The Decision
In the general hustle and bustle of life, with all of our various Friday commitments and activities and whatnot (I went to the Arco Center last night - bad, bad loss for the Jazz...), we missed a VERY big No Masian anniversary yesterday, and so allow me to set the record straight this Saturday morning.
Twenty years ago yesterday, Sugar Ray Leonard bested Marvelous Marvin Hagler in one of the most, if not in fact THE most, controversial decisions of all time.
The mythology of the fight is positively epic - the undefeated Hagler, once publicly scorned and humiliated by the retiring Leonard now getting his last shot at the white whale that had so long eluded him, and meanwhile Leonard, watching the Hagler/Mugabi war from ringside, saying to himself, "now is the time... I can beat him now."
If you've seen the actual bout, you know that it is fascinating theater, but ultimately profoundly unsatisfying. It is hard watching it not to empathize with Hagler, and yet it is hard also, sticking to the Queensberry rules, to say that he won the fight. With his relentless showboating and shoeshining and tireless bicycle-riding, Leonard steals points like the clown-thief that he was. It was not perhaps the most courageous display the ring has ever seen, but it was crudely effective. Round-by-round you can see the frustration building on Marvin's face, to the point where it actually seems like steam is going to come out of his ears.
When I think of this fight, I always see in my mind the visible disgust and disappointment of Hagler after the bout, tragic in its depth. "That pitter-pat shit didn't hurt me," he tells Larry Merchant after the decision, and there is no doubt whatsoever that this much is true. When Sugar Ray comes over for a hug, Marvin turns away. "Man that ain't right, you know that ain't right," he says, while Leonard just repeats, "Marvin? Come on... Marvin? Marvin..."
Twenty years later, I'm curious to hear from the No Mas gallery on this one. What say ye people? The controversy of this fight will never fade because, unlike, say, Chavez/Whitaker, this wasn't simply a sentimental rob-job. This is a truly difficult fight to score no matter how you look at it. But how you score it really boils down to an argument of what you think boxing at its finest should be.
Twenty years ago yesterday, Sugar Ray Leonard bested Marvelous Marvin Hagler in one of the most, if not in fact THE most, controversial decisions of all time.
The mythology of the fight is positively epic - the undefeated Hagler, once publicly scorned and humiliated by the retiring Leonard now getting his last shot at the white whale that had so long eluded him, and meanwhile Leonard, watching the Hagler/Mugabi war from ringside, saying to himself, "now is the time... I can beat him now."
If you've seen the actual bout, you know that it is fascinating theater, but ultimately profoundly unsatisfying. It is hard watching it not to empathize with Hagler, and yet it is hard also, sticking to the Queensberry rules, to say that he won the fight. With his relentless showboating and shoeshining and tireless bicycle-riding, Leonard steals points like the clown-thief that he was. It was not perhaps the most courageous display the ring has ever seen, but it was crudely effective. Round-by-round you can see the frustration building on Marvin's face, to the point where it actually seems like steam is going to come out of his ears.
When I think of this fight, I always see in my mind the visible disgust and disappointment of Hagler after the bout, tragic in its depth. "That pitter-pat shit didn't hurt me," he tells Larry Merchant after the decision, and there is no doubt whatsoever that this much is true. When Sugar Ray comes over for a hug, Marvin turns away. "Man that ain't right, you know that ain't right," he says, while Leonard just repeats, "Marvin? Come on... Marvin? Marvin..."
Twenty years later, I'm curious to hear from the No Mas gallery on this one. What say ye people? The controversy of this fight will never fade because, unlike, say, Chavez/Whitaker, this wasn't simply a sentimental rob-job. This is a truly difficult fight to score no matter how you look at it. But how you score it really boils down to an argument of what you think boxing at its finest should be.
4 Comments:
thats a bull crap win.
end of story.
Yeah, I tend to agree with you Kev. Hard to believe a man could feel good about something like that. He's pretty open about what he was doing too, the pitter-pat shoeshines with ten seconds left to steal rounds. Did you see the Ringside tonight? It kind of sucked actually.
Maybe someone out there can play devil's advocate and make the case that Hagler's complaining denies the point scoring value of strategic boxing and overrates power shots, but it ain't me babe. He wuz robbed.
Don't get me wrong - I think that Leonard won the fight. The rules are the rules, and Marvin made some big mistakes, came out in a conventional stance and tried to outbox Sugar Ray in some weird reverse macho "I'll show him who can box" attitude, and gave away about four rounds chasing Leonard around that HUGE fucking ring.
But never have I seen a fight that so called into question what it actually means to win a fight, to fight for a decision rather than a victory, if you know what I mean. That remains Marvin's biggest beef with the whole thing - the "he wasn't in there to beat me, he was in there to impress judges" attitude. It's a fair beef. That night, Leonard went about his business like he was an Olympic gymast. It's not bound to endear him to any true fight fan.
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