Classic Fight: Hagler vs Duran

Based on some back and forth debating on this fight among forum posters Boxing News 24’s classic section’s scorecard thread, I decided to revisit this classic bout from the 1980s. I had not watched this fight in at least five years. My memory was that Hagler won, and he won clearly, but that it was a decisive and not very exciting fight where two guys who have been in many wars fought tentatively. Here is my round by round scorecard and assessment:

Round 1: Very tentative opening round Hagler was a little bit busier but showed Duran a lot of respect on the outside. Hagler had a couple of flashy flurries, but it was tough to tell what actually scored. The best punch of the round was a right cross from Duran it was flush and not blocked or slipped at all, but it didn’t seem to have an effect. Hagler 10-9

Round 2: Hagler starts the opening minute, taking the center of the ring, and tries to be the boss. They each exchange and seem to land a similar amount of punches. Duran starts to try to take the center of the ring. Around the midway point, there’s a little bit more tying up and infighting, but the fight shifts back to being at range. Duran starts to use his jab more and set up the one-two. Hagler opens up a little bit more in the second half with flurries, but a lot of it is slipped, Hagler has to throw three to land one. With about 30 seconds to go, Duran sweeps a right hand around the guard, lands a nice left hook, and brings in another right hand. 10-9 Duran 19-19 Even

Round 3: Duran effectively slips Hagler’s left cross, and the two fight inside when they come together, and Hagler uses an effective right uppercut when in close. Duran seems to control the center of the ring for stretches of this round. Hagler still shows Duran a lot of respect and fighting from the outside against the naturally smaller fighter he switches to Orthodox and switches back around the beginning of the final minute. Duran starts to employ the short right hand as a hook and an uppercut, and then Hagler responds with the two-handed attack in combination. Duran gets Hagler to the ropes, but Hagler is able to escape and get back to the jab and take the center of the ring. Very close 10-9 Hagler 29-28 Hagler as the pro Duran crowd cheers between rounds.

Round 4: The round begins with the two meeting at Center ring as Hagler starts with a right hook. Duran counters Hagler with a straight right hand. The two spend the first minute competing over the middle of the Ring, refusing to give ground. Hagler gets on his toes and starts to bounce around the ring, looking for an angle as Duran continues to keep him at the end of his jab. Duran looks to lure Hagler into counters but strays low with the right hand and is warned by the referee. Duran tries a one too, but Hagler slips it. Duran walked Hagler into a right hand about midway through the round, but it seemed to just bounce off. A right hand came down the middle and seemed to momentarily buckle Hagler’s knees. Hagler struck back with a right hook and began to work his jab. Duran was able to back up out of range for most of the return and came back for a combination of his own. Duran was able to counter a Hagler jab with his own right, and Hagler got back on the move. Another tight round, I think Duran’s cleaner work was the difference. 10-9 Duran 38-38 even.

Round 5: They both meet in the center of the ring and exchange to start the round with neither man getting the better of it. They both stay at the end of each other’s jab probing and range finding. Duran goes orthodox and scores a right hand and a left jab. Inside, they both start to work, and Hagler scores another uppercut but is hit with a right hand, backing straight out. Hagler stays at range after the punch, looking to keep it a tactical fight. Hagler begins to head faint to try to set up a shot switches back to orthodox and then they infight a little bit more with neither man landing anything significant. Duran again in space scores a straight right hand and then follows up again with a right uppercut. Hagler threw a jab that snapped his head back, and the two exchanged and a left hand pushed Duran back. Duran continues to jab and slips underneath a Hagler right hook. Duran slips a left hand and throws a right hand to the body. Hagler throws a left hand, then pushed Duran’s head down with his right, and when Duran’s head pops back up, he hit Duran with a right hook. They both go to the body, and then Hagler follows up to the head. They tie up with about 30 seconds to go with neither man scoring effectively inside. Durant opens up, but Hagler slips most of the work when Hagler returns fire, but Duran blocks most of the return. Hagler scores two jabs, but his countered by a right hand from Duran. It’s kind of a quantity versus quality type around with Hagler scoring more punches and Duran scoring the cleaner punches. 10-9 Hagler 48-47 Hagler

