Comments Thread For: Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Marvin Hagler - Boxing Classic Turns 33

[The plunger man]

It was a great performance by Leonard. But the bolo punch, sticking the chin out, Ali shuffle, all that did was make people think of Ali and it entertained. People liked and valued that crap back then, now a days most people look at what really happened in a fight not the phony useless theatrics. Fortunately.

get over it....Leonard won the fight fair & square.
Outboxed him and won more rounds it’s that simple

[Black Jesus]

An entertaining fight and an incredible accomplishment that Ray Leonard has never been given full credit for.

I actually see a lot of similarities between this fight and Canelo vs GGG, with both GGG and Hagler taking on the role of spoiled diva

[NachoMan]

I've watched this fight at least 100 times before and cannot see a controversy. Leonard was clearly the ring general. He moved and landed the cleaner punches at will.

Hagler was the aggressor but not an effective one; As he was ineffective in cutting off the ring against Leonard. Leonard threw the flashier combination punches and slipped almost every power punch that Hagler threw; Who looked very old and slow.

In my opinion, Leonard won this fight hands down.

Same. I never get the controversy. Hagler fans get really heated about it too.

[4truth]

I've watched that fight at least a dozen times. Hagler always wins, Leonard always gets his hand raised.

[ShoulderRoll]

I wish Hagler had kept fighting afterwards. He still had a lot left and could have easily added more great moments to his legacy.

[Mikeh333]

I wish Hagler had kept fighting afterwards. He still had a lot left and could have easily added more great moments to his legacy.

Nah, he did the right thing. Hagler fought the greatest of his era, one of the greatest ever, and lost a nail-biter. It was a fine time to hang it up and move on to other things. Hagler remained healthy afterwards, as I understand it. More boxers should follow his example.

[chirorickyp]

get over it....Leonard won the fight fair & square.
Outboxed him and won more rounds it’s that simple

I disagree. Over time Ray's theatrics have less impact or meaning and all that's left is a fight. Hagler landed the more meaningful punches. Move on from the 80's. Great performance but not enough to take the title.

[MisanthropicNY]

I'm so glad this boxing fight happened before the era with all those theatrical ring entrances. Imagine one of these two boxing legends wore a 40-pound Black Panther suit like Wilder and had weakened their knees right before the fight? We wouldn't have had the classic fight that we had.

[MisanthropicNY]

get over it....Leonard won the fight fair & square.
Outboxed him and won more rounds it’s that simple

Would Leonard had won the fight if he had to wear a 40-pound Black Panther costume to the ring though before the fight? The answer is NOOOOOOOOO! Hagler would have KO'd him easily.

[jvsnypes]

I agree but Ray was definitely laying hands on him as well, and honestly there are not many fighters today talented enough to get away with it in the ring. I just couldn’t find enough clean effective shots landed by Hagler to give it to him. The flashier shots by Ray may not been damaging, but they definitely were more apparent than Hagler’s.