you can see the perceptible sag in the body of Hart; he is game but clearly out of his depth. Hagler, still fresh and mobile, allowed Hart to come on before ripping him with left hands over the top. Marvin took away Eugene’s heart and fire. Hart retired on his stool after round eight, he was thoroughly beaten.
Hagler had roared back, yet he was still the outsider looking-in in Philly, and he was desperate to gain revenge on the men who had cast aspersions over his ring record.
Willie Monroe had taken the first part of their trilogy and Hagler came back to take the second fight. Hagler mixed up his boxing and banging in fight two yet that long reach of Monroe coupled with a snappy jab still proved problematic before “The Worm” was taken out in the twelfth.
However, Hagler was a level removed in the rubber match; he effected constant bobbing head movement to ensure that those rapier straight punches of Monroe sailed harmlessly over his shoulders. Monroe adjusted then slid and skimmed around the ring before setting himself again only to find that the poised and itinerant Hagler was back within range. Hagler dipped away from the straight shots of Monroe and bobbed into range with his own double right jab followed by a straight left; Hagler continued to time the jab and beat Monroe to the punch time and again.
In the second round of this the third fight Hagler used his footwork to get his leading leg outside of Monroe’s then threw hard lefts to the body and head with impunity. Hagler had stepped into the zone, the wait was over, he’d trained hard and his body and mind had taken over, everything he did was intuitive, he was pumped-up, he was in his prime and ready to shine. Monroe had no answer to a scorching left hook and backed-up only for Hagler to fine-tune his feet and lunge in with a right hand similar to the one that would KO another tall, rangy fighter during Hagler’s title reign, only in this fight Hagler did not have to bare his soul to get the shot in.
Monroe showed his Philly pedigree by swinging a shot or three for Hagler to duck impeccably underneath and Marvin responded with a torpedoing left. Still brave, or crazy, Monroe rose to face the finish and Hagler duly obliged, he avoided a clinch and powered in the finishing, up-periscope, right hand. Hagler had reached the stage where everything was working wonderfully and he showed it in this clean execution of a tall, rangy nemesis.
The Hagler who was so elusive and abusive in Philly was not the same Hagler who finally wrenched control of the middleweight title. As a Champion Hagler was supreme but like Archie Moore he adapted to the fact that a long title road had robbed his legs of some steam. The man who fought Hart, Monroe and, as we shall see, Bennie Briscoe would not have been tagged repeatedly by Juan Roldan nor would he have had to plant his feet versus Hearns. As a Champion he was overwhelming, as a contender he was sublime, a pure punch picker and a very mobile target. You may prefer Hagler when he was intent on using “Destruct and Destroy” tactics yet you cannot deny that he was a far better fighter during his Philly wars.
Hagler dispatched Seales shortly after this too. He took his revenge with an emphatic one-stanza scotching of Sugary Seales. Let us remember here that Seales was a highly-touted Olympian who fought numerous times in his debut year before being given a fight with Hagler, Marvin was green himself yet out-scored Seales to make a name for himself. Seales was given a rematch and drew with Hagler to produce the first blotch on the Hagler ledger.
Fight three opened with Seales being hustled onto a right and left hand, he was down in the first minute. Seales did the only thing you can do in this situation, he got up and came out looking for a clinch and instead was given a right hand, Hagler then slipped a token punch from Ray and hustled him into the ropes. Ray was brave and threw a flurry of arm blows, Hagler leaned back slightly, bobbed and weaved whilst assessing the situation and then hit Seales with a jab, straight left and right uppercut cascade to put Seales down for the second time. Ray got up but a left hook was the final riposte to the questionable claim he had held over the record of Hagler.
Hagler was on-fire and exuberant after the fight. Was he at his best? Well as the man said: “I had my speed, power and timing right, everything was perfect.” Quite. Thank you for the clarification Mr. Hagler. A few fights later some of the mobility was gone; the expert eye could see a loss of the spilt-second timing that characterises a fighter’s prime.
Still the naysayer's say nay, that is there job after all and point out that Hagler beat better quality fighters late in his career, yes he did but he also looked less impressive doing so. Sure the fighters were far closer and dramatic but why was this? Amongst the reasons was Hagler’s erosion in the years after his Philly takeover. His legs went and he adapted.
You say Hagler fought B-class men in Philly? I say at worst you don’t fully appreciate the Philly middleweight scene of the 1970’s and at best you miss the moment when Hagler peaked. You see his ring record? Those losses and a draw in a short period followed by a long, long unbeaten run? Well you see that point during the period wherein he avenged his Monroe and Seales blemishes? That is Hagler’s prime, when his body, mind and technical ability peaked. Well Hagler annihilated his B-Class foes and stepped into A-Class. You say that is not Championship class? Well during this period they were not keen on giving a black, mobile, hard-hitting and slick boxing southpaw with a chin of iron a title-shot, odd that isn’t it?
As an epilogue bear in mind that during this period Hagler could not help himself to a WBU or IBO title. What he did do is transcend A-Class by beating Bennie Briscoe, the Golden Boy of Philly, in Philly, on points. We all know Bennie could mix it up in top-class, in showing off his new skills Hagler reached a plateau that night, he controlled Bennie but guess what? We never got a chance to see Hagler in at Championship level until his peak years had passed. Between 1976 and 1978 we saw the very best of Hagler, two years later he finally won his title.