Nine minutes that defined Marvelous Marvin's career
Hagler felt he didn't get the respect he deserved - until the Tommy Hearns fight in 1985
It lasted less than nine minutes, but 30 years later boxing aficionados are still talking about "The War". Marvelous Marvin Hagler v Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, April 15, 1985 - undisputed middleweight champion Hagler versus Hearns, who earned his nickname by felling even the likes of Roberto Duran with his sledgehammer right hand.
Though Hagler knocked out Hearns in just the third round, the fight went down in history as one of the greatest of all time.
Nearly three decades later, Hagler can't understand where the time went, but is still happy to reminisce, despite getting asked about it almost every day since.
You can't believe it - when I wake up and go out somebody's talking about that fight. It's like it was yesterday. People remember every punch, every round
At 60, he still oozes power from a torso the approximate size and shape of a Smart Car; his wits are undiminished despite his years taking on - and, with the exception of Sugar Ray Leonard, beating - the greats of the 1980s in a near seven-year unbeaten run as champ.
"I'm only 29, I don't know what happened here," he jokes of the 30-year anniversary. "It's a good feeling. I get it every day, you can't believe it - when I wake up and go out somebody's talking about that fight.
"It's like it was yesterday. People remember every punch, every round, they write me a lot, the fans are excited about this 30th anniversary and they can't wait for it to get here.
"For me it was the best day of my life besides winning the title, but finally just showing the world I was the champion I was.
"I remember some of them saying, 'You're not great yet until you showed your true ablilities,' and everything. After I knocked out Tommy Hearns I said to the commentator, 'Am I great or not?' he says, 'I got to tell you Marvelous, you're great.'"
They went for each other with ridiculous ferocity from the opening bell, leaving experienced commentators open-mouthed. Hearns clouted Hagler's bald head with such force in the opening round that he broke his right hand, yet Hagler somehow stayed upright.
The toe-to-toe exchanges continued in the second, blood pouring all over Hagler's face from a cut. When the referee called a timeout in the third for the doctor to inspect the wound on Hagler's forehead, the champ felt he had to step it up even more or risk losing on a stoppage.
Storming into Hearns again, he blasted him into the ropes with a high hook to the head then sent him to the canvas with another right to the chin. Hearns somehow got to his feet on nine, but had to be carried from the ring like a baby after the ref stopped him from fighting on.
Despite his record - he had defended his belts nine times before facing Hearns, and only Duran took him the distance - Hagler says he never felt he received the respect he deserved. He changed his name to force commentators to call him Marvelous; after Hearns, no one doubted it.
For me it was the best day of my life besides winning the title, but finally just showing the world I was the champion I was.
"I always felt like a challenger. I always gave everything, everything when I stepped in the ring," he recalls. "I was struggling for a long time before I got the opportunity to gain the recognition which I deserved and that was with the Tommy fight, and I thank Tommy for that, too.
"He don't remember much [about the fight], but he's funny. I see him once in a while, he says 'Hagler, when we going to do this again?' and I say, 'Why, you can't remember the first time?'
"But we seem to get along pretty good and it's a strange thing - you build up such a hatred and when you're all finished, you're starting to get older together and you're able to talk about the old days.
"I just came back from Las Vegas where I saw Hearns, [Sugar Ray] Leonard, Duran, [John] Mugabi, at the WBC convention - this was in the book of Guinness, eighty-five world champs in one room, and I was just looking around thinking, 'I hope nobody rings no bell here!'
'You got some of your old opponents, and the new guys just coming up, they're all googly eyes cause they see all these old champs - [the respect] is a great feeling."