Round 6: Hagler starts the round orthodox, and they start the round a little bit slower. Hagler scored effectively at the beginning of the round. Both men began to circle around each other in the center of the ring around the decal, and Duran scored a lunging right cross. The pace is beginning to slow a little as they’ve settled in Hagler scores a left hand that knocks an off balance Duran into the ropes. Duran tries wading in, slipping and throwing scores a right hand after a couple of punches missed. Hagler stays orthodox and moves along the ropes until he circles Duran’s back towards the ropes. Hagler throws an effective jab from the orthodox stance and doubles up a left hook before switching to southpaw. Duran throws a right that misses, and Hagler switches back to orthodox, where it seems like he’s having more success. Duran throws a short inside right hand, but it doesn’t seem to do any damage. Hagler lands a hard southpaw jab and backs Duran to the ropes, who tries to tie up and push Hagler back, but Hagler begins to throw with both hands and scored effectively. He switched orthodox and scored a chopping right hand Duran’s head. Hagler scores an inside left uppercut from the orthodox stance and follows up with the right cross before switching back to southpaw. Hagler continues to work the upper cut inside as Duran throws his right hook trying to sweep around the left hand of Hagler. Hagler stays in the orthodox stance and continues to work the jab and the left uppercut. Hagler continues to work at Duran like he’s throwing at a double end bag short combinations not scoring the hardest punches but continuing to tap the target. The cleanest round of the fight Hagler wins it 10-9, moving it to 58-56 Hagler

Round 7: Hagler begins the round orthodox building off the success of the previous round. Hagler tries both stances interchangeably, and Duran is having a little bit less success than the previous rounds. Hagler is fighting with a little bit less respect for Duran’s power and coming forward more than he did earlier in the fight. Duran is still moving effectively and jabbing using more of an economy of motion than the frenetic Hagler. The two come together inside, and Duran doesn’t throw a punch, and Hagler scores a right as Duran backs out. Hagler continues to exchange stances and scores punches to the head, and the body doubles his left when he’s in the orthodox stance and continues to utilize the uppercut when they are in close. Duran is still very crafty at evading the jab and slipping punches, but his counters are fewer and fewer as the round goes by. Hagler pushes the Duran to the ropes in the final moments of the round and starts working short punches inside while keeping his head off to the side and out of danger. This round is 10-9 Hagler 68-65 Hagler

Round 8: Very measured to start this round, Hagler comes out southpaw as they probe jabs at each other from the decal of the Ring circling left and right. Hagler is not pressing Duran like he did in the previous two rounds. Inside Hagler hits Duran with a hard right hook and starts to slip Duran’s combinations. Hagler continues to work behind the jab and push Duran closer to the ropes. Midway through the round, Hagler goes back to orthodox and starts to score with both hands. He is not rocking Duran with these punches, but he is scoring consistently as Duran weights for the opportunity to land one big counter. Hagler continues to focus on that uppercut inside Duran works with his left and his right at mid-range, but Hagler blocks both punches. Hagler landed a couple of hard jabs at the end of the round, and Duran came back with one right hand. 10-9 Hagler 78-74 Hagler

Round 9: Hagler starts the round orthodox they come together, and Duran lands a left uppercut. Hagler is still in the driver’s seat in this fight. Duran tries a few new combinations, two jabs and an uppercut, but Hagler is able to block the punches. Duran tries to come forward a little more in moments during this round, but Hagler is able to counter and flurry effectively. Hagler begins to work a straight left to the body a little more in this round and with less than a minute begins to box more at range as Duran is coming forward a little bit less. Duran tries a counter uppercut doesn’t seem to do any damage. Hagler goes back to double jab from the southpaw stance and Duran shakes his arms out, and bounces on his toes, trying to get some adrenaline. 10-9 Hagler 88-83 Hagler

