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EPISODE: Episode 24
“The Fab Four”. Part 2 – Middleweight Marvelous 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 boxing – its history and future – on YouTube and TalkinFight.com/live. #Hagler
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Transcribed:
Hello there once again talking fight fans.
Welcome another exciting edition of the scoop featuring the champ bola ray he’s doing a four part series on the fab.
Four, if i’m not mistaken and tonight would be number two yeah who would that be champ well uh today we’re talking about well.
Actually, all four of them are arguably somewhat favorites of all time, like individually for their own reasons, but this guy is.
He is arguably one of the most menacing um, most accomplished, uh, middleweights of all time of all time, um.
For the longest time, roy jones jr was my end-all, be-all uh great the goat um.
He is in the top three middleweights of all time.
This guy didn’t get a title: shot didn’t get a decent payday until after his 50th fight, he was still working a part-time job or a full-time job.
Until his 50th fight um yeah, my name is bala.
Raymond oluwali – and this is the school born, may 23rd.
1954.
In newark new jersey, the oldest of six, six kids was one marvin nathaniel hagler and during that time they moved to brockton massachusetts.
After the new york uh, the newark riots uh between july 12th and 17th of 1967.
26 people were killed and uh over 11 million dollars in property.
Damage was done now growing up in brockton massachusetts.
He got into a fight with another youth who, just so happened to be a boxer and he lost so the very next day he walked into a boxing gym and started learning his craft.
History would have it that marvin ends up fighting this boy that urged him into the gym and gave him a payback by beating him in an amateur fight.
It came out in 1983 that he had lied about his age as an amateur making him two years older.
Actually he’s two years younger than what he had said: um, because there was some age restriction uh where athletes must be 16 years of age to compete, and i think this was the reality for national or maybe even international, competitions um.
But i’m not completely sure the only record i could find had marvin um advancing his boxing resume by turning pro with an amateur record of 55 wins and one loss and that’s 1973.
.
Now i struggle to believe this to be the case, seeing how he didn’t want to wait to go to the 76 montreal summer olympic games before turning pro.
Yet he would have been 18 years old at the 72.
Munich games perfectly old enough to make the olympic squad, and yet the record has him with only one loss which i don’t understand how he didn’t make the team then.
But his professional career started out incredibly from the standpoint that he won 46 of his 48 sort of his 50th 50 first fights.
He didn’t get a title shot in those 50 fights, not one title shots on the road on that road.
He made some notable fights, such as a loss which came on his 27th fight to one bobby boogaloo watts.
A more controversial decision was virtually inconceivable.
It’S that bad um.
It was it wasn’t the worst of all times, but it was pretty bad said.
One jay russell plutz, the promoter of the fight, the headline in the following morning.
Philadelphia inquire, read, welcome to philadelphia, marvin said in a post-fight interview.
That’S why boxing has a bad name.
I never saw anything like it.
He didn’t take a round off me all.
He did was hold like a girl.
This loss was avenged in marvin’s, 52nd fight and his second world title defense, where he took the decision out of the hands of the three blind mice and stopped stopped from the second round.
Good on you genuinely another notable fight series was one with none other than sugar ray seals meeting him for the first time august 30.
1974.
This was a highly anticipated contest between two undefeated middleweights um.
They weren’t just middle there.
Two undefeated prospects, juggernauts bottom line.
Um seals was a american sweetheart sugar, ray sweetheart, repeats itself, sugar ray sweetheart.
Remember that, oh i don’t know, i can’t i can’t.
I can’t explain myself um.
He was the sweetheart of america for the reason that he had taken the gold medal in the 1972 munich games at 139 pounds now walking into this contest.
Seals was actually a little more advanced and was the favorite to win with a record of 21 and 0 on on uh compared to marvin’s 15 and all at the time it was a back and forth dance where marvin walked away with the unanimous decision.
Okay, he had a second dance and it was just three months later, and this was the mentality this was this was this was marvin in those three months he had already had three fights he’s a busy guy.
