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EPISODE: Episode 32
The awesome Post-Ali era featured The Fab Four in this series, and on this episode we enjoy an analysis of the fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler. Watch The Scoop from Monday to Friday featuring Canadian heavyweight champ Bola Ray, who lends his vast experience in the sport and provides his comments and analysis on boxing, on YouTube and TalkinFight.com/live. #boxinghistory #sugarrayleonard
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Transcribed:
Hello talk and fight fans around the world, welcome to another episode of the scoop featuring the champ hola ray uh after an exciting weekend of events, uh, which were recapped uh by mike gore yesterday on knuckle up, including the knockout heard round the world.
Anyway, it’s a fresh week: what do you got for us champ? Well, uh.
This episode will showcase a face-off between the last two of the fab, four, the last two remaining of the fab four um.
This was one of the most anticipated fights and when the smoke cleared would be one of the most controversial fights in history um behind the scenes and the build-up to this dance would also be one for the storybooks.
My name is bala raymond oligwali.
This is the school.
The collision course between ray leonard and marvin hagler is one that’s been over.
Eight years ray actually came out of retirement.
To make this happen.
Um, as described on a previous show, hagler’s rise to world champion was one that is still incredibly hard to swallow.
Let alone believe not given a title shot until his 46th fight and not actually winning a world title until his 50th fight um.
That is incredibly unheard of, especially because he only had two losses and two draws in all those contests for years.
Hagler’S routine was one where he would work construction by day and box by night, and yet his success rate is one of legendary stories.
His struggle was real and he could, and how can you blame him for his anger like genuinely his first fight? Payday was 50.
Compare that to rey was 40 000.
.
It was normal for hagrid to build a hatred for his opponents via training in isolation and faulting.
His opponent for putting him in this position of uh minimalistic living conditions and whatnot and just just a harsh environment, but when it came to ray it went much further than that.
Um ray was perceived as the sweetheart of the boxing world, after winning the gold medal.
In the 76 olympic games, um success and fame, and not to mention money, just seemed to fall right into his laps.
Um understand that ray won his first title on his 25th fight, literally half of what hagler had paydays seem to follow.
Rey, unlike marvin endorsements monster, fights with paydays that far exceed anything marvin had gotten ray, earned nine million dollars on just his personal loan, his press alone in his fight against duran in 89 or sorry in 80.
Marvin made his first real payday when he too fought duran, three and a half years later, of which he made five million dollars.
Now there were also uh bonuses and whatnot above it, but that five million dollars was more than he had made in his 61.
Previous fights combined, let that sink in marvin believed that rey was not deserving all the things that went his way, including being called sugar after the great ray robinson.
Even though that’s not why he was called sugar, but that’s what a lot of people perceived and also he was coached by the legendary angelo dundee.
Who again, i i couldn’t fault him for her for being envious and tipping over to down outrage with the success of this man’s hider hagler had also publicly and personally and via his promoters, asked ray for a fight which ray just strung him along for for years.
Countless interviews where he was asked about ray: did you take this fight? Of course i take the fight it’s up to ray ray.
Would you take yeah, and you know when good time this then countless interviews of such being strung along then came 1983 ray, invites marvin out to a soiree that he’s hosting and uh in baltimore, at which point time marvin got excited thinking that well, this is going To be ray announcing our upcoming fight.
Finally, when actually it was ray going off and announcing well for the first time his retirement marvin took this as a monstrous slap in the face like.
Why did he invite me here just to hear this now martin went on with his career to fight and destroy notable fighters as in hearns mugabe, mustafa hamsho and yet never received anything remotely close to the payday that leonard earned with duran one now during his fight With john mugabe leonard was in is that a ringside and merritt saw something in this fight where he then decide that yeah i can beat him and he nudges michael j fox, who happened to be sitting beside him and says: oh loud yeah.
I think i could beat him that spoke values to me, but that’s another story.
Um.
I think i could beat him and mike said: okay ray have another beer after three or actually over three years, retirement ray actually challenges marvin for the middle late middleweight crown.
May 1st, 1988 or 86 right at first martin wasn’t interested claiming that he was thinking retiring uh for a while.
Actually, since he had beaten, hearns um, but then on a television interview july 2nd that year, he changed his mind and said he would, by november 3rd everything was official.
The combined amount for all hagler’s title defenses, and this would be title defense number 13.
going up against right came to a staggering earnings of 14 million 350 000 dollars.
The fight was set and hegler was to make 12 million for this one fight, plus a percentage of the revenue which topped up his earnings to 20 million dollars.
Ray made 11 million dollars the golden boy right plus 50 of the viewers, uh viewing rights for the washington and baltimore area, which topped with earnings to 12 million dollars, not a bad night out after three and a half years.