Round 10: Hagler comes out orthodox and tries a lunging left hook, and Duran comes back with a series of punches. They go shoulder to shoulder and start working inside, and Hagler scores a short right hand as they back up. Both men stay at the center of the ring at mid to short range, exchanging punches with neither man giving ground. Hagler’s hit by a short right hand by Duran. Duran scores a pair of punches again inside. Hagler’s able to get the Duran to the ropes but isn’t able to score effectively. The range seems to benefit Duran as Hagler backed out around the halfway point of the round and tried to box more, but Hagler continues to get sucked into an inside fight electing to trade with Duran. The action is still very close, with each man going back and forth. Duran is again warned for a low punch, and the two men went back to fighting on the inside. Duran is displaying his great inside ability, and Hagler has taken his foot off the gas a little bit in this round. Duran scored one of his best counters in the last few rounds and went back to the body with two punches. Duran is back to the jab to set up the right hand with 30 seconds to go. Short left, landed by Hagler as Duran comes back with a few of his own, and Hagler comes up short in his return. The two exchanged to complete the round. 10-9 Duran 97-93 Hagler in a close round that could go to Hagler, but Duran did the cleaner work.

Round 11: Duran commands the center of the ring to start the round, and Hagler bounces around on his toes from the south stance. Duran sticks out his Jab. At this point, this is the farthest that Hagler has been taken in any of his title defenses only Mustafa Hamsho had made it to the 11th round. The round remains tactical with the Duran.sticking out his jab as Hagler moves side to side. Duran is not charging in recklessly and looks to counter when Hagler tries to get into range from the outside. It is difficult to tell if Hagler is just conserving energy for the 15 rounds, knowing he’s not going to knock the Duran out and having not gone the distance in a while. Two minutes in, and neither fighter has scored much of anything in this round. Hagler continues to bounce on his toes from the outside, not engaging, and Duran finally charges in, and the two get shoulder to shoulder and chest to chest. Neither guy really scores anything of consequence from the inside. Duran does get Hagler to the ropes with less than 30 seconds and scores a couple of flurry punches, nothing substantial. Very little squares effectively in this round. Duran 10-9 106 – 103 Hagler.

Round 12: Hagler starts the round orthodox and throws a left hook. They get inside, and Hagler tries to flurry as Duran throws short, hard, right hands. Duran is beginning to get a little more aggressive inside in this round using his left hand to pull down Hagler’s head and throwing his left more than he had earlier in the fight. Duran is forcing the action a little more, but Hagler responds to the attacks. Duran shows good slipping to get underneath multiple right hooks from Hagler. Duran is even defending the right uppercut more effectively with a stretched out left hand inside. Both men are working a lot more in this round, going back and forth and 6 and a closely competed round where Duran is starting to get his right hand in more. Duran scores a solid left hook to the head, a punch that hasn’t been there much of the fight. Hagler scores a straight left hand but doesn’t seem to do much as Duran appears to be talking to Hagler in the ring. Duran throws multiple right hands and backs Hagler up as the two come together inside, and Duran scores another right uppercut as Hagler misses a punch. Hagler does finally score a nice right uppercut inside, but Duran responds with the chopping right hand of his own. Duran again scores two straight right hands back to back and is having a lot more success in this round. Hagler throws a combination to try to come back in the round, but he eats a right hand from Duran, and hagler’s left eye is starting to show swelling. 10-9 Duran 115-113 Hagler

