Boxing giants shape up

Press, 2 April 1987, Page 28

Boxing giants shape up

NZPA staff correspondent San Diego

The time for talk is nearly over as “Marvellous” Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard take inventory for their long-awaited showdown on Tuesday. It is a show-down both fighters need and the boxing world wants. ’

The road to the top for the two boxers has been one of total contrast Yet on Tuesday in the Nevada Desert they will finally come face to face in what will be, in money terms, the the. highest-grossing fight in history,

The Caesars Palace venue in Las Vegas sold out In December and scalpers now offer ringside tickets at S3H6, twice the original prices. Hagler is guaranteed $24 million, Leonard $22 million, with bonus contract clauses making $M million net for each fighter a distinct possibility. Hagler is a shaven skulled, iron-willed brawler who will take into the ring a record of 62-2-2. He is undefeated in the decade and has been middleweight champion of the world for seven of those 10 years.

Leonard is a freshman in comparison. He is 33-1-0 and

has been twice retired and has twice come back.

Hagler is a southpaw, a left-handed fighter, and the possessor of a . chiselled granite-like torso who punches like a bull, bloodying his opponents before they fall. !

Leonard, an orthodox fighter with fine movement, is and always has been the all-American boy, loved by all, black or white. A 1 Rarely does he bully or hurt his opponent; instead he frustrates him into defeat. In November, I*Bl, he frustrated and embarrassed the great “hands of stone” Roberto Duran in the now infamous “no mas” (“no more”) bout Leonard’s wide appeal and the path he took to the top has always eaten away at Hagler and is what fuels him for their confrontation. (

Hagler has spent nearly twice as long preparing ;for this bout as he normally does for a title defence.* He set up camp nearly three months ago with his sparing partners and trainers. He does not permithis wife or children 'near his training camp and' will only answer his telephone for the most urgent domestic matters. He is a throw-back, the last of the die-hard boxers. Leonard has been in camp

for nearly as long, but there the similarity ends. His wife and children often attend camp with him and he regularly gees home at week-ends.

While Hagler stalks and fights his sparring partners in virtual full combat Leonard has taken to using modern science.

During some of his workouts Leonard has been using a computer called “compubox” to trace his punches. It enables him to find but how many punches he threw and how many landed. Hagler took I*B days to decide whether to fight Leonard and it is easy to understand why. Even if, as expected, he wins, he may not receive the kudos he still strives for.

He has already done all that he humanly can since taking the title in 1988. He has fought every top contender, but what if a former welterweight and junior middleweight champion who has had one bout in five years and who has never fought at the weight beats him?

He knows the consequences.

In an interview with the “Boston Globe,” Hagler said, “I know what got me here, my boxing. If I lose a fight nobody will want me.”