Why didn't Hagler challenge himself

[Sheldon312]

So who was Hagler supposed to fight at 175. Spinks was much bigger and one of the best LH of all time. John Ruiz wasn't even close to Spinks in talent. It's not a good comparison.

Smh the point is everyone challenged themselves but Hagler

[nacho daddy]

The thread starter is a result of what happens when someone just starts to watch boxing and repeats bs they hear others say without knowing the facts. Plus Hager fought in an era of same day weigh ins. So he was disciplined.

I agree with you, but people are ******.

but it was Ok for duran a small LW with short arms to move up 25 lbs to fight hagler but hagler could not move up 15 lbs to LH

[Sheldon312]

but it was Ok for duran a small LW with short arms to move up 25 lbs to fight hagler but hagler could not move up 15 lbs to LH

Thank you. All time greats went up and challeged themselves

[McNulty]

ring magazine literally didn't even start ratings super middleweights until '89. chief reason they started to recognize the weight class was ray leonard.

there was never, at any point in his career, a call for marvin hagler to "move up to 168"

you'd have gotten laughed at if you brought that up on press row during hagler's run at MW.

If you remember, nobody called for Marvin to do anything. Thats not how the industry worked then. By the time people even knew who he was he was getting matched with smaller guys moving up which is the topic at hand. The MW division was dead, the best fighters were at smaller weights.

Don't care about Ring Magazine and I definitely don't give a **** asś about press row. IBF had champs in 84' and the WBC was the last to get involved with SRL back in 88' with the WBA skirting them not long before.

Moral of the story is there is a lot of misinformation about what was happening when Hagler was around. 154 and 168 were divisions when Hagler was Boxing, the end.

The current super middleweight division traces its beginning to 1984, when Murray Sutherland defeated Ernie Singletary for the International Boxing Federation version of the title.

The World Boxing Association created its version of the super middleweight title when reigning Lineal champion Chong Pal Park defeated Jesus Gallardo in 1987 (Park had been IBF champion before relinquishing the title to fight for the inaugural WBA version).

The World Boxing Council crowned its first champion in 1988 when Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Donny Lalonde in a fight that was also for its version of the light heavyweight title.

[GrandmasterWang]

Hagler was one of the best middleweight champions in history. He defended his title an average of 4 times a year which is never done today. He only fought top rated guys and never avoided any middleweight. Hearns wasn't smaller than Hagler when Hagler fought him. Hearns had just KOed a top middleweight in 1 round when Hagler fought him. Hearns had outgrown 147 and 154 and was a full sized middleweight. In Hagler's day us boxing fans were thrilled to have a middleweight champion who defended his title so often against the very best middleweights in the world. We didn't demand he fight above his natural weight and didn't ask him to. The middleweight division was not dead at all. Hagler beat many excellent middleweights in defense of his title. Just because he was good enough to beat all challengers doesn't make it a dead division. It's like today and the GGG haters who say middleweight is a weak weight class just because he always wins and usually by KO. Hagler beat some middleweights who would have been good middleweight champs if Hagler wasn't around.to beat them. Hagler earned his reputation as one of history's best middleweight champs the hard way. He fought and beat all the best middleweights. I thought he beat Leonard and Leonard choose not to give him a rematch so he retired in disgust.

Great post!

Haggler deserves his props for many of the reasons you mentioned.

If you were a middleweight... Haggler would fight you.... that's a far cry from the way things are these days with the current guys playing politics

[SweetPbfAli]

but it was Ok for duran a small LW with short arms to move up 25 lbs to fight hagler but hagler could not move up 15 lbs to LH

I think Duran moved up from a lack of discipline and a love for food, not chasing greatness. That was just a bonus.

[Raggamuffin]

My work is done here. I been saying this for years and recently here. Planted seeds are paying dividends.



I did live it and was fooled like the rest was. Once I got older and wiser, I realized that Hagler was a B-Level fighter.



The fighters were over-stuffed and Haglers division was full of over-stuffed welterweights. Towards the later part of his career there was 168 so thats not entirely true.

In 1981 McCallum was fighting at 154 as a pro so this who no 168 thing is a load of shít. Junior Middleweight started in 1962, MYTH.



Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Fighters were overstuffed for their weights so they didn't have a hard time keeping at weight. Look at the guys on Haglers record, all like 5'7" weighing 160. Honestly, a lot of those guys look juiced up.

Look at Antuofermo at 5'7" but probably more like 5'6".



Looks like juice. Europe had better access to juice in the 70's and 80's as compared to the US. Plus, a lot of dudes were doing ******* back then during fights. I know stories about Sweet Pea doing coke at Top Ranks gym in Vegas back in the 80's from a guy I used to box with in the Amateurs.

The Supermiddleweight division started in 1984 and if you go back even further it started in the late 60's.

You guys perpetuate old wives tales non-stop. Time to get fùcking educated already.

Now here is one clueless ****, lmao. This is what's wrong with boxing fans of today. They only recognize the "name" fighters on a guys resume and not the comp. This has GG overtones written all over it lol.

[Mr.Fantastic]

Now here is one clueless ****, lmao. This is what's wrong with boxing fans of today. They only recognize the "name" fighters on a guys resume and not the comp. This has GG overtones written all over it lol.

Who are your top 5 favorite boxers that are currently active?

[Raggamuffin]

Who are your top 5 favorite boxers that are currently active?

Crawford, Canelo, Ward, Wilder, Thurman.

[Raggamuffin]

My thoughts exactly. Benvenuti was a fantastic win too though. Hagler was only 5 ft 9 as well he weren't some giant of a MW. Monzon for me is the greatest MW of all time but Hagler ain't far behind him. Both were forces of nature.

And I don't have a problem with that. I loved watching Monzon fight. I saw him live. He could truly fight. Monzon beat some other tough MW's, but both Hagler and Monzon faced great smaller fighters who gave them great fights.

A good MW will always beat a good WW most say. They say a good big man always beats a good smaller man. But a great WW is more than capable of beating a great MW and vice versa and history has shown us this. GG would've gotten full credit from me had he beaten Canelo, but he didn't. At least imo.