Marvin Hagler
Marvin Hagler
Marvelous Marvin Hagler is an American former professional boxer who reigned as the undisputed middleweight champion from 1980 to 1987. He made twelve defenses of the undisputed title and today holds the highest knockout percentage of all undisputed middleweight champions, at 78%. At six years and seven months, his reign as undisputed middleweight champion is the second longest of the last century, behind only Tony Zale, who reigned during World War II. In 1982, annoyed that network announcers often did...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBoxer
Date of Birth23 May 1954
CityNewark, NJ
CountryUnited States of America
You know, I think I had a great career; there's not much I think I'd do different other than get a title shot much earlier. I didn't get one till 49 or 50 fights into my career.
Even though the outcome wasn't the way it should have been, publicly I still feel in my heart I won the Sugar Ray Leonard fight.
The situation right after the fight wasn't too good; I believe I'm still the only champion in the world who never received the belt inside the ring once you've won the title. I held that against the English fans for a long time but I felt that also motivated me.
In some ways that fight gave me more respect around the world and helped me be even more popular because so many people felt my pain and saw that I was robbed.
You know looking back on it now I used the fight and after the fight as motivation, to make sure I was going to be the best middleweight in the world for a long time.
I am a fighter who walks, talks and thinks fighting but I try not to look like it
Whether Pacquiao loses in the first round, whether he knocks out Mayweather in the first round, it's still going to be the biggest fight in history,
The only difference between street fighting and boxing is there a ref there from stopping me from killing you
I started out doing commercials, like Diet Coke and Pizza Hut. And I started to find there was a different life for me, in a different field. From there, I got a call from a director in Italy, and we did 'Indio' I and II, and that's where it started.
I tried my best to ensure I kept the respect for the middleweight division in the tradition of Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake La Motta.
When you knock people out, it's sometimes a very scary situation - but I always hoped that no one got seriously hurt. Now when I see them get knocked out, I laugh. When you finish the game, it's funny. And when I look at film of myself, I think, 'I wouldn't fight that guy.'
Sugar Ray wouldn't give me a rematch, and that's the reason I walked away from boxing.
Some fighters know when to stop on their own and go on to something else, and then some fighters have nothing to go back to after they are finished. Some fighters still have the burning fire and feel that they just need to try one more time. Few can do it.
For me, I believe George Foreman was a bad example because when he became world heavyweight champion again at 42, that made a lot of fighters think they could also carry on.