The War (boxing)
Encyclopedia
The War, also known as Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns or Hagler-Hearns, was a world middleweight championship boxing
match between Undisputed Champion
Marvin Hagler
and challenger Thomas Hearns
, who was himself the world's junior middleweight champion. The fight is considered by many to be among the finest boxing matches in history, due to its constant action, drama, and back-and-forth exchanges. The bout took place on April 15, 1985.
.
By 1985, "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler had been the undisputed champion of the middleweight division since September 27, 1980, after having been widely regarded as the No. 1 challenger for much of the late 1970s. His first two shots at the world middleweight title resulted in controversy: the first was an unpopular draw against then-champion Vito Antuofermo
in 1979 (allowing Antuofermo to retain the title), and the second was a three-round technical knockout
(TKO) of Alan Minter
, in London, which led to a riot by Minter's fans. The hard road to the middleweight championship, however, may have helped motivate Hagler to remain dominant during his reign. Hagler was renowned for his conditioning and durability, suffering only one official knockdown in his career, against Juan Domingo Roldan, an incident Hagler always insisted should have been ruled a slip. By the time he fought Thomas Hearns, he had defended the title ten times, winning all but one by knockout, the sole Hagler defense that went the distance a 15-round decision victory over Roberto Durán
. Hagler was then approaching the middleweight record of 14 title defenses, held by Carlos Monzón
.
When the Hagler-Hearns took place, Hearns had recently moved up from the welterweight to the junior middleweight to the middleweight division. Hearns was regarded as one of the hardest punchers of all time, winning 30 of his first 32 bouts by knockout. In Hearns's first title shot in 1980, he scored a spectacular second-round knockout over WBA champion Pipino Cuevas. Hearns defended that title three times before meeting Sugar Ray Leonard
in a thrilling fight dubbed "The Showdown." Hearns lost by technical knockout in the 14th round despite leading on all three scorecards. He then successfully campaigned at junior middleweight, winning the WBC title from Wilfred Benítez
, and defeating Roberto Durán
by a dramatic second-round knockout, the first knockout loss of Durán's career. Hearns defeated several middleweights during this period, including Marcos Geraldo by first-round knockout. Geraldo had gone the distance against both Leonard and Hagler.
Given the way both men had won their respective fights coming into this bout, it garnered significant media attention and interest by fans around the world. It was held at the Caesars Palace
hotel in Las Vegas
, Nevada
on April 15, 1985. In the United States and Puerto Rico
, it was broadcast by HBO
and WAPA-TV
. In the UK The fight was shown on ITV with The Late Reg Gutteridge commentating.
Hearns received a massage before the fight, much to the chagrin of his trainer Emanuel Steward
. Steward felt the massage weakened Hearns' legs during the fight and led him to adopt a more aggressive approach than he normally would (From HBO's "Legendary Nights: The Tale of Hagler-Hearns").
as the greatest round in boxing history, and won round of the year honors for 1985. In a subsequent HBO broadcast featuring both Hagler and Hearns in studio commenting on the fight, Hearns revealed "...that first round took everything I had, man...". When asked in the ring after the bout if he was hurt by Hearns' first right hand, a blow that caused him to step back and then fall into a clinch, Hagler commented "...he definitely tried to put the bomb on me...he can punch...".
as he found more success countering Hearns' jab
. By the end of the round, Hagler pinned Hearns to the ropes, successfully landing a volley of punches. The action in the round had slowed from the blistering pace of round one. In round three, Hearns again tried to set the pace. About a minute into the round, the cut on Hagler's forehead inflicted during round one opened up, resulting in a tremendous flow of blood down the middleweight champion's face. Referee Richard Steele halted the action to have the ringside physician examine Hagler. He informed Steele "...no the cut's not bothering his sight, let him go." Facing the new threat of losing the fight via stoppage on cuts, Hagler attacked Hearns with an aggression reminiscent of the first round. A tremendous overhand left to the head drove Hearns back to the ropes. Hearns backed away, smiling so as to suggest the punch had not hurt him. Hagler landed a hard right hook high on Hearns' head. The blow staggered Hearns who awkwardly stumbled backwards into the ropes, Hagler running after him in hot pursuit. The champion smashed a vicious right hand off Hearns' chin. Tommy went limp and fell forward as Hagler landed two uppercuts. As Hearns fell face first to the canvas, Sugar Ray Leonard yelled into his microphone "He's gone...he's gone!..." Hearns staggered to his feet at the count of nine but was unable to continue. Referee Steele stopped the bout as he held Hearns upright. The image of a blood-soaked Hagler being carried around the ring in victory by his handlers and Hearns being carried back to his corner in semi-consciousness remains, to this day, graphic testimony of the intensity of "The War." It was widely regarded as the pinnacle achievement of Marvin Hagler's career and cemented his legacy as one of the greatest middleweights of all time.
