To try and knock Marvin Hagler off his feet, you had to possess chilling knockout power.
Thomas Hearns had just that. When the pair fought out their electrifying eight-minute war in April 1985, Hearns fired his cannons, but Hagler walked through the explosive artillery to mow down “The Hitman” in one of boxing’s greatest showdowns.
But Hearns was not the only hard-hitter ‘Marvelous’ faced during his legendary career. Speaking to The Ring for their long-running Best I Faced series, he named the biggest punchers he ever shared a ring with.
“John Mugabi and Hearns. Because they came to fight.”
Hearns arrived for a three-round shootout, but Mugabi wanted far more when he challenged Hagler for the undisputed middleweight title a year after The War.
The Ugandan-born Mugabi, the number-one contender across all three governing bodies, dragged his rival into a brutal war of attrition. Hagler was the more accurate puncher, but he still had to withstand Mugabi’s relentless pressure and heavy shots to the head.
By the later rounds Hagler’s right eye was almost closed, yet he managed to close the show in the penultimate round with a sustained barrage of punches.
His victory was expected to set up a September rematch with Hearns, while Donald Curry — who had retained his WBA welterweight title a month earlier — was targeting a move up to 160lbs to challenge the champion. Neither man got their wish. After beating Mugabi, Hagler declared that it may have been his final fight.
The middleweight machine returned just once more, in April 1987, when he faced Sugar Ray Leonard and suffered his first defeat in 11 years.
