Marvelous Marvin Hagler passed away on March 13, 2021. I found out about his death and his life when it was mentioned on the Joe Rogan podcast. I have never been a serious fan of the sport of American Boxing. I'm aware of fighters like Mike Tyson and Mohammed Ali whose fame has transcended their sport, but I am not knowledgeable about the intricacies of the sport in the same way that I am knowledgeable about the intricacies of a sport like soccer (Association Football) which I grew up playing and watching since I can remember.
I had to find out if I could see with my own eyes what distinguished him from his peers. I first looked up Marvelous Marvin Hagler's fight vs. John Mugabi on March 10, 1986.
The strength and speed and endurance of both fighters at the beginning of the fight was astounding to me. At the beginning of the fight it looks to me like they are feeling each other out and testing each other with blows so fast and hard that anyone else but a peer would be out cold before they knew what happened. What stood out to me at the beginning was the full body athleticism they display in their composure and ability to test each other with full body weight punches without loosing their balance or giving up a weakness in their defense.
I've watched some fights by famous successful fighters where the fighter dominates their opponents. There seems to be a disparity between these champions and the other fighters who are skilled in their generation but simply can't compete with the dominant fighter. But in this fight, both fighters seem to respect the ability of their opponent. I imagine that they know from watching their opponent's past matches that although they know they are are capable on ending their opponent with a KO, they also know that their opponent is capable of ending them, if they are not focused.
I can only imagine the amount of time dedicated to training to get to the level of expertise in their craft to be able to anticipate and react with a dodge or a parry to the blows that Hagler and Mugabi are hammering each other with. I assume it is similar to the role of a goal-keeper in Soccer who reads the trajectory of a shot by reading the body movement of the opponent before the ball is struck. Even when the opponent manages to a land a blow, neither fighter reacts to the impact. Even towards the end of the fight when you can tell they have been at it by the sweat breaking out on their brow and the swollen eye Hagler develops that they have put work in, the fighters continue to exchange hammers in bursts of strength and speed that defies a layman's understanding of human physiology.
In my eyes, Hagler demonstrates his unparalleled endurance at the end of this fight. He has obviously taken some blows and given out his share of blows but he still looks unfazed as he dishes out his fists at Mugabi's brain. Right before the KO, Hagler catches Mugabi repeatedly with upper cuts and finishes him off as Mugabi though dazed is still standing. Although Hagler won, you can't help but respect Mugabi for his performance in a true clash of titans.
I wasn't alive during Hagler's prime, and am not familiar with his career and story the way true boxing fans are. It is only with his death that I was made aware of who this person was and the accomplishments they achieved in their career. And aside from the inspiration such a disciplined individual brought to me, it also made me think about how people are remembered during their life and after their death.
It is only now after his death that I wish that I had known who he was. Perhaps if he himself had come on the Joe Rogan podcast as a guest I am many others would have appreciated his story during his lifetime. Instead now he is dead, and only after the fact is the appreciation and admiration being articulated about him. It is a phenomenon as old as written history that after death we achieve the fame from the work we dedicated our lives to, and our name continues to live for a time in the minds of those who remember who you were.
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