Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s fights in Philly helped launch his championship run

Long before Marvelous Marvin Hagler won his first boxing title and had 12 consecutive title defenses in the 1980s, Hagler had to make a name for himself.

In the mid-1970s, if you were a great middleweight boxer, there wasn’t a better place to make your name than in Philadelphia. Hagler, who died last week at age 66, was a native of Brockton, Mass. and built a 25-0-1 fighting in Massachusetts.

World Boxing Hall of Famer and Philly boxing promoter J Russell Peltz doesn’t remember who called who, but it wasn’t long before Hagler was taking the trip to Philly.

He fought Bobby “Boogaloo” Watts in January 1976. Watts won via majority decision at The Spectrum. The judges scored it 46-46, 44-48, 44-46, but the decision had mixed reviews. Hagler defeated Watts via second round TKO in a rematch in 1980.

“It didn’t deter Hagler,” Peltz said of Hagler losing the first meeting. “He knew he won the fight.”

Hagler knocked out Matt Donovan a month later and returned to Philly to fight Willie “The Worm” Monroe. Peltz, who promoted that fight, often clears up the confusion on what really happened in the fight’s lead-up. Hagler took the fight on two weeks notice, but Peltz said he was more than prepared. Hagler had just fought the previous month and knew that Vinnie Curto would back out against Monroe.

Monroe won the 10-round bout via unanimous decision. While the Watts decision received scrutiny, there was little doubt about who won the first Monroe-Hagler fight. Peltz said there was a snowstorm leading up to the fight, so there isn’t a documented video of the match, but those who were there, know. Hagler himself said so after the fight.

“A tough decision to accept but an honest one,” Hagler said to the Philadelphia Daily News after the loss. “I can see a great future ahead of me, but I still have a few things to learn.”

One characteristic that often comes up about Hagler is his competitiveness. He’d often say if you cut his head open, there’d be a boxing glove inside it. He was a fighter through and through, so there was no way he wouldn’t fight Monroe again. In February 1977, Hagler won via TKO in the 12th round. Hagler then won the rubber match in August by second-round TKO.

“He would train like if he had lost, it would be the end of the world,” Peltz said.

Hagler’s biggest fight in Philly was against Bennie Briscoe. Even at 35 years old, Briscoe was still the biggest draw in Philly. Briscoe’s crowd-friendly style combined with the fact that Hagler had just come off a TV fight against Doug Demmings made it a must-see event.

Talk about hype: the Spectrum attendance -- 15,302 -- is still today the largest for a non-championship fight in Pennsylvania history. It’s one of those records that will likely never be broken.

“Boxing was big then, you have to understand that,” Peltz said. “They knew Briscoe like they knew Carson Wentz and they knew Hagler like they knew Tom Brady.”

Hagler beat Briscoe by unanimous decision. His profile had reached a new peak, and that was the last time Hagler fought on a Peltz card in Philly. He signed with Top Rank’s Bob Arum, but was there a chance Peltz could have signed him?

Definitely.

Peltz himself was a young boxing promoter learning the ropes. Hagler became a notable figure in Philly fighting the aforementioned fighters as well as Eugene Hart on Peltz’s cards. If Peltz could go back, he says he would have signed Hagler.

“Maybe Spectrum fights would have gone national,” Peltz said. “We were doing well. Being a business man was never my forte. I was a boxing guy. When you love something so much and it’s always on your mind, you can overcome some of the business mistakes you make. That was me.”

As the saying goes, the rest is history. Hagler became one of the most dominant middleweights in boxing history. He was undefeated in his next 37 fights after the loss to Monroe.

His career ended with a loss to Sugar Ray Leonard, via split decision in 1987. Like the Watts fight, the decision vs. Leonard received mixed reviews.

Hagler finished 62-3-2 with 52 knockouts. His 78% knockout rate is the highest all-time for an undisputed middleweight champion.

“Marvelous Marvin Hagler was among the greatest athletes that Top Rank ever promoted,” Arum said in a statement. “He was a man of honor and a man of his word, and he performed in the ring with unparalleled determination. He was a true athlete and a true man. I will miss him greatly.”

As boxing remembers Hagler’s legacy, it’s important to not forget how the champion was created. It’s easy to remember title defenses, round one against Thomas Hearns, and the star-studded showdown with Leonard. But Hagler’s personality as a boxer was created long before that, and his showdowns in Philly are part of the reason why.