It’s 1982 and nobody questions that undeniable middleweight champ Marvelous Marvin Hagler is the very best active fighter on earth, pound-for-pound. While Aaron Pryor, Michael Spinks, and Larry Holmes are likewise in the running, the only fellow prospect for such high regard who might be deemed a risk to Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, has actually retired. What an unfortunate circumstance: you’re the very best and everybody understands it, however you have nobody to challenge you, nobody to assist you show your expertise, and most notably, nobody to assist you make the sort of income your skills need to command.
Instead, Hagler was delegated handle the dregs of a not especially strong middleweight department. A proposed superfight with Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns had actually failed earlier in the year, and while Marvin was the only unified champ in the sport, indicating he held titles from both the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Association, that likewise indicated he needed to take notice of the orders of both fake companies if he wished to keep the belts.
Hagler had currently showed his large supremacy over Fulgencio Obelmejias in January of 1981, damaging the Venezuelan into a powerless load in 8 one-sided rounds in his very first title defense. No one understood what Obelmejias had actually done to restore status as the obligatory opposition for the title, however he had actually done simply that and hence he should have a rematch with Marvelous Marvin. Or so decreed the WBA.
If the contest itself was pestered by a sense of futility and déjà vu, the place was similarly unreasonable: the Teatro Ariston in San Remo, Italy. If nobody might discuss why this rematch was essential, they likewise didn’t understand why the battle was taking place where it was; however obviously Hagler enjoyed his time in “The Boot,” as after he retired from boxing he made a brand-new life for himself in the land of Leonardo and linguine.
But that was a number of years later on. In 1982 Hagler was plainly not delighted to be in Italy and and none too delighted to be dealing with a challenger he had actually currently peacefully beaten. One factor for this was that Marvin did not forget the truth that following their very first match, Fulgencio had actually blamed his bad proving on an infection, informing everybody he was experiencing a bad cold.
“Making excuses like he’d lost to some rinky-dink instead of giving me the credit I deserved,” fumed Hagler. “The first time I punished him. This time I’m gonna hurt him. I’m gonna make damn sure there won’t be no third fight. I don’t wanna ever see his ugly face again.”
Hagler showed to be a man of his word, however so did Obelmejias who did undoubtedly appear trimmer and sharper than in the very first match, winning the very first 2 rounds as he left to a much faster begin than the champ and captured Marvin consistently with strong uppercuts. But in round 3 Hagler started to use pressure in earnest, putting ‘Fully Obel,’ as the champ described him, on the run. It was clear to all: in spite of the WBA’s high viewpoint of the opposition, he positioned no severe hazard to Marvelous Marvin.
Hagler nearly ended it in the 4th when the bell conserved a shocked Obelmejias from additional penalty, and in round 5 the opposition remained in full-on survival mode, taking heavy barrages from the champ while using no significant resistance. Then, southpaw Marvin introduced a completely timed and vicious ideal hook with all his weight on it, the blow landing easily on the opposition’s jaw and knocking him to the flooring. He never ever came close to beating the count.
“Well,” asked Hagler at the post-fight interview, “did he have a cold this time?”
A tidy knockout for Marvelous Marvin and, all things thought about, an embarrasing result for the WBA. It appeared to everybody this had actually been a meaningless rematch which Obelmejias might not perhaps be the most powerful competitor in the middleweight department. In truth, Tony Sibson should have that appellation and less than 4 months later on Hagler would dispatch the Britisher in similarly dominant style. This was Marvin Hagler’s peak and he was revealing to one and all that he was a really ‘Marvelous’ middleweight champ; undoubtedly, among the best of all-time. — Michael Carbert
Paintings of Marvelous Marvin Hagler by Damien Burton.
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