The Ring
called the fight the most electrifying 8 minutes ever and won fight of the year
for 1985, despite lasting only three rounds.
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
match between Undisputed Champion
Undisputed Champion
In professional boxing, the undisputed champion of a weight class is a boxer who is recognized as the world champion at that class by each boxing organization.-History:...
Marvin Hagler
Marvin Hagler
Marvelous Marvin Hagler , is a former professional boxer who was undisputed world middleweight champion between 1980 and 1987. Hagler holds the distinction of having the highest KO% of all middleweight champions at 78%...
and challenger Thomas Hearns
Thomas Hearns
Thomas "Hitman" Hearns is a retired American boxer. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra" and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns became the first boxer in history to win world titles in four divisions. He would also become the first fighter in history to win five world titles in five different divisions...
, who was himself the world's junior middleweight champion. The fight is considered by many to be among the finest boxing matches in history, due to its constant action, drama, and back-and-forth exchanges. The bout took place on April 15, 1985.
Background to the fight
"The War" was the nickname given to this bout by promoter Bob ArumBob Arum
Robert "Bob" Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. He also worked for the US Attorney's Office for the southern district of New York in the tax division....
.
By 1985, "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler had been the undisputed champion of the middleweight division since September 27, 1980, after having been widely regarded as the No. 1 challenger for much of the late 1970s. His first two shots at the world middleweight title resulted in controversy: the first was an unpopular draw against then-champion Vito Antuofermo
Vito Antuofermo
Vito Antuofermo is an Italian-American actor who is also a former world Middleweight boxing champion.-Background:Antuofermo was born in Italy, in the town of Palo del Colle, which is located about 15 km inland from the city of Bari. but his family moved to the United States when he was 17...
in 1979 (allowing Antuofermo to retain the title), and the second was a three-round technical knockout
Knockout
A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
(TKO) of Alan Minter
Alan Minter
Alan Minter is a former middleweight world champion boxer.-Amateur career:Minter was the 1971 ABA Middleweight Champion. He won the bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games...
, in London, which led to a riot by Minter's fans. The hard road to the middleweight championship, however, may have helped motivate Hagler to remain dominant during his reign. Hagler was renowned for his conditioning and durability, suffering only one official knockdown in his career, against Juan Domingo Roldan, an incident Hagler always insisted should have been ruled a slip. By the time he fought Thomas Hearns, he had defended the title ten times, winning all but one by knockout, the sole Hagler defense that went the distance a 15-round decision victory over Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán Samaniego is a retired professional boxer from Panama, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" during his career....
. Hagler was then approaching the middleweight record of 14 title defenses, held by Carlos Monzón
Carlos Monzón
Carlos Monzón was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight title for 7 years, during which he successfully defended the title 14 times....
.
When the Hagler-Hearns took place, Hearns had recently moved up from the welterweight to the junior middleweight to the middleweight division. Hearns was regarded as one of the hardest punchers of all time, winning 30 of his first 32 bouts by knockout. In Hearns's first title shot in 1980, he scored a spectacular second-round knockout over WBA champion Pipino Cuevas. Hearns defended that title three times before meeting Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...
in a thrilling fight dubbed "The Showdown." Hearns lost by technical knockout in the 14th round despite leading on all three scorecards. He then successfully campaigned at junior middleweight, winning the WBC title from Wilfred Benítez
Wilfred Benitez
Wilfred Benítez , is a Puerto Rican boxer. He is remembered best as a skilled and aggressive fighter with exceptional defensive abilities who won world championships in three separate weight divisions, and was the youngest world champion in boxing history at the age of 17...
, and defeating Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán Samaniego is a retired professional boxer from Panama, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" during his career....
by a dramatic second-round knockout, the first knockout loss of Durán's career. Hearns defeated several middleweights during this period, including Marcos Geraldo by first-round knockout. Geraldo had gone the distance against both Leonard and Hagler.
Given the way both men had won their respective fights coming into this bout, it garnered significant media attention and interest by fans around the world. It was held at the Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
hotel in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
on April 15, 1985. In the United States and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, it was broadcast by HBO
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
and WAPA-TV
WAPA-TV
WAPA-TV is an independent television station located in San Juan, Puerto Rico transmitting over digital channel 27, virtual channel 4. The station is owned by InterMedia Partners and is branded as WAPA Television....
. In the UK The fight was shown on ITV with The Late Reg Gutteridge commentating.
Hearns received a massage before the fight, much to the chagrin of his trainer Emanuel Steward
Emanuel Steward
Emanuel Steward is an American boxing trainer, commentator and inductee of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.-Life and career:...
