Tag Archives: Marvin Hagler

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Hagler teams with Roach

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Hagler family.jpg
(L-R) – The late, great Marvelous Marvin Hagler, his grandson James Jr., and son James

BOSTON (February 15, 2022) – There are few family names in boxing, especially in New England, as universally revered as Hagler and Roach.
They are part of boxing royalty.

There is a new connection as James Hagler, Jr., the grandson of the late Hall of Famer Marvelous Marvin Hagler, has signed an exclusive managerial contract with Fighter Locker, owned and operated by the nephew of Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, Boston-based Ryan Roach.

The plan is for Roach to have Hagler fight in Massachusetts, ideally in Brockton, the City of Champions in which Hagler as well as another Hall of Famer, Rocky Marciano, fought out of during their professional careers.

“I was looking for a manager and read about Ryan,” Hagler said. “I looked him up online, talked with him, and met him last weekend for the first time. He is not a greedy person. By far, he offered me the best deal I have ever received. He really wants to help me. Ryan’s a cool dude. I feel good about signing with him.

“Fighting someday in Brockton and Boston means a lot to me, because of my grandfather’s background, and that’s one of the reasons I signed with Ryan. My mother and father are from that area, and I still have a lot of family living on both sides living there. I’ll be the third member of the Hagler family to fight in New England, joining my grandfather and uncle (Robbie Simms).”


Hagler and Roach.jpg
(L-R) – Ryan Roach & James Hagler, Jr.


“I’m excited to be managing James,” Roach commented. “Right away, I was interested in a fighter with the Hagler name. I spoke with James and he’s a good kid who is all in. He wants to prove himself on his own and I get that, because I want to make it on my own terms, not my last name.
“We’re excited to get him fighting in New England. We’re going to do great things together. We plan on having him fight in Brockton, hopefully this summer, to bring boxing back to Brockton.” 

The 31-year-old Hagler, who fights out of Atlanta, didn’t start boxing until he was 24. Why did he start so late?

“My grandfather didn’t want any of us  (in the Hagler family) to box,” James explained. “I wanted to be a boxer since I was 3 or 4. He didn’t want anybody in his family to go through what he did in the Sugar Ray Leonard fight. My father (a boxing promoter in Atlanta) was an amateur boxer who fought in the Olympic Trials. He stopped boxing because my grandfather wouldn’t watch him fight. My father didn’t want to continue fighting.

“There’s a lot of pressure on me fighting because people expect me to be like my grandfather or want me to live up to the Hagler name. I feel good following in my grandfather’s footsteps. When guys fight me, it’s like their championship fight, because they want to say they beat a Hagler for bragging rights. I know that they will always have their best fight against me.”

James (2-1, 1 KO) had a relatively brief amateur career, fighting in Alabama and Georgia, and the southpaw made his pro debut December 14, 2019, in Ohio, when he stopped Michael Widmer in round one. He’s only had two fights since, winning one and losing the other, the latest this past November.

Hagler action.jpg
James Hagler, Jr. in action


Hagler will fight as a super middleweight for now, but he intends to campaign as a middleweight in the same division his legendary grandfather owned for so many years. He does have a dream fight in mind, saying, “I met Muhammad Ali’s grandson (Nico Walsh). I’d love to fight him someday.”

