Here we go with the first ever: Fightbeat Fight Club!:shadow: Required viewing: <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/q3fZ_bSAy8Y" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe> Start at the above and then watch the further rounds on YT. This is a first attempt so the format may change. Let's work out a proper format for future entries. I won't be doing this in a round by round format as I'm sure I'd be awful and really, I want to give the fight my full attention. My method is to watch the round, pause and give my impressions along with a winner for that round. I avoid giving even rounds as a personal preference so don't expect to see any here. Breakdown: :hammert: Round 1 ------- Hagler in some uncomfortably short shorts. Lots of feinting and very little in the way of action. Duran lands some right hands but I feel Hagler controlled this round with the jab and give him the first round. Round 2 ------- A bit more action in this one. Duran banking on the right hand lead but having little success. Hagler showing some respect for Duran though. He appears cautious to me. Marvin was more active and landed some good jabs and straights. Round 3 ------- A more exciting rounds as both guys miss some big shots. Hagler landing more punches and is surprisingly (for me at least) more active on the inside. Duran getting excited but I can't see why: there's no way he won that round. Round 4 ------- Duran coming on stronger here and has his best round of the fight thus far. Hagler feinting alot and both guys land some decent shots. I thought Duran edged it with his lead rights. Round 5 ------- Hagler shows why he was one of the best switch hitters in the game in this round. Switches right and works Duran over fairly well. Heavy use of both the stance changes and lead hooks to both the body and the head make this a big Marvin round for me. Duran was game but looked a little confused at points. Round 6 ------- Great round. Both guys throwing alot of leather with Hagler again doing extremely well from the orthodox stance. He easily won this round with much cleaner punching than Duran. Duran was game in this round though and took some great shots. All heart. Highlight of this round: Nice left hook to the body, then to the head by Hagler. I love this fucking sport. :Thumbs: Round 7 ------- Another action round. Lots of leather being thrown and it makes me smile. Marvin shows some lethally quick hooks with both hands and tags Duran well. Duran shows an tremendous chin in my estimation as he never even blinks. Good sneers and staredown by both guys but Hagler banks another round IMO. Round 8 ------- Scrappy kind of round but again Hagler takes it. It occurs to me that I haven't said much about Duran so far. He's very game but to be honest he appears extremely uncomfortable with the switching by Hagler. Hagler goes orthodox and can get away with winging hooks that actually land. I'm also surprised that oustside of low blows, Duran is getting outfought on the inside and Marvin is the one dictating the pace of this fight. Round 9 ------- Duran was more active in this round and landed well. However, Hagler landed plenty himself and I thought, the cleaner blows. The YT vid I watched stopped with 15 secs left in the round but I had it going Marvins way up until that point and unless Duran rocked Hagler, I doubt my score would change. Round 10 -------- Both guys willingly go into the pocket and slug it out. Lots of headclashes and fouling from both. Duran warned for the low blows. Fifth warning but no points taken = wow. Big Hagler Round. Cleaner punching and more of it. Duran throwing but not much in it. Fight has been fought at a cracking pace so far and both guys tiring. Duran looking slightly more tired. Duran posedown at the end the round. Can't see why when you lost a round so clearly. *** Timeout *** I've got Hagler winning all but one round so far. Really not seeing what all the fuss over Duran was in this fight. Perhaps that will change after: Round 11 -------- Holy shit that was the worst timing ever on my previous statement because Hagler used the break to change into his track shoes. In a huge shift from his game plan all fight, Hagler uses what I call the 'Cowards Advance' and does laps of the ring for the whole round. I have to give the round to Marvin as he landed the only meaningful punches of the round (all two of them). Duran appeared trapped in the middle of the ring, possibly due to the centrifugal force Marvins laps were generating. Round 12 -------- Straight back to the good stuff as they go toe to toe. Hagler tiring and it shows. Hagler has swelling which Duran took advantage of as he landed some good lead rights and I think takes this round. It was very close though. Round 13 -------- Good round from Duran. Landing some chopping right hands and looking to sting Hagler on at least one occasion. He got as good as he gave however as Hagler landed some good leather too. Hard shots from Duran give him the round for mine. Still not sure why he's showboating: the round wasn't that clear in his favour. Hagler looking fatiged. Round 14 -------- Big Hagler round. Lots of action and some head clashes. Hagler cut. Roberto doing some sneering and clowning but not throwing many punches. I can see no way anyone could score that round for Duran. None. Round 15 -------- I loved this round. Both guys showing great heart and conditioning. Hagler worked Duran from the beginning up until the end where Duran fired back with some good shots. Final left from Marvin looks to rock Duran as he bounces off the ropes and holds on. Eyes clear a second later so maybe it was only a balance shot. Duran poses again to finish but he lost that round clear. ----------- Rnd by Rnd Scoring: Rnd 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11(UGH), 14, 15 - Hagler Rnd 4, 12, 13 - Duran Final Score ----------- Hagler wins 12 rounds to 3. I've no idea what fight the judges were watching but those scorecards were a disgrace. Duran was game all fight but didn't do nearly enough early to bank any rounds. Hagler fought a great fight and showed many different facets of his game. Stance changes appeared to befuddle Duran at times and to Roberto's credit, I think Marvin would have KO'd a lesser man with some of those hooks. Really enjoyed this fight (outside of the 11th). Complete chessmatch and a good conflict of styles. With respect to Karl, I can see at no point outside of the 11th that Marvin was 'scared' of Duran. You don't stand in the pocket and slug with a man you're afraid of. For a guy moving so far up in weight, Duran looked comfortable and formidable. I just don't think he had the tools to beat Marvin and it showed in this fight. So there it is: my take on Duran v Hagler. Please watch and post your take. For the record, it took me about 2 hours to watch the fight and type this up. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
I watched this a couple weeks ago. It was an alright fight, a tactical one between two great fighters. Duran showed the effective defense and tricks in his arsenal in order to be competitive with a great middleweight in Hagler, but I didn't think the fight was that close. Duran put up a commendable effort in winning 4 or 5 rounds and had more success than any other of Hagler's title challengers, but having him ahead after 13 rounds is pretty outrageous. Judges must have had a hard-on for Duran around this time period, they also gave him way too much credit against Benitez.
Thanks for posting. I haven't watched any of this in a long time. By the way, as I thought, Karl was way off calling this version of Duran bloated and shot. Duran was in great shape during the stretch of fights of Cuevas, Moore and Hagler. Funny but I thought this fight was much closer reviewing it from memory. Watching the entire thing again, Hagler won handily.
Cheers fellas. Honestly I have a hard time seeing how Duran could have a much better score. There was maybe two rounds where it could have gone either way (I don't think so) but even then you're looking at 10 rounds for Marvin. A good scrap but not a close fight.
I'll watch it again, because it's been a while. But I've watched this fight more times than just about any other fight, and the idea that Duran won fewer than five rounds cannot be the case. My feeling over time is that he won no fewer than six, but like I said, I will watch it again (happily) and provide my assessment here. I think taking into account above all else the importance of clean punching is key to arriving at an accurate assessment of what went down in this fight.
