I really believe that the reason was because Marvelous Marvin Hagler had trouble with brawling type fighters who crowd him and were not intimidated by him. Remember Hagler's first attempt at the World Middleweight Championship held by Vito Antuofermo, on Nov 30,1979, in Las Vegas. Vito forced him into a brawl, and the bout ended in a draw, as both fighters were cut and bloody at the conclusion of that fight. Hagler chose to avoid a similar repeat performance against Roberto Duran, in Nov 1983. Marvelous boxed from long range and was effective counter punching, en route to a close verdict.
The word I got was Duran had another fight in the making with Hearns, and a poor showing would have put that pay day in jeopardy, so they cut a deal for Hagler to carry Duran. I don't know how much of Roberto's purse Hagler got from the Hearns/Duran fight, but if Hearns paid Mugambi 250,000.00 to step aside, it's a safe beat Roberto's people paid Hagler similar cash to carry Duran.
It also could be that Duran fought a great fight against a great middleweight and Hagler just had trouble adjusting to Roberto's style.
Marvin Hagler is an all time great. However he fought the wrong fights against both Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard. He showed Duran too much respect. Duran was fighting several weights above his best but he was not capable of hurting Hagler. The Leonard fight he fought orthodox for the first four rounds and was playing catch up throughout the contest.
Boxing is a mind game first this is where you have to start. I really believe that this was the first sign that Marvin was slipping this is just my thinking. The other thing is he was fighting someone he knew if he did not respect him he could and would get caught.Maybe it was that aged old saying (styles makes fights) I am not sure. One thing I am 100% sure of is Sugar Ray Leonard would have never come out of retirement if he had not seen how close Duran came to beating the great Marvin Hagler.
I think he overtrained and didnt fear hearns in 85 like he did duran. duran was known for being aggressive and a puncher and should have been cautious
Marvin was much more aggressive against Tommy Hearns. Why did he show Duran so much respect, who wasn't nearly the dangerous puncher that Hearns was?