Fighter Locker’s growing stable of gifted boxers also includes California super flyweight Rocco “So Cal Kid” Santomauro (21-1, 6 KOs), New York’s ABF American West super lightweight Ray Jay “The Destroyer” Bermudez (16-0, 11 KOs), Connecticut’s ABF USA super welterweight Jimmy “Quiet Storm” Williams (18-5-2, 6 KOs), Colorado’s ABF American West super middleweight champion “The Amazing” Shawn McCalman (10-0, 6 KOs), Massachusetts super lightweight Adrian “Tonka” Sosa (12-0, 9 KOs), Florida super bantamweight Daniel  “The Dedication” Bailey, Jr. (10-0, 5 KOs), Massachusetts featherweight Troy Anderson, Jr. (4-0, 2 KOs), 2-time Brazilian Olympian & 2016 Olympic silver medalist Yuberjen Martinez, Brazilian Olympian Jorge Vivas, 2-time Dominican Olympian, lightweight Leonel de los Santos (5-0, 5 KOs), Dominican cruiserweight Roki “Rocky” Berroa (2-0, 1 KO), Dominican super welterweight Juan Solano Santos (1-0, 1 KO), Dominican featherweight Orlando Perez Zapata (10-0, 8 KOs), Dominican lightweight Isaelin Florian Henriguez (8-1, 4 KOs),  Florida light heavyweight Robert Daniels, Jr. (6-0, 5 KOs),  Irish light heavyweight Tommy “The Kid” O’Toole (3-0, 2 KOs), Texas super lightweight Miranda “La Alacrana” Reyes (5-1-1, 2 KOs), Massachusetts super featherweight Alex Rivera (3-0, 2 KO), Kansas brothers, welterweight Marcus (3-0, 3 KOs) and super lightweight Marcell (1-0), and Utah brothers, ABF American West lightweight champion Ignacio Chairez (9-0-1, 5 KOs) and lightweight Gabriel Chairez (4-0-1, 2 KOs).

INFORMATION:
WEBSITE:  fighterlocker.com, punch4parkinsons.com
FACEBOOK:  /fighterlocker, /jameshaglerjr
TWITTER:  @RoachRyan
INSTAGRAM: @RyanRoach82, @JamesHaglerJr

ABOUT FIGHTER LOCKER: Established in 2019, Fighter Locker is a comprehensive sports agency that manages professional boxers. Fighter Locker also helps to brand boxers  by finding their voice with a 100-percent customized service. Fighter Locker does not really believe in working models. It believes in partnership optimization models in motion.
Fighter Locker uses four creative steps because it believes in “the foundation is everything”: 1. wisely conceived, 2. creatively restrained, 3. Proudly judged, 4. sharply targeted.
boxing, USA Boxing

A remarkable boxing journey like no other 1972 Olympic gold medalist “Sugar” Ray Seales

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(Ray Seales is in the front row, second in from the left)
 


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 9, 2020) — Imagine being the lone boxer from your country to capture an Olympic gold medal, only days after the infamous Munich massacre. Now imagine also having won a remarkable 338 of 350 amateur matches, having fought a trilogy as a professional with “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, being declared legally blind in both eyes (having entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. pickup a six-figure medical bill), regaining sight in one eye, then working as a teacher of autistic students for 17 years.
 
“Sugar” Ray Seales has truly lived a surreal life, to say the least, and he’s still involved in boxing at the age of 67, as a successful coach of amateur boxers in Indianapolis.
 
Born in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Island as one of eight children in a family whose father was a boxer there as a member of the U.S. Army team, Seales started boxing at the age of nine. “I have three brothers and we always beat the crap out of each other,” he spoke about his start in boxing. “Learning how to box, for me, was all about fighting to be the first to eat. I had gotten hit in my left eye playing dodgeball and my uncle, who was stationed at Ft. Lewis (in Tacoma, WA), told my mother there was a special doctor there who could help with my eye. My father was stationed all over and in 1964, when I was 12, my mother moved us to Tacoma, Washington.
 
“I had boxing in my system. I went with my brothers to the Downtown Tacoma Boys Club, which was only one block from our home, and my mother could watch me walk from our house to the gym and back. I was the first from there to win a Golden Gloves title. I wanted to be a winner and finished with 14 (champion) jackets. I couldn’t speak English. I knew Spanish and spoke Spanish and English together. The first word I said in English was box. We used to fight three or four times a day and we built the Tacoma Boxing Club. I went on to have a 338-12 amateur record and I’ve been in boxing ever since.”
 
Seales developed into a champion, taking top honors at the 1971 National AAU and 1972 National Golden Gloves championships. At the age of 19, Seales enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, but his mother made some calls so Ray would be able to compete in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.
 
She succeeded and the rest, as they say, is history. And when he came home from the Olympics, he was told that there was no need for him to report to the U.S. Air Force, because he had done enough in terms of service as the only American boxer to win a gold medal.
 
The 1972 Olympics, however, was overshadowed by the killing of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, as well as a West German police officer at the Olympic Village by terrorists on Black September.
 
