Today, as no doubt plenty of fight fans are aware, marks the 40th anniversary of the epic, the savage, indeed the unforgettable three-round war between primed and peaking duo, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas “Hitman” Hearns.
Two superb fighters, each a world champion, both at the peak of their astonishing powers, risking it all for true greatness. The fight in Las Vegas remains at the top of so many lists: the greatest round ever, the best fight from the ‘Four Kings’ rivalry, the greatest middleweight fight ever. And more.
Hearns, 26 years of age and the reigning super-welterweight champ, moved up in weight to challenge long-reigning middleweight king Hagler, who was four years the older man. Something would have to give, but what? Who?
Hagler entered the ring with a 60-2-2(50) record. Hearns was 40-1(34).
One man who was there, as he was at so many big fights, is Jerry Izenberg. The veteran writer who has covered boxing for decades, and who could call giants such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman real friends, agrees that the distinction of greatest round ever goes to that electrifying three-minutes we saw 40 long years ago.
“The best round of all, Hagler and Hearns,” Jerry told me when we talked a while back. “Hagler comes out, he’s the bigger man, and Hearns was a tremendous puncher. And he [Hearns] hits him with a hellacious right hand on the forehead. A cut opens up, and it’s one of the most dangerous cuts that you can have, because blood was running into the eye. And Hagler fought back, he took that punch and he didn’t back up and inch and they stood there toe-to-toe and they fought. When the round ended, my boxing writer said to me, ‘Who did you give the round to?’ I said, ‘The round goes to Hearns, but the fight goes to Hagler.’ Because he took the best right hand in his entire life, and the guy didn’t move back three-inches!”
Indeed, there is so much to marvel at with regards to this fight, this absolute super fight. Hagle’s granite chin is the stuff of legend, while the sheer frenzy with which both champions attacked each other is a kind rarely seen in any fight, at any time, especially in the opening round.
Hagler as we know, was threatened with being stopped on cuts in the third round, and he channelled into his inner devil and took Hearns out. Hearns, who had broken his hand in that opening round, was all out of bullets, but not heart. Somehow after taking Hagler’s lunging, thudding shots to the head, Hearns got back up after crashing to the mat. Referee Richard Steele had seen enough, however, and Hagler had scored the greatest win of his entire career.
We will in all likelihood never see as great, as mesmerizing, as utterly thrilling an opening round in all of boxing.