. Steward felt the massage weakened Hearns' legs during the fight and led him to adopt a more aggressive approach than he normally would (From HBO's "Legendary Nights: The Tale of Hagler-Hearns").
Round 1
Hagler, normally a slow starter, stormed Hearns from the opening bell, eventually pinning him to the ropes. Hearns threw his devastating right hand to Hagler's chin, stunning Hagler for a moment before Hagler was able to tie him up in a clinch. Hearns broke his hand delivering the punch. Seconds later, however, the two were trading power punches, with Hagler trying to get inside and to pin Hearns to the ropes again. In the process, he succeeded in stunning Hearns with a hard right hand. Hearns tied up Hagler again and tried to slow the pace by boxing rather than trading power punches with Hagler, who was still the aggressor. This lasted for only a moment, however, before long the two once again started to trade power punches. The slugfest continued for the better part of the next two and a half minutes as both fighters traded heavy blows with little regard for defense or pacing. Hagler developed a cut on his forehead, but didn't slow as he pinned Hearns to the ropes and meted out more punishment, eventually hurting Hearns at the end of the round. Sportscaster Barry Tompkins, doing the fight blow by blow broadcast for HBO's version of the fight, yelled out "This is still only the first round!" as the fighters traded heavy shots at round's end. This opening round is considered by The RingThe Ring (magazine)
The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
as the greatest round in boxing history, and won round of the year honors for 1985. In a subsequent HBO broadcast featuring both Hagler and Hearns in studio commenting on the fight, Hearns revealed "...that first round took everything I had, man...". When asked in the ring after the bout if he was hurt by Hearns' first right hand, a blow that caused him to step back and then fall into a clinch, Hagler commented "...he definitely tried to put the bomb on me...he can punch...".
Hagler cements his legacy
By the beginning of the second round, it looked as though Hearns had no legs under him as he slowed the pace by boxing Hagler. Hearns stumbled several times as he attempted to move around the ring and change direction prompting HBO commentator Sugar Ray Leonard to note "...I don't like the way Tommy's moving...a little rubbery-legged..." In the studio broadcast of the fight, Hearns commented "...my legs were gone, man...even before I came out to fight, my legs felt weak." Hagler experimented by switching to orthodox style for a moment, but switched back to southpawSouthpaw (boxing)
Southpaw is a boxing term that designates the stance where the boxer has his right hand and right foot forward, leading with right jabs, and following with a left cross right hook. Southpaw is the normal stance for a left-handed boxer...
as he found more success countering Hearns' jab
Jab
A jab is a type of punch used in the martial arts.Several variations of the jab exist, but every jab shares these characteristics: while in a fighting stance, the lead fist is thrown straight ahead and the arm is fully extended...
. By the end of the round, Hagler pinned Hearns to the ropes, successfully landing a volley of punches. The action in the round had slowed from the blistering pace of round one. In round three, Hearns again tried to set the pace. About a minute into the round, the cut on Hagler's forehead inflicted during round one opened up, resulting in a tremendous flow of blood down the middleweight champion's face. Referee Richard Steele halted the action to have the ringside physician examine Hagler. He informed Steele "...no the cut's not bothering his sight, let him go." Facing the new threat of losing the fight via stoppage on cuts, Hagler attacked Hearns with an aggression reminiscent of the first round. A tremendous overhand left to the head drove Hearns back to the ropes. Hearns backed away, smiling so as to suggest the punch had not hurt him. Hagler landed a hard right hook high on Hearns' head. The blow staggered Hearns who awkwardly stumbled backwards into the ropes, Hagler running after him in hot pursuit. The champion smashed a vicious right hand off Hearns' chin. Tommy went limp and fell forward as Hagler landed two uppercuts. As Hearns fell face first to the canvas, Sugar Ray Leonard yelled into his microphone "He's gone...he's gone!..." Hearns staggered to his feet at the count of nine but was unable to continue. Referee Steele stopped the bout as he held Hearns upright. The image of a blood-soaked Hagler being carried around the ring in victory by his handlers and Hearns being carried back to his corner in semi-consciousness remains, to this day, graphic testimony of the intensity of "The War." It was widely regarded as the pinnacle achievement of Marvin Hagler's career and cemented his legacy as one of the greatest middleweights of all time.
The Ring
The Ring (magazine)
The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
called the fight the most electrifying 8 minutes ever and won fight of the year
Ring Magazine fights of the year
The Ring was established in 1922 and since 1945, it has named a Fight of the Year.-1940s:*1945 - Rocky Graziano KO 10 Red Cochrane I*1946 - Tony Zale KO 6 Rocky Graziano I*1947 - Rocky Graziano KO 6 Tony Zale II...
for 1985, despite lasting only three rounds.