“I had just turned 20,” Seales remembered. “Boxing was heavy when we went there. Some of my family, my coach from Tacoma, and Tacoma teammate (and 2-time U.S. Olympian)Davey Armstrong were in Germany. I didn’t know anything at first. I had to get the attention of my parents to let them know not to go there, because there were terrorists with sub-machine guns in the Olympic Village. I was the only American boxer left to fight.”
 
Seales defeated Bulgarian Angjei Anghhelov, 5-0, in the light welterweight championship to capture an Olympic gold medal, the only member of the U.S. team to do so. His teammates included Armstrong, Duane Bobick, and Olympic bronze medalists Jesse Valdez, Marvin Johnson and Ricardo Carreras.
 
Sugar Ray Seales’s dedication to USA Boxing is second to none,” said Chris Cugliari, USA Boxing Alumni Director. “His pride, patriotism, and devotion to helping our next generation of champions is what makes him such an inspiring figure.”


USA Boxing Alumni Association
 
Created to champion lifelong, mutually beneficial relationships between USA Boxing and its alumni, –boxers, officials, coaches and boxing fans — The Alumni Association connects generations of champions, inspiring and giving back to USA Boxing’s future boxing champions, in and out of the ring.
 
The USA Boxing Alumni Association is open to anyone who has a love for boxing and would like to stay connected with amateur boxing. Members are granted access to a wide variety of special events hosted by the Alumni Association, including its annual USA Boxing Alumni Association Hall of Fame reception.
 
To join the Alumni Association, simply register at alumni@usaboxing.org for a $40.00 per year membership fee. New members will receive a T-shirt, keychain and e-wallet.
 

Seales turned pro in 1973, winning an 8-round unanimous decision over Gonzalo Rodriguez in Tacoma. “Sugarman” won his first 21 pro fights, until he lost a 10-round decision to 14-0 middleweight prospect and future Hall of Famer Marvin Hagler. Two fights later, Seales fought Hagler in Tacoma to a 10-round draw (99-99, 99-99, 98-96).
 
“Everybody wanted a shot at the Olympic gold medalist,” Seales explained.” I went to Boston and we fought in a TV studio (WNAC). It was freezing in there. I was shivering when I went into the ring, Marvin came out dripping sweat. I knew I was losing after seeing that, but I hung with him and went the distance (10 rounds). I was having management problems and three months later I fought Hagler again, only this time at home in Tacoma. I beat him but it ended in a 10-round draw. He knows I beat him!”
 
Seales completed his trilogy with Hagler, but it was five years later, when Hagler was 42-2-1 and avoided by most of the world’s top middleweights. “I was the USBA (United States Boxing Association) and North American Boxing Federation (NABF) middleweight champion and Hagler needed to win a title to get a world title shot,” Seales noted. “I lost our third fight in the first round, but that’s the only thing shown on television in our three fights. We were two left-handers, but he switched to right-handed, and he caught me with a hook. I got paid and they bought him a world title fight.”    
 
Seales has coached two different amateur teams in Indianapolis during the past 11 years, winning 10 Golden Gloves team championships, and he’s still in charge in Indy of Team IBG.
 
After he retired in 1984 after suffering detached retinas in both eyes, Seales was introduced in Las Vegas to Sammy Davis, Jr. (pictured below), who paid Seales’ $100,000 medical bill for his damaged eyes. Davis had lost his left eye in a 1952 car accident
 
  
 
“I’m a teacher,” Seales concluded. “I see the way that so many boxers want to fight likeFloyd Mayweather. Their head is tilted, they can’t throw a jab. I teach them to have the right foot behind the left (for a right-handed boxer), and to walk in straight, not tilted or peaking. Heel toe, heel toe every time you pivot is your stance.
 
“My advice for the boxers who hope to compete in the 2020 Olympics is to focus on what you’re doing and listen to how to get it done. What I really want to do is to coach the USA Olympic Boxing Team 2024.”

INFORMATION:
www.usaboxing.orgi
Twitter: @USABoxing, @USABoxingAlumni
Instagram: @USABoxing
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THOMAS HEARNS HEADLINES STAR-LADEN CLASS OF INDUCTEES INTO NEVADA BOXING HALL OF FAME

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Spinks brothers, Michael Carbajal, Erik Morales and Salvador Sanchez are also among the greats to be honored Aug. 12 at Caesars Palace.  
 
