Marvin Hagler

• Born: May 23, 1954
• Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey
• Died: May 13, 2021

Sport: Boxing

Early Life

Marvin Nathaniel Hagler was born on May 23, 1954, in Newark, New Jersey. His difficult childhood was the ideal training ground for an aspiring young fighter. When Marvin was very young his father abandoned his mother and her six children to welfare. Without a father to guide him, Marvin spent much of his time in the streets of Newark. Like many boys from underprivileged backgrounds, Marvin grew up believing that his only way out was to imitate famous sports figures such as Floyd Patterson or Walt Frazier. His mother cultivated his fighting skills by refusing to let him in the house if he was beaten in a street fight. He received his first formal training in boxing at the age of twelve, when an elderly social worker put gloves on him and paired him off with the other street children. Marvin’s initiation into the harsh realities of the adult world came at an early age. He quit school at the age of fourteen and went to work at a toy factory to supplement his mother’s income as a housekeeper. During the race riots of 1967 and 1969, Marvin and his brothers and sisters were forced to huddle under their beds on several occasions to keep from getting hit by gunfire.

The Road to Excellence

Marvin’s fortunes changed dramatically when his mother moved to Brockton, Massachusetts, in 1970. There he first met Goody and Pat Petronelli, who ran a gymnasium for young boxers. Because these were the first white men who had ever been nice to him, he vowed to work hard to justify the faith that they had in him. An unwed father at the age of sixteen, Marvin worked all day as a construction worker, then spent his evenings training in the gymnasium.

The Petronellis did not know Marvin’s full potential until 1973. During the national Amateur Athletic Union finals, he won the outstanding fighter award in a tournament that included Aaron Pryor and Sugar Ray Leonard. His first professional match two weeks later marked the beginning of his long, frustrating climb in the middleweight division. Marvin’s stubborn loyalty to the Petronellis held back his career. He could have had a title fight much sooner than he did, but he refused to sign up with a big promoter. Consequently, it would be six and one-half years before he was given a title fight. In 1979, Marvin’s determination and patience finally paid off when he fought Vito Antuofermo for the crown. However, the fight ended in a draw. The following year, Marvin gained the middleweight title with his three-round pounding of England’s Alan Minter.

The Emerging Champion

After returning from England, Marvin began to think of himself as a true champion. The ovation that he received from a crowd of ten thousand at Brockton’s City Hall Square showed that he had come a long way since he had first arrived in town as a Newark ghetto child eleven years before. In 1982, flushed with victory, Marvin had his name legally changed to “Marvelous Marvin Hagler.”

Marvelous Marvin’s name change was justified a few months later when he scored a first-round knockout against Bill “Caveman” Lee. In 1983, he continued to live up to his new name with his crushing defeats of Tony Sibson in six rounds and Wilford Scypion in four rounds. In November, 1983, Marvin’s reputation was diminished somewhat by his lackluster fifteen-round fight with Roberto Durán, which Marvin won by a decision. Marvin’s disappointing performance in the Durán fight actually had a positive effect on him while he trained for his most formidable opponent up to this time: Thomas Hearns. Marvin began a rigorous training regimen that included running a minimum of six miles every morning and enduring one and one-half-hour, nearly nonstop workouts seven days a week. As a result of his determination, Marvin shocked boxing fans in 1985, by scoring a third-round technical knockout against Hearns, just as Marvin had predicted. This surprise victory was the pinnacle of Marvin’s career.

Continuing the Story

While preparing for his last major title defense, against Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin felt that he was fighting against more than just a man. Marvin resented the fact that the world seemed to be more impressed with Sugar Ray’s pleasant personality and easy manner than it was with his own relentless approach to the sport. On April 6, 1987, in a controversial split decision, Marvin lost his middleweight championship to Sugar Ray.

The title meant everything to Marvin. After losing it, he became bitter and frustrated, blaming his loss on unfair judging. After the fight, his old secure world began to fall apart. In 1988, he retired from boxing to begin a second career as a film star. He also went into business as the owner of a novelty and sportswear store. Even though he had started a new life, the specter of defeat continued to haunt him, and it was reported that he began abusing drugs and alcohol, charges that Marvin repeatedly denied. In 1990, Marvin ended his seven-year marriage to his wife, Bertha. He then moved to Milan, Italy, to focus on his acting career. He appeared in such films as Indio (1989), Indio 2 (1991), and Virtual Weapon (1997). In his later life, Hagler split his time between Milan, Italy, and Bartlett, New Hampshire.

Marvin was a throwback to the middleweight champions of yesteryear. Like Rocky Graziano, he rose to the top of the boxing world, not through glamour or glitz, but through patience and drive. Between 1973 and 1978, he worked his way up to the top of the middleweight division the hard way: as an independent. After winning the unified World Boxing Council-World Boxing Association crown from Alan Minter, he successfully defended it twelve times over the next six and one-half years. During that time, he proved to be a fearsome puncher who ended eleven of his title defenses in knockouts.

He died at the age of sixty-six on March 13, 2021, in his home in New Hampshire.

Summary

Before age finally took its toll, Marvelous Marvin Hagler was one of the greatest middleweight boxers of all time. Because he believed that his ability was never fully appreciated by either the fans or the promoters, he pushed himself relentlessly during his career in an effort to make the world take notice. Even though he eventually lost the championship, Marvin is still considered a champion. In recognition of his accomplishments, Hagler was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993, and was awarded the Excellence Guirlande D'Honneur in 2016.

Bibliography

Goldstein, Richard. "Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Middleweight Champion of the 1980s, Dies at 66." The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/13/obituaries/marvelous-marvin-hagler-dead.html. Accessed 29 Apr. 2021.

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