This one was for the ages, it was deemed a majority draw with two of the judges scoring in a 10-round bout.
The record 99 to 99 now understand what that means in a 10-round fight.
That means two of those judges gave each one of those competitors.
One round each then the remaining eight rounds were too close to call a winner.
Therefore, he gave them both 10 10 rounds all the way wow.
There was a third fight which made this a trilogy where they fought february 3rd 1979.
No in true hagler form.
He took the decision out of the judge’s hand and delivered an impressive first-round knockout.
This was his 46th fight and yet no title defense, eight long years as a pro marvin, would work construction full time by day box by night, 46 fights people, 46 friends and the purses he was making started off at 50 bucks to a couple hundred dollars and We’Re talking 46 fights, there’s professionals, um lennox lewis, finished his career with 40, what 43 wins, uh two losses and a little and a draw finished his career with 46 fights.
He hasn’t gotten a title defense.
Yet senator kennedy took this to the american senate and filed a formal inquiry to order to get the boxing commission to force a world title shot.
Never has this been done before never has it been done since in history, marvin spoke to joe frazier, who who told him that he has three strikes against him? Hence why he doesn’t have a title shot.
One he’s black two he’s softball and three he’s good.
There’S.
Nothing, he could have said could have argued about that.
Now.
November 30th 1979 hagler got his first title: shot against vito autofirmo.
The unofficial scorecard had hagler winning this fight.
What you can’t the the three blind mice at ringside saw it as a draw in a post-fight interview.
Hagler said you can’t leave it to the judges, you can’t leave it to the ref.
You have to do it my way and he held up his fists.
Four fights later hagler got his second title shot against one.
Alan minster of the uk now minster had just dethroned.
Vito autoforma was a heavy favorite, but somebody need to tell marvin this in a pre-fight interview.
Minster said no black man’s going to take my title later.
He insisted that he said that black man, okay, marvin, completely destroyed the man in three rounds.
He was so badly beaten, cut over both eyes, both eyes, swollen shut.
When the fight got cut off, uh called off, and then chaos ensued, the crowd started, throwing beer cans and cups and whatnot into the ring at the new world champion, marvin had to be escorted out by the police.
Marvin said in an interview later how every time he runs into someone from the uk, they are ever so apologetic for this display of nothing but bigotry of which marvin didn’t take any any hatred towards the people.
He says he’s he he holds no vengeance against them.
He holds vengeance for only uh.
Only competitors yeah better man than me i’ll, give you that marvin went on to defend his world title 12 times with 11 knockouts his career.
If his career wasn’t legendary enough.
Here are some of the some more fuel to pad that argument.
Now he called himself marvis, marvin hagler, but abc sports refused to call him marvelous, so marvin went to court and had his name legally changed from marvin nathaniel hagler to marvelous marvin hagler, not bad.
It was during these proceedings that it was denounced that he had actually been two years younger because he had to cough up his birth certificate and whatnot so november 10th.
1983.
For boxing enthusiasts, this was an epic epic fight in history.
He stepped in the ring with the legend himself roberto duran.
Now i will discuss this fight in great detail and further and um actually next week next week, um, but for the record, marvin walked away with a 15-round decision.
The only decision when he got in his of his his world title defenses.
This was arguably the greatest war between two inside fighting juggernauts of all time april 15 1985 marvin steps into the squared circle against none other than tommy hearns.
There was a bitter hatred between these two and this fight was deemed the war.
It’S also totally as the greatest three rounds of boxing in boxing history.
Now again, much like the duran fight, this fight i’ll be discussing next week, stay tuned.
It’S it’s! It’S amazing! Um! There was a chap by the name of john mugabe from kenya.
Uh ugandan ugandan fighter, nothing shy of a specimen.
He had freakish dimensions, just like marvin.
Actually, both were middleweights.
Marvin is an inch taller at five foot.
Nine and a half marvin’s reach is an inch longer at six foot three for the record, the average person’s reach from fingertip to fingertip it’s supposed to be their height.