LAS VEGAS – Former world champion Thomas Hearns, who along with Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran dominated boxing in the 1980s and became known collectively as “The Four Kings,” headlines a 14-person class of inductees into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, Hall CEO/president Michelle Corrales-Lewis announced Wednesday.
Hearns was chosen in the non-Nevada resident boxer category, along with Michael Spinks, Erik Morales, Michael Carbajal, women’s boxing star Lucia Rijker and Salvador Sanchez. Elected in the Nevada resident boxer category was Ken Norton, Leon Spinks and Richie Sandoval.
Chosen in the non-boxer category were referee Davey Pearl, public relations specialist Debbie Munch, promoter Mel Greb, trainer/cut man Rafael Garcia and Nevada Athletic Commission chair Dr. Elias Ghanem.
Norton, Sanchez, Greb and Ghanem will be inducted posthumously.
The members of the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame’s star-studded fifth-induction class will be honored at a gala dinner at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Saturday, Aug. 12. Ticket will be released Thursday, February 16th at 12pm on NVBHOF.com .
“We are very proud of this class of inductees, and it contains some of the greatest fighters who ever lived,” Corrales-Lewis said. “I’m looking forward to our gala dinner when we can honor these richly deserving people and allow their fans to say hello.”
Hearns was one of the standouts during the 1980s and participated in a series of great bouts in Las Vegas with Leonard, Hagler and Duran. His 1985 bout with Hagler at Caesars Palace is still regarded by many as the greatest fight in boxing history.
The Spinks brothers, Michael and Leon, become the first set of brothers inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. Both won gold medals for the U.S. at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and then went on to win world titles in the pros.
Norton, known primarily for a series of close bouts with the legendary Muhammad Ali, also competed in one of the great heavyweight title bouts ever. He lost the WBC title by a razor-thin decision to Larry Holmes in 1978, among the finest heavyweight championship fights ever held.
Pearl was among the best referees of all-time and worked more than 70 championship bouts. He was the referee for both Leon Spinks’ shocking 1978 upset of Ali as well as for Leonard’s dramatic 14th-round knockout of Hearns in 1981.
The Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame is an IRS 501 (c)3 charity and all donations are tax deductible. The Hall’s charitable contributions over the five years since its formation have helped boxers in need and boxing-related charities. Donations are welcome.
The Hall was founded in 2013 by noted boxing broadcaster Rich Marotta.
For more information, phone 702-3NVBHOF, or 702-368-2463.
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE NEW HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Michael Carbajal – Best known as the first junior flyweight to earn a $1 million purse, Carbajal won world titles at junior flyweight and flyweight. Known as “Little Hands of Stone” for his punching power, Carbajal was 49-4 with 33 KOs.
His rivalry with Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez was one of the best of the early 1990s and their 1993 fight was The Ring Magazine Fight of the Year. In 2004, The Ring named Carbajal as the best junior flyweight in history.
He was 98-10 as an amateur and won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
 