Vacation, okay, after leonard allowed hitler to have the larger purse.
Just so happens.
That hagler is the champion who has never left the sport who wasn’t on a hiatus um, but most important was the champion leonard allowed him to have the higher purse.
Um marvin marvin allowed ray to one choose the size of the gloves 10 ounces soviet, but then he allowed ray to choose the amount of rounds.
Just recently, they had started allowing 12 round fights championship fights all championship fights before with 15 rounds, ray chose 12, which clearly would work in his favor from a guy who hasn’t done anything for years and he’s a he’s going to be a runner.
That’S just you know, that’s going to be a strategy, but he gave it to him anyways and then thirdly, agreed to have the fight in the largest ring possible, which is 22 feet as opposed to 20.
.
Now again, you know that ray is going to be a runner.
Now you give him even more room to do what he’s going to do.
I, for the life of me, have no idea why marvin agreed to all that yeah.
He wanted him.
He wanted that fight.
It’S been haunting him for eight years, and yet it’s here, why bend over backwards, and why give him so much? I don’t know further sacrifice from marvin to get this fight to go through.
He got stripped of his wba title and his ibf title was not on the line for this fight, not only that in the event that rey won the title, he’d be stripped of that title and this title would be vacant.
I still don’t understand what he got out of this um.
The only thing that hagler asked for was to have one judge switched out, and the reason why is because he was a british judge and he feared this guy would be a little biased against hagler.
Ever since the nonsense that happened in his first in his fight with um alan um winter, now i came to bite him the ass later.
But let’s go to round one um.
It starts off with marvin moving in an orthodox stance in hopes that rey’s ring rust would show him a bit of confusion, seeing him coming out in in this and having trained, anticipating a south pole, but all of a sudden, an orthodox fighter is in front of Him but the strategy, backfired and rey stung and ran stung and ran stung and ran, and so being it was a ray round.
Uh round two was an important round in that ray began to test the waters with marvin.
In that angel dundee noted that when marvin would wage his attacks, it would happen in a somewhat rhythmic scenario in that before he’d throw his his power jab.
He would start a step in which rey could throw much anything in between just and that would throw off his rhythm and uh and tag him now.
This happened with great success for a bit, but then marvin caught on as marvin does the third round.
Henry listened to his corner and came out in southpaw the stands and saw a great deal of success.
Ray didn’t have an answer for his long jab and marvin was tagging him with his cross regularly ray found some success in the scenario he would create when he would rush marvin tie him up, walk him back into the center of the um into the middle of The ring only to quickly break before the ruff broke them up tag him with a couple of shots and then he’s on his bike and he’s running again.
But even this had short-lived success, and this was hagler’s round by my scoreboard.
All the same um [, Music.
] this carried on through the third and fourth round fifth round comes around, and this was had his best round to date.
Um he switched things up and he turned back to orthodox, but he just started peppering ray with right-hand leads of which ray didn’t have an answer, for it completely threw him off and he’d start his combinations off.
That league constantly round six ray, came out to ray, came to life and won this round um by doubling tripling his his lead punch, his lead, jab and whatnot, and he just his work rate was, was pretty high um we’re going into let’s say the next two Rounds um, where were hagrid’s rounds also, he had also reached leonard’s body, and that was all bad.
He did this with relative ease, simply because leonard was moving his head and he was very versatile with his head movement, but his body was staying right there, which is just classic um anyways.
He beat him to the body um all around now, marvin, let it all hang out and leonard, was in great trouble.
Natural body, assault, ray didn’t, know, ray didn’t come to life until the last half of the pretty much the ninth round, and he ray started doing this painted pattern pity padded paper by trying to steal around but uh.
No, it was.
It was normally close to enough to be um given to him again, even in the ninth round uh now round.
Ten expose the fact that hagler was tired from the round before he was.
He went to work.
He tried to.
He tried to finish ray off.
He wasn’t, there was no pep in his step.
He wasn’t.
The piston wasn’t firing as fast.
He was swinging and missing a whole lot ray again pity padded pity patty pitty patter and won rounds.
We won that round at least um, but uh.
They just showed that yeah hag was human and he got tired.
Howard came on in the 11th round and just put work in so he took that 10th round off.
He would rush right against the ropes and he would pity pat pitty pat pitty pat him.
Damn himself, but the thing is, is a lot stronger than ray, so these punches actually take a toll on the man right and ray.
Would just move off hagrid threw more and landed more punches in the 11th round than rey, but rey did what ray does and he start clowning around playing to the crowd.
The big bolo punch, but he wasn’t fighting and he wasn’t scor.
He wasn’t scoring, but because the crowd was because he’s a showman, the crowd, was all a flutter because of the nonsense he was putting on there’s a chance that he may have won that round.
