$20M dream bout live on TV

Press, 10 November 1983, Page 19

$20M dream bout live on TV

The undisputed middleweight champion, “Marvellous” Marvin Hagler, and the World Boxing Association junior middleweight title-holder, Roberto will square off in a record-breaking $2O million dream match tomorrow at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. The match will be screened live by satellite on Two, beginning at 4.40 p.m. The bout is scheduled for 15 rounds and will be for Hagler’s middleweight crown. Duran’s title will not be on the line. For Hagler, aged 29, this is the big-money fight, against a “name” opponent, that he has long awaited. The Brockton native has taken on and easily defeated every top middleweight'contender placed in front him. Unbeaten in 32 fights over more than seven years, Hagler has successfully defended his title seven times — all by knockout. In his last outing, on May 27, he stopped top-rated Wilford Scypion in the fourth round,

raising his career record to 48 knock-outs.

Hagler is finally receiving the recognition he has deserved and earned during a brilliant career, says TVNZ. For several years, he was known as the "uncrowned” middleweight champion, referring to the fact that whoever held the title fought all other contenders — except him. In his first attempt at the title, in November of 1979, Hagler battled to a 15-round draw with Vito Antuefermo. There was no stopping Hagler in his next title bid. He attacked the champion, Alan Minter, from the opening bell until the referee stopped the contest in the third round. Some of the English fans showered Hagler with bottles and debris, but they could not take away the fact that the man had finally realised his dream of winning the title. Duran will be attempting to become the first boxer in history to win world titles in four different weight divisions. The three-times

world champion captured his most recent crown — the W.B.A. junior middleweight title — on June 16, with a devastating eighth-round knock-out of the previously unbeaten Davey Moore. The 32-year-old Panamanian captured the lightweight title in June, 1972, when he stopped Ken Buchanan in the thirteenth round. He held on to the championship for seven years, before moving up in weight to compete in the welterweight division. It was as a 147-pounder that Duran won his second world title when he outslugged Sugar Ray Leonard over 15 rounds, on June 20, 1980, to become the W.B.C. welterweight titleholder.

A crafty veteran, Duran, gave Moore a thorough boxing lesson on his way to winning his third world championship. The victory pushed Duran’s career record to 76-4, including 57 knockouts, earning him a fight with Hagler and a shot at world title number four.