Thomas Hearns – Hearns, 58, won recognized world titles at welterweight, super welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight during a career in which he went 61-5-1 with 48 KOs.
He’s most remembered for his savage three-round battle with Hagler in 1985, but he participated in many of the decade’s biggest and most electric bouts. He fought in Las Vegas 16 times, going 11-4-1 with nine knockouts.
Erik Morales – One of the most exciting fighters of the early part of the 2000s, Morales is best known for his series of outstanding fights with arch rival Marco Antonio Barrera. Morales went 52-9 with 36 knockouts but is best known for his trilogy with Barrera, two of which were named Ring Fight of the year.
Morales won major world titles at super bantamweight, featherweight, super featherweight and super lightweight, becoming the first Mexican born fighter to win titles in four weight classes.
He also engaged in a spectacular trilogy with Manny Pacquiao, beating him in the first and dropping the last two.
Ken Norton – Though he was the heavyweight champion before losing his belt to Larry Holmes in one of the great title bouts ever, Norton was best known for his three fights with the legendary Muhammad Ali. Norton defeated Ali in 1973 in San Diego in their first bout, breaking Ali’s jaw.
Ali won the two subsequent bouts, including a 1976 match at Yankee Stadium for the title. Some observers believe Norton deserved to win all three fights.
The Holmes fight was sensational and the two men stood in the center of the ring at Caesars and slugged it out in the 15th and final round.
Lucia Rijker – Rijker is regarded as one of, if not the best, women boxers in history. She was 17-0 with 14 knockouts in boxing and was 37-0-1 with 25 knockouts as a kick boxer.
In her boxing career, she scored dominant wins over the likes of Jane Couch, Marcela Acuna and Chevelle Hallback.
She later appeared in the Oscar-winning film, “Million Dollar Baby.“
Salvador Sanchez – Sanchez tragically died in an auto accident in Mexico at just 23 years old, robbing the world of one of the elite fighters in history well before his time. Sanchez was 44-1-1 with 32 knockouts and was the lineal featherweight champion from 1980 until his death in 1982.
He won the title by knocking out Danny “Little Red” Lopez, but is best known for a dominating eighth-round stoppage of Wilfredo Gomez. Gomez was 33-0 with 32 knockouts but was no match for Sanchez.
Richie Sandoval – Sandoval held the bantamweight title for two years, but his career, as great as it was, is a question of what might have been. He was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team, but he lost his chance at a medal when President Carter decided to boycott the Games in Moscow.
Sandoval won the first 29 fights of his pro career, racking up 17 knockouts, and beat the great Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight belt.
But tragically, Sandoval suffered serious boxing related injuries in a 1986 bout with Gaby Canizales and was forced to retire.
Leon Spinks – Spinks is most known for upsetting Muhammad Ali  in 1978 in just his eighth pro fight to win the heavyweight championship. He lost the title in a rematch and failed in two other attempts to win a title. He was stopped by Larry Holmes in a heavyweight title fight in 1981 and lost a cruiserweight title challenge in Reno to Dwight Muhammad Qawi in 1986.
A colorful figure known as “Neon” Leon, he was an acclaimed amateur who was 178-7 with 133 KOs and the light heavyweight gold at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
He finished his professional career with a 26-17-3 mark and 14 KOs.
 
Michael Spinks – Spinks was 31-1 in his career and won both the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles. He moved up from light heavyweight to defeat Larry Holmes at the Riviera in 1985, denying Holmes the opportunity to go 49-0 and match Rocky Marciano’s record.
He won the light heavyweight title in his 17th pro fight in 1981 at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas when he bested the much more experienced Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. Spinks held the light heavyweight title for four years, before giving it up to move to heavyweight to fight Holmes.
A 1976 Olympic gold medalist, Spinks‘ only pro loss came in his final fight when he was knocked out by Mike Tyson in a bout for the undisputed heavyweight title.
NON-BOXER INDUCTEE BIOGRAPHIES
Rafael Garcia – Garcia, 87, is best known for his cap he wears festooned with pins and for working as Floyd Mayweather’s hand wrapper. But he had a long career as both a cut man and a trainer and was outstanding at both. He worked with elite fighters such as Mayweather, Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello and Wilfredo Gomez.
Dr. Elias Ghanem – Ghanem as the long-time chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission, and was responsible for helping it to earn the moniker, “The greatest commission in the world.”
Ghanem, a physician whose patients once included Elvis Presley, played a key role in the hearings after Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield, and also was instrumental in bringing the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad bout to Las Vegas in 1999.
Mel Greb – Known as “The father of professional boxing in Southern Nevada,” Greb was a promoter and matchmaker who first brought Muhammad Ali to Nevada. Then known as Cassius Clay, Greb promoted Ali’s seventh pro fight in 1961. That week, he introduced Ali to wrestler “Gorgeous” George, and Ali patterned himself after George in many ways.
Greb died in 1996 at 75  years old.
Debbie Munch – Caesars Palace in Las Vegas was a legendary host for many of boxing’s biggest fights in the 1980s and early 1990s, and Munch, a public relations expert, was instrumental in it.
She was widely respected by promoters, boxers and the media and helped many journalists immeasurably with their boxing coverage.
Davey Pearl – Pearl was small of stature, but was a giant as a referee. He worked more than 70 world title bouts, including Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks and Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns.
Pearl was also a highly regarded judge.
boxing