You have these freaks like well, i couldn’t say that, because i’m actually out of the same dimensions, but when your reach surpasses your height, especially by that much yeah yeah, you better be an athlete.
Mugabe was an undefeated juggernaut as a pro he had taken the gold medal in um in the 1980 olympics in moscow, um and uh.
As a pro had a master record of 25 fights.
25 wins 25 knockouts wow, oh yeah.
What an incredibly anticipated contest they were.
They were like twins in physique in punching power.
This was an iconic fight for me because it was one of the first fights that i saw that against an absolute king.
I shouldn’t say that, because it was the exact same scenario with the sugary sealy fights, but let’s call it another example of where hagler’s boxing iq sean hagler came out the first round completely uncharacteristically.
In orthodox stance.
He then, by the end of the first round, he had reverted back to southpaw and pretty much stayed there.
Orthodox just wasn’t favorable.
Now mugabe’s strategy was simply to counter punch.
He was just standing there winging bombs, but to counterpunch.
He had to wait for that.
First punch and then come back and he found some success.
He found a great deal of success, but um he didn’t win rounds with this actually um.
After the first round i gave.
I only gave mugabe the ninth round, and that was due to mills lane taking a point off of marvin for low blows sixth round began, typically and at the two-minute mark.
A war began and they’re.
Exchanging exchanging exchanging mugabe ended up taking a step backwards and then actually sorry started, trying to grab him and reach and and and hold him, and it looked at one point like he was on his way out.
Hagler gave it to him, and i didn’t think where up to that point, mugabe was a solid counter, puncher waiting for the shot to come, giving his counter punch swing missing, mostly catching him, occasionally hagler using his jab out boxing him like crazy.
Now, after this exchange for the rest of the fight, mugabe was actually backing up.
He was a defeated man.
It was just a matter of time and come the 11th round.
Mugabe touched canvas for the very first time in his career.
Your professional career that was knocked out now in attendance for this fight was none other than sugary leonard and he’s sitting beside michael j fox, and he says i think i could beat him for the life of me and watching this fight.
I have absolutely no idea what he saw, but not just not just ray, but others said that they thought that hagler had slowed down his footwork wasn’t there.
I did not witness this.
I’Ve looked at the fight.
I’Ve played this fight.
Several.
I did not see this.
He fought an incredible fight.
He beat an incredible talent.
Maybe it was just that mugabe was that good, that it made him.
Look that ordinary, i don’t know, but after three years retirement from the ring ray leonard actually gave boxing history.
The fight that they’ve been looking for throughout the 80s and decided to step in the ring against hagler now april 6.
1987.
, that match the boxing fans have been waiting for finally started ray versus marvin, arguably the most controversial fight in history, with leonard winning a decision um.
This is more than worthy of its own episode and, like the others, will be discussed next week.
What what marvin attempted to get a rematch after this and for one year and ray, wanted nothing to do with it? You he was convinced he won that fight.
That was disgusting, so, with a record of 62, wins three losses and two draws with 52 knockouts over 14 years: marvis marvelous, marvin, hagler retired, never to box again, marvin is enjoying life away from boxing like, like literally away from boxing, virtually never seen he moved to Italy he’s enjoying life being an italian acting movie star who knew, but i wish you the very best, sir.
Thank you for your contribution to boxing history.
If you like this episode, please hit the like button, smash the subscribe and tickle the notification.
It’S your boy and that’s the school, fantastic, fantastic show.
Thank you very much right cheers he uh.
He was a true hero in boxing, that’s for sure, um wow.
What a what a what a career honestly he was.
It was nothing sigh of amazing.
He was yeah.
His tenacity like i couldn’t fathom fighting somebody that angry you can’t beat me.
It is what he uttered several times.
He doesn’t think that he can be beat and he he gets in there.
It’S like he falls down he’s going to beat you into submission and he’s off in italy having his uh have his justices.
Well, thanks very much and uh we’ll see you tomorrow, night, fantastic cheers, cheers
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