Boxing writer Steve Marantz has just published a book, Sorcery at Caesar’s: Sugar Ray’s Marvelous Fight, that takes an in-depth look at one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history: Sugar Ray Leonard’s split decision victory over Marvin Hagler at Caesar’s Palace on April 5, 1987. The book has yet to arrive on my doorstep, but I thought that in advance of reading it, I would watch the fight again, rescoring the rounds. When this fight took place I was just a nine-year-old kid with a tandential interest in boxing, but I loved Sugar Ray Leonard. He was the quintessential American superstar-athlete, a smooth artist who had humiliated the Panamanian legend Roberto Duran and pounded Thomas Hearns into submission. By contrast, Marvin Hagler struck me as an inarticulate bully, a thug whose pit bull tenacity in the ring frightened me more than a little. I was elated when Leonard won the decision over Hagler, and enjoyed his victory as any partisan would.
The passing years, and a lot more familiarity with boxing, have changed my opinion considerably. Duran, Hearns, and Hagler are now three of my all-time favorite fighters, and Leonard strikes me as a clown–albeit an extremely talented one–who largely bullshitted his way to his most famous victories (particularly his victory over Duran in New Orleans and his “win” over Hagler). After losing to Duran in Montreal in their first meeting, when Leonard unwisely decided to try and trade with Roberto, Leonard largely spent the rest of his career dancing around the ring, winning decisions on style rather than substance. (His comeback knockout win over Hearns is an obvious exception in this respect.)
Watching Hagler-Leonard again only reinforced this impression. Rescoring the fight, I had it as a draw, with the only swing round being Round 3, which I almost scored even but decided to give to Leonard. If you score that round even or give it to Hagler, then Hagler wins the fight, as one of the three judges in Las Vegas had it. Another gave the fight narrowly, 115-113, for Leonard, a decision I don’t think can be easily justified upon closer scrutiny, although it is certainly within the bounds of possibility. Then there is the case of judge Jose Guerra, who, incredibly, scored the bout 118-110 for Leonard, meaning that he gave Hagler only two rounds. This is thoroughly impossible. Leonard clearly dominated the first two rounds, (maybe) narrowly won the third, and won the fourth. He clearly lost the fifth round, won the sixth, and lost rounds seven through ten. Most of these rounds were not close. Hagler would work his way in, push Leonard against the ropes, and land solid, heavy blows. Leonard would fight his way out with a flashy combination that looked good to the crowd but didn’t do any damage; indeed, Leonard did not once back Hagler up throughout the entire fight. With the bout even (on my card) heading into the eleventh round, Leonard managed a comeback by fighting effectively in flurries against an increasingly arm weary Hagler. The showboating Leonard, believing he had the fight in the bag (which I guess he did) then gave away the twelfth round by dancing around the ring like a buffoon, his hands raised in premature triumph.
So why does Hagler only get a draw on my card? Simply put, he couldn’t find Leonard for the first four rounds. He did not switch to the southpaw stance until the third round, which was a big tactical error, as Leonard’s habit of constantly moving to his right would have opened him up to Hagler’s left hand. I don’t know why Hagler began the bout fighting orthodox style; hopefully Marantz’s book will offer some insight into that error. Had he chosen the correct tactics from the beginning of the fight, he would have won the bout, even with the insane scoring of Jose Guerra.
Here’s my card:
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