Last round hagrid came out to finish ray um.
Oh sorry, not the last round the 11th round.
Howard came out.
No i’m sorry.
Last round, um hacker came out to finish right.
He did not want to leave this in the judge’s hands um and rightfully so he’s been burnt before and uh yeah rey threw a couple of flurries but ran, ran, ran both men are exhausted, but the work that hagler put into the body assault really did take Its toll ray was a sensational sensationally, conditioned athlete, and the wear and tear from this fight really showed by the 12th round.
Halfway through the 12th round, ray couldn’t run anymore, so ray just stood there and took a pounding, took a pounding until pretty much a minute later and then somebody in his corner yelled 30 seconds so rey had saved up enough energy to put on a final flurry.
Just to convince the judges and steal the round, but that flurry lasted 10 seconds.
There was still another good 20 seconds left and hegler punished.
Him punished him.
For those 20 seconds.
The bell ring ray is still standing, but hagler is convinced that he did enough to win and ray was celebrating too so the judges read the score.
The first judge gave to ra uh to hagler 115 113, not the way i saw it but okay.
The second judge gave it to rey 118 to 110, which was utter insanity.
There is not a chance that hagler won two of those rounds.
Two is all this judge gave hitler not not a chance.
The last judge gave it to leonard 115-113, for irony sake.
Now the judge that hagler had um switched out because he was british, watched the fight live at home and scored it in favor hagler irony now there was conflicting reports stating that hegel’s offered a rematch and turned it down, which i just can’t see.
I just cannot see.
I heard another report where hagler spent the next year chasing ray asking for a rematch of which rey didn’t concede, to which i totally see seeing how it took eight years for this fight to come to fruition.
Meanwhile – and it was always ray who was jerking his chain – hagler left the sport after a year and no to return he is doing well.
He is living in.
Italy became a major action.
Actor hero and uh ray went on to be rey, had several more high-end.
Fights now this fight has stood the test of time as one of the greatest robberies of all time.
I’Ll do a story on this fight in my segment of greatest boxing robberies.
Another time.
What do you think leave your comments in the comments down below if you like this episode, please hit the like button subscribe and smash that notification bell.
It’S your boy, bola! That’S a scoop thanks very much ray.
That was an amazing breakdown, a great lead up to a great fight, two two great fighters, a great era of boxing uh.
You know it’s too bad that uh we never got to saw that rematch uh, but again yeah, i mean in terms of rivalries.
You’D think both would want to entertain that themselves, let alone the fans so why that never happened is how could we know we’ll never know? My take on that whole scenario is ray was a showman and a businessman he thought about his legacy.
He picked his fights accurately and precisely only when he could win, he was offered the fight as far back as 81 82 and he humped and had yes sure we can do it, blah blah blah, but never actually signed on the dotted line only to then retire In 83, but then comes back.
Oh sorry, yeah! It comes back in 86 and says i think i can beat him well now that he thinks he can beat him.
He decides that he’s going to take that he’s going to take that fight, because the stars are aligned in his favor well great.
He finally got grew the cajones to actually step in the ring, but what happened after that? When he actually got in the in the ring, he was given a gift of a millennia given the gift of so i guess i have just exposed my position on this fight, but so be it he’s.
He had no reason to ever take take a rematch.
It’S not like he needs.
The money, like i said in the previous show ray was the first fighter to make a hundred million dollars off of first money alone.
In his career, ray only had 40 fights, hagler didn’t even have a world title when he had 40 fights hadn’t, even gotten a a six-figure payday.
Yet when he was at 40 fights i’d gotten a six figure yeah, that’s what quick little afterthought um the decision involving uh 10 ounce gloves who did that favor at the end after the fight like? Did it favor either one of them? No, i i think, there’s a new point.
Um being a fighter myself um i fought with tens.
I fought with 12s.
I don’t notice the difference.
You don’t notice the difference.
Um yeah, you don’t notice the difference.
I guess it’s supposed to at least i don’t um and granted i’m a much bigger man than these guys, but it it.
I guess it could weigh your shoulders down slow the punches down a bit, but i don’t see it that was it excellent all right.
Well, we look forward to another episode: are you going to continue with the fab four tomorrow night um, i’m going to explain my why i think that the four were amazing yeah, so awesome look forward to it and i hope uh, the viewership will be looking forward To that i’m sure they will be.
It’S been an amazing series.
It’S it’s been back to back incredible explanations and breakdowns and analysis and uh it’s been an enjoyable series without a doubt all right.
Thank you very much.
Uh champ uh, we’ll see you tomorrow night and remember to like share subscribe and if you are subscribed and ring that bell get those notifications from us and we’ll see you all tomorrow night.
Thank you.
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