Marvin Hagler Jr. to take on Ray Leonard Jr. on April 8, 2017 in Atlantic City

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30 years to the day of their Fathers’ memorable fight
Atlantic City, NJ (May 13, 2015) – On April 8, 2017, Feldman Brothers, Ritesh Parikh and former Heavyweight champion of the world, Larry Holmes will present a special night that will feature a bout 30 years in the making.
Marvin Hagler Jr. and Ray Leonard Jr. will square off in a battle for legacy in a contest that will come exactly 30 years after the Father’s squared off in a memorable fight.
The third man in the ring will be the same referee that officiated Leonard Sr’s win over Hagler Sr.  That being Richard Steele.

The event will distributed worldwide live on Pay-Per-View.
boxing, Showtime, Showtime Boxing

A LEGENDARY MARCH THROUGH THE DECADES – SHOWTIME SPORTS® CONTINUES CELEBRATION OF 30 YEARS OF SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING®

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Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Felix Trinidad, Ricardo Lopez, George Foreman & More Showcased In March

 

Click HERE For A Look Back At Some Of The Legendary Moments On SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: http://s.sho.com/1RkA3CE

 

NEW YORK (March 2, 2016) – SHOWTIME Sports rolls out its third installment of a year-long salute commemorating 30 years of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING in March with  “Legends’’.

 

This month will be highlighted by legends Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Felix Trinidad, Ricardo “Finito” Lopez and George Foreman.  Seven of the most unforgettable and important fights from these legends – some of which have seldom been re-aired since their live presentation – are available now on the network’s on demand platforms and will air will air on “Throwback Thursdays”in March at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME.

 

The Thursday, March 10 presentation of Marvin Hagler vs. John Mugabi airs exactly 30 years after the final win of Hagler’s Hall of Fame career on March 10, 1986.  Hagler vs. Mugabi was the first main event to ever air on SHOWTIME®.

 

The classic fights, which are also are available on SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, SHOWTIME ANYTIME® and via the network’s standalone streaming service, will be wrapped with brief context and commentary from SHOWTIME Sports host Brian Custer.

 

Below is the schedule of SHO EXTREME premieres for the month of March:

  • Tomorrow, Thursday, March 3: Terry Norris vs. Sugar Ray Leonard
  • Thursday, March 10: Marvin Hagler vs. John Mugabi
  • Thursday, March 17: Felix Trinidad vs. David Reid
  • Thursday, March 24: Ricardo Lopez vs. Rosendo Alvarez II
  • Thursday, March 31: Iran Barkley vs. Thomas Hearns I, George Foreman vs. Gerry Cooney (10:15 p.m. ET/PT), Gerald McClellan vs. Julian Jackson I (10:30 p.m. ET/PT)

 

In celebration of the best rivalries on SHOWTIME, see below for a special column from SHOWTIME Sports expert analyst and boxing historian Steve Farhood.

 

LEGENDS

By Steve Farhood

 

Boxing without legends would be like religion without saints.

 

There’s no formula for a fighter to advance from star to superstar to legend. The process depends on timing, circumstance, and sometimes as little as a point or two on the judges’ cards.

 

And oh, yeah: It helps if a guy can really fight.

 

As we celebrate 30 years of boxing on SHOWTIME, we’re focusing on a different theme each month. Throughout March, the theme will be Legends.

 

In the 130 years from John L. Sullivan to Floyd Mayweather, boxing has given us what other sports can’t provide. Consider:

 

  • The Associated Press voted Luis Firpo’s knockdown of Jack Dempsey as the greatest sports moment of the first half of the 20th Century.
  • The Frazier-Ali “Fight Of The Century” in 1971 was easily the most anticipated sporting event in history.
  • Last year’s Mayweather-Pacquiao fight generated more than half-a-billion dollars — in one night!

 

Legends are made by big moments … and how they respond to those moments.

 

On SHOWTIME, we’ve featured three decades worth of legends. Here’s a look at those who will share the spotlight in March.

