Saturday night took a hard turn for the worse after the news that the great Marvelous Marvin Hagler had passed away.
I got the news at about 8 p.m. or so and quickly grabbed my computer to write. Anyone of a certain age knows what Hagler meant in this town and in the sport of boxing. If you weren’t fortunate enough to live through it, my hope is that this brief memorial of one of the greatest fighters I ever saw helps add a little shape to his truly amazing career, legacy and his standing in Boston sports history.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler was truly great, but for folks around here he was actually so much more.
I was a child of the 70’s and 80’s so when in my teens during the 80’s, few were bigger than Hagler. Larry Bird, Doug Flutie, Ray Bourque and maybe a couple of others depending upon who you asked, but Hagler was always easily in the top five for me. He was the Middleweight Champion of the World from 1980-1987. So think about that a bit from the lens of a Boston sports fan in their teenage years.
The Celtics would win three championships during the Bird era and their legacy had long since been burned into our brains. The Bruins were often close, but seemingly always one goal or one player away. The Red Sox had broken our young hearts in 1978, been mired in mediocrity throughout the early 80’s and lost so many of their young core stars like Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk and Rick Burleson that kids barely in double-digits were feeling and living the pain of our parents and grandparents at a tender young age. The Patriots were teetering between losing seasons and mediocrity, coming off the heels of so much promise in the mid-to-late 70’s.
In terms of champions, it was the Celtics and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. He was ours and we wore his belt as proudly as he did.
Sports like boxing weren’t as accessible when Hagler was champ. We relied on weekly national shows like ABC Wide World of Sports to get our fix and when Hagler fought it was appointment television. That was for sure the case in the Hackett household. Even my mom got a kick out of the fact that Hagler officially changed his name to “Marvelous Marvin” and would look forward to his fights. I think she could tolerate them because most of them were over so quickly. Hagler made quick work of many opponents.
Hagler’s third round knockout of Thomas Hearns in 1985 is one of the greatest fights in boxing history but my favorite memory comes from a rather forgettable, first round KO in 1982 versus “Caveman” Lee. Why? Family.
When Hagler title defenses became available on TV they became official family gatherings. One April evening on ABC Wide World of Sports, Hagler was to defend his middleweight title versus challenger, “Caveman” Lee. My dad, mom and sister all crammed into our family den around the television, excitedly awaiting the proceedings. I was doing homework in my bedroom prior to the fight and left a glass of juice or something in my room. I was all of 11 years old at the time. As the fighters were being announced, I went upstairs to get the beverage I had left behind. When I came downstairs, Lee was on the canvas and my mom said with a grin, “It’s over.”
I actually never saw the fight until I watched it on YouTube years later. It was exactly as my parents described. Marvin Hagler vs Caveman Lee - Bing video.
When I was in high school my friends and I used to make lists of our favorite Boston athletes. Between 1984-87 my list would always showcase the champ among my favorites from Boston’s four majors as well as Boston College: Bird, Flutie, Kevin McHale, Cam Neely, Hagler, Bourque, Steve Grogan, Dwight Evans, Michael Adams & Stanley Morgan. Hagler was always in my Top 5 and I wasn’t alone.
That’s how big he was. Think of that kind of list over the last 20 years. Would a boxer even come in the Top 50? Micky Ward could likely push the Top 50 for some, but was never as popular as any of the four major teams in this market. Hagler was and we were always proud of that.
He was as big as the Celtics, Red Sox, Patriots and Bruins in his day and that’s how I’ll always remember him. Marvelous Marvin Hagler, uniquely and proudly one of ours. RIP Champ.