A piece of grieving news has struck the global boxing fandom as Marvelous Marvin Hagler (62–3–2, 52 KOs), the reigning undisputed middleweight champion of the world of the 80s has passed away unexpectedly at his residence in New Hampshire this Saturday.
The saddening incident was confirmed to the public by none other than Hagler’s wife Kay G. Hagler, who announced the death of the former pugilist on his official fan page on Facebook.
“I am sorry to make a very sad announcement. Today unfortunately my beloved husband Marvelous Marvin passed away unexpectedly at his home here in New Hampshire. Our family requests that you respect our privacy during this difficult time. With love.” Kay lamented.
Marvin Hagler: A decorated boxing career, terminated with irate
Following a remarkable 55-1 amateur career which included a United States National Championships (Middleweight) gold medal, Marvin Hagler stepped into professional boxing in May 1973.
However, his first major title shot came on his 50th pro victory against Alan Minter in September 1980 when Hagler won the WBA and WBC middleweight belts, which marked his reign as the supreme middleweight champion of the decade.
Throughout until 1983, Hagler defended his unified crown a whopping six times, and in May 1983, he clinched the inaugural middleweight title via a 4th round KO over Wilford Scypion, and became the undisputed champion.
Hagler’s undisputed crown was challenged for five times until March 1986, by the then boxing heavyweights such as Roberto Durán, Juan Roldán, Thomas Hearns and many more.
However, the much-controversial clash against Sugar Ray Leonard on 6th April 1987 is when Hagler’s career took a sudden and expected turn. The WBC title defense against Leonard went the distance and the split decision from the judges went in favour of the contender (118–110, 115–113, 113–115).
The highly debated scores from the fight still remains a disputed result till this date, but for Hagler, a rematch with Leonard was what he was focused on. Unfortunately, Leonard decided to retire with his middleweight crown and after four months of waiting, Hagler also decided to pack his sparring gloves for good.
Interestingly, just a month after Hagler’s retirement, Leonard announced his comeback to boxing, and even offered the former champion a rematch, but by that time Hagler had moved on from the sport and was an actor settled in Italy.
In Italy, Hagler became a famous action hero and acted in Indio (1989) and Indio 2 (1991) as a United States marine. Later, he even did boxing commentary work in Britain.
