It must’ve been a few months ago that I started following some boxing accounts on social media. One of the accounts I followed liked another person’s video of the below fight. You know how the algorithms work, right? I don’t. I like one photo or view one account about working out or cross-fit and now I am overrun with it all! You see suggestions on who to follow and watch and… never mind.
Anyway, I see some caption like, “The greatest fight of all time.” And I was like, “okay, you got me.” Clickbait! So I watch. The video is of two fighters whose names I vaguely recall from my youth, Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns. I don’t know them, at least not in the way I knew the name Sugar Ray Leonard. See, this fight happened in the 80’s, but it was a golden age for boxing and the middleweight division (seriously! LOADED with talent). And this fight, well, yeah, it might be the greatest fight of all time. This fight is so good you can listen to just the audio (which I did several times).
April 15, 1985
The announcers, Al Michaels and Al Bernstein, recognize how amazing this fight really is. They say stuff like: crazy, great, wow, tremendous, sensational, wow, incredible and best in middleweight history. I mean, if this was your very first fight in boxing I think everything else would be a let down. (Sidebar – Al freaking Michaels announced some awesome events!)
Some of my favorite moments:
“Hagler is done! Hearns got inside! Got him with an uppercut!” Round 1, first 30 seconds of the round.
“So it’s Hagler coming in like a bullet…” Round 1, first minute of the round.
“Hagler is cut, Hagler is cut! Bridge of the nose!” Round 1, two minutes into the round.
“There is blood all over the face of Marvin Hagler!” Round 1, less than a minute left.
“It’s Hagler, full of blood!” End of Round 3.