Round 13: Hagler comes back out Southpaw behind his jab looking to take control of the center of the Ring. The crowd is back into the fight with a more enlivened Duran as Hagler continues to throw multiple jabs. Hagler wades in slipping and weaving and throws a nice left down the middle. Hagler, back to a tactical approach and Duran is a little bit less effective than he was in the previous round, not able to match hagler’s activity. Right hand by Duran knocks back an off balance Hagler and Hagler still slips the jab from the outside. Hagler over commits on the left hand and misses, but Duran is not in position to counter. Duran tries a one too but comes up short as Hagler lunges in with the left and misses. Hagler’s jab manages to back Duran up. Duran is getting hit a little bit more by the straight punches in this round as Hagler ups the pace. Duran looks to steal the round late. Hagler goes back to the orthodox stance and stays on the jab. Close 10-9 Hagler 125-122

Round 14: Hagler comes out Southpaw again and starts working the body and comes out lunging with his right and is pushing Duran back now. Duran stands with his hands down to taunt but is not responding with punches. Hagler is just throwing activity at the defensive duran. Duran throws a right down the middle that bounces off Hagler’s shoulder as Hagler puts Duran back on the ropes. Inside Hagler lands a short right hand from the orthodox stance, switches back to Southpaw, and gets back to range. Hagler jabbed his way in without a counterpunch and scored a right upper cut on the inside. Hagler evades are right and scores a left down the middle as the two tie up. Duran tiring a little bit sets his hands down, and he seems to want to relax his arms a little bit. Hagler is able to work inside without any counters. Hagler continues to evade the Duran jab and throws three jabs that all come up short as Duran backs out of range. Hagler goes back to orthodox and tries to work the jab as Duran’s jab is losing speed. A chopping right hand from Duran misses as Hagler slips under it. Hagler again throws for volume, not loading up on his punches and avoiding Duran’s counters. Hagler has a cut open up on his left eye but continues to push forward attacking in combination and starts to move Duran’s head back late in the round. 10-9 Hagler 135-131 Hagler

Round 15: Duran points at his chest and waves Hagler in to start the round. Hagler gets Duran to the ropes and starts working short left hands inside, punching for volume, trying to outwork Duran in the final round. Some of the brakes that Hagler took in the 11th and 12th seem to be paying off as he’s throwing in combination with both hands and out working Duran who looks like he’s wilted a little bit. Duran throws a lazy right hand, and Hagler throws a left around it over the top and scores. Hagler gets back to the jab, throwing multiple Jabs two and three jabs at a time. Duran throws his right hand, which is blocked by the left glove, and Hagler scores another right uppercut inside and just seems to tap the body with his left hand in close. Shoulder to shoulder they’re both throwing, neither guys scoring anything with serious power behind it. Hagler just continued to pile-up points in close and pushed the Duran towards the ropes. Duran spins Hagler to the ropes, who then spins out and works combinations to the body and head with both hands. Duran goes to the ropes and tries to sucker Hagler into a right hand but comes up short. Hagler starts working Duran over a little bit. Duran reaches to hold, and a Hagler right hook sends him back. Hagler really starts to open up behind the jab, pushes Duran back, and gets Duran on the ropes again. Good right hand from Hagler followed up by strong left down the middle. Duran tries to respond but has to fall back to the ropes where Hagler goes back to work. Inside Right Hook by Hagler turns Duran’s head, and then a jab pushes him back. Big Hagler round 10-9 145-140 Hagler

Final 145-140 Hagler or 10-5 in overall rounds

Official judges 144-142 146-145 144-143 Unanimous Decision Marvin Hagler

Conclusion: despite the tactical nature of the fight, this is a lot more entertaining than I remember. Though I still had the fight clearly awarded to the champion, Roberto Duran could have picked up another round or two on my card and got the score a little bit closer. I think spending more time in the gym and learning the techniques and watching boxers who train more helped me see and appreciate little things in the ring that I overlooked as a fan prior. The fight had good ebb and flow moments where each guy was able to impose their style and attributes on the other. I think Hagler came out on top due to his versatility, is stamina, his ability to shake off punches and I think tactically he fought a smarter fight. Hagler said it took him time to get used to the speed in the post fight interview, but claimed he could knock out Duran if they fought a rematch.