Why do people think that hagler is overrated?

[StarshipTrooper]

Me too. Same year, same age.

Oh btw, if you want to add fighters to the board game the company that puts out the computer version has printed out ratings that are easily transferred to the cards as the ratings for the computer version are essentially the same formula for the board game (the exceptions are control factor and punching power....in the board version the highest possible rating for them is 12, in the computer version it's 15).

Poet

[jabsRstiff]

Me too. Same year, same age.

Pretty d*mn good time to get into it!

I was a casual fan....I'd watch when Sugar Ray Leonard fought, and I remember watching a few Saad fights (I'm a Philadelphian, so that's why I watched him). My father one Saturday told me "You remember that guy Wilfred Benitez who fought Sugar Ray? He's fighting for another title today." So, I tuned in...and when he caught Maurice Hope with that KO bomb, it was like it flicked a switch in me- I was hooked.

That was at the end of May. A few weeks later, I watched Larry Holmes take out Leon Spinks on ABC, on what was the last day of school. MAGIC.

[fitefanSHO]

those bios on the back of the cards (and studying their ratings) are what got me interesting in researching past greats

OMG me too, and of course that was pre-wikipedia and pre-YouTube.

So I studied the Ring Record book, read the boxing magazines like Christians read the Bible, and watched any and all fights I could get my eyes on. Kids today have it all so easy, back in the day if you wanted to be a smart boxing fan with an eye for history, you had to work for that knowledge and experience.

[jabsRstiff]

OMG me too, and of course that was pre-wikipedia and pre-YouTube.

So I studied the Ring Record book, read the boxing magazines like Christians read the Bible, and watched any and all fights I could get my eyes on. Kids today have it all so easy, back in the day if you wanted to be a smart boxing fan with an eye for history, you had to work for that knowledge and experience.

....and you didn't even care that the boxing mags were covering results from 1.5-2 months before.

Do you remember how unbelievably detailed and beautiful Ring Magazine was back then? So much went into it....and there was nothing better than the section that covered the fight cards from around the world. You could read a detailed report about pro fights from a gymnasium in Columbus, OH! Incredible.

[fitefanSHO]

Pretty d*mn good time to get into it!

I was a casual fan....I'd watch when Sugar Ray Leonard fought, and I remember watching a few Saad fights (I'm a Philadelphian, so that's why I watched him). My father one Saturday told me "You remember that guy Wilfred Benitez who fought Sugar Ray? He's fighting for another title today." So, I tuned in...and when he caught Maurice Hope with that KO bomb, it was like it flicked a switch in me- I was hooked.

That was at the end of May. A few weeks later, I watched Larry Holmes take out Leon Spinks on ABC, on what was the last day of school. MAGIC.

For me, growing up in a "fight town" (Brockton, MA.) led me to be very interested in boxing. I would always read the magazines (KO, Ring, etc..) whenever I could get them. I was just fascinated with all things boxing. The first fight I remember I just had to see to see was the first fight between Leonard and Hearns. A man down the street had the fight showing in his house (and me being only 11) I could not go with my Dad to see it. Too late, past my bed time I guess. Growing up, the Middleweight Champion was from my town (Hagler), a former undefeated Heavyweight Champion (Marciano) was from my town, so I just grew up with it all around me.

30 or so years later, I'm as into boxing as ever.

[fitefanSHO]

....and you didn't even care that the boxing mags were covering results from 1.5-2 months before.

Do you remember how unbelievably detailed and beautiful Ring Magazine was back then? So much went into it....and there was nothing better than the section that covered the fight cards from around the world. You could read a detailed report about pro fights from a gymnasium in Columbus, OH! Incredible.

I never threw a single boxing magazine away, I still have them all, and many of them are right where they belong, in my bathroom as the required reading for that kind of business. I loved Ring magazine, as you say it was beautiful, as was Bert Sugar's Boxing Illustrated. I miss all the magazines more than you can imagine. I want KO magazine back, monthly in old school pulp paper form. I do buy Ring magazine now monthly but it's just not the same, though I do enjoy the issues. I want to work for Ring magazine someday, that is my dream and I hope I can make it a reality.

[jabsRstiff]

Yeah, Philadelphia was always fighttown, too. When I got into it, there was Saad, Jeff Chandler, Curtis Parker, Frank Fletcher, etc......

But, my favorite fighter ever fought out of your hometown!

[jabsRstiff]

I never threw a single boxing magazine away, I still have them all, and many of them are right where they belong, in my bathroom as the required reading for that kind of business. I loved Ring magazine, as you say it was beautiful, as was Bert Sugar's Boxing Illustrated. I miss all the magazines more than you can imagine. I want KO magazine back, monthly in old school pulp paper form. I do buy Ring magazine now monthly but it's just not the same, though I do enjoy the issues. I want to work for Ring magazine someday, that is my dream and I hope I can make it a reality.

Awesome stuff, brother!

My bedroom wall was covered with all of the pull-out posters (with bios on the back) from KO Magazine.

[fitefanSHO]

And you know something else that was kinda cool, in 1997, after I got off Army active duty, I moved to Lowell, MA to attend University. Of course, Micky Ward is from Lowell and though I had heard of him, and had seen a few of his fights, I did not know that much about him and I kinda had this attitude that he was not really a special fighter, and nowhere near a Hagler or a Marciano. I was kinda arrogant about being from Brockton as a boxing town above and beyond all others. Anyway, I lived in Lowell from 1997 though 2003 and was "in town" for all the very best fights of Micky's career resurgence, it was like I just could not avoid being in the right place at the right time as far as boxing was concerned, it was a great time to be from Lowell, and of course my respect for Micky grew immensely as I watched him engage in one war after another. And as a Massachusetts fighter, I gotta say that Micky really found a way to be included in the same breath, the same lineage as Marciano and Hagler. The Mick did not do it with skill or accomplishment, he did it with INCREDIBLE fighting heart and there aint nothing wrong with that.

[DarkTerror88]

Good post. Personally if you call Hagler the no.1 all time MW then I think you are over rating him a touch but anyone who doesn't have him at least top 5 doesn't know boxing

1 Greb
2 Monzon
3 Hagler

its all very debateable IMO. there are cases for all of these men as #1