 

MARVIN HAGLER: Since Vince Lombardi didn’t exactly say, “Timing isn’t everything, it’s the only thing,” Hagler should’ve said it.

 

Hagler was a great fighter long before he was a superstar, but it wasn’t until he fought Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, and Sugar Ray Leonard (three of Hagler’s last six bouts) that Marvin became Marvelous.

 

Hagler’s one appearance on SHOWTIME, which happened to be the first bout televised on the network (March 1986), was the final win of his career. Undefeated over 10 years, Hagler had established himself as one of the greatest middleweights in history. And while it could be argued in hindsight that at age 31, the ultimate blue-collar fighter was slightly past his prime, much of what made Hagler special was on display during his savage defense against his unbeaten and ferocious challenger, John Mugabi.

 

Almost three decades after his retirement, Hagler remains the middleweight today’s 160-pounders are measured against.

 

SUGAR RAY LEONARD: If Hagler bloomed late, Leonard was a superstar before he threw a single punch as a professional.

 

Back in the mid-‘70s, that’s what a magnetic smile, an Olympic gold medal, and repeated exposure on prime time television could do for a young fighter.

 

It’s ironic that Leonard was initially viewed by some as a coddled creation of the media. In fact, he was as tough as any fighter of the star-studded early-‘80s. Better yet, he remains the best fighter I’ve covered in 38 years on the boxing beat.

 

Leonard’s appearance on SHOWTIME was the penultimate bout of his career. In electing to end yet another lengthy layoff, Sugar Ray, 34, chose outstanding 23-year-old super welterweight titlist Terry Norris as his opponent. Leonard dropped from 160 to 154 pounds and fought at Madison Square Garden for the first time.

 

The bout served as a reminder that at least in a pre-Bernard Hopkins world, boxing was very much a young man’s game.

 

FELIX TRINIDAD: There are only three Hispanic fighters who became superstars in the USA without speaking English. The first was Panama’s Roberto Duran. The second was Mexico’s Julio Cesar Chavez.

 

The third was Puerto Rico’s Trinidad.

 

Trinidad’s motto might as well have been, “If you can’t be from America, then beat America.”

 

A classic puncher with a boy scout’s smile and a fan-friendly personality, Trinidad made his name by defeating four U.S. Olympians, Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya (albeit by a terrible decision), David Reid, and Fernando Vargas.

 

Moreover, Whitaker, De La Hoya, and Reid had all been gold medalists.

 

The fight we’ll feature on March 17 on SHO EXTREME, Trinidad vs. Reid, was Trinidad’s 14th and final appearance on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING and SHOWTIME pay-per-view.

 

From his welterweight title-winning kayo of Maurice Blocker in 1993 through his defense against Mahenge Zulu in 1998, 13 of Trinidad’s 14 bouts were aired on SHOWTIME. Twelve of those fights were knockout wins.

 

Where Trinidad ranks with Wilfredo Gomez, Miguel Cotto, Carlos Ortiz, Wilfred Benitez, and the rest of the legends from Puerto Rico is debatable. What is inarguable is that “Tito” generated as much excitement as any fighter of his era.

 

RICARDO LOPEZ: What’s smaller: the chance that a strawweight (105 pounds) becomes an American television star or the fighter himself?

 

There’s never been an American world champion at strawweight (or minimumweight). We just don’t grow fighters that size. In fact, until the emergence of Mexico’s Lopez in the early-’90s, most American boxing fans couldn’t have identified a single strawweight if armed with a map of the world and a set of WBC ratings.

 

Lopez was so complete, so dominant, so technically perfect, that from 1994 to ’99, he was a staple of SHOWTIME’s boxing programming. He fought 13 consecutive bouts on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING or SHOWTIME Pay-Per-View, and the first 11 of those contests were defenses of the strawweight title.

 

And if you think the little guys can’t punch, well, there were some one-punch kayos sprinkled in.

 

Lopez, who retired with a mark of 51-0-1, is universally acknowledged as an all-time great. Too bad he never fought America’s Michael Carbajal at light flyweight. Had he won that bout, he’d likely be acknowledged as one of the two or three greatest Mexican fighters ever.

 

Which is saying a lot for a fighter who never faced an opponent recognized by the American viewing public.

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