LAS VEGAS, NV- Often, I hear people speak, utter, or even pontificate about boxing/boxers, and quite often their words are complete falsehoods. These folks are spewing a story that is both preposterous and untrue.
HAGLER NOT “CLOSE TO ANY MEDIA”
And yet from 1983 to 1987, Team Hagler allowed “Poison Pen Pedro” to watch him train here in town at Johnny Tocco’s Gym for fights with Roberto Duran, Juan Roldan, Thomas Hearns, John “The Beast” Mugabi and his career ender with “Sugar Ray” Leonard.
ON THE ROAD WITH MARVIN!
Marvin retired in 1987 after losing a 12 round Split Decision. For the record, I had Ray winning 7-5 in rounds. And almost every time I saw Marvin, he brought up the Leonard fight.
MARVIN, WIFE & PEDRO IN MEXICO
If my memory serves me correctly, we were in Mexico City, Alexis Arguello is talking with ex-122 lb. king Wilfredo Gomez, who weighed circa 250 lbs. This is not a “fat joke,” but the 5’2
Wilfredo is certainly “taller laying down” than he is standing up!
HAGLER “AN ULTRA PRIVATE” DUDE
Marvin loved nothing more than “privacy.” I think that attitude or quirk had a lot to do with his “coming up the hard way” in boxing.
BEAT EVERYBODY & STILL NO TITLE
It was an atrocity that (46-2-1, 39 KOs) Hagler didn’t get a title shot until 1979 and was ROBBED when an obvious win was declared a 15 round draw with middleweight champ Vito Antefermo.
LAS VEGAS’ MOST NOTORIOUS JUDGE
Las Vegas judge Dalby Shirley and I “had words” for me chiding him for “horrid” scores like having Anterfermo up 144-142 over Hagler. Of all the wrong calls he made, and Dalby Shirley made a lot, this is the ONLY fight where he “admitted being wrong.”
“STILL BITTER” TWO DECADES LATER
Marvin felt, for lack of a better word, that he was “abused” by the Boxing Establishment. And that Split Decision 15-round Draw is “not the fight” he moaned about most. No surprise to most, it was the “Sugar Ray” Leonard fight.
MARV & ME “LATE NIGHT” MEXICO CITY
There is No Wifi in this 5 Star hotel except the Lobby. So, as I’m writing around 12:30 AM, I look up and Hagler is standing over me.
“Where’s everybody at Flash?” he asks.
My response, “Probably the closest brothel, champ.”
Hagler started cracking up! (A brothel is a House of Prostitution)
“ELOQUENTLY” DIFFERING WITH MARV
Often, you get drawn into a debate on who won a particular boxing match. Telling Marvin Hagler that my ringside FLASH Magazine scorecard had “Ray winning 7 to 5 in rounds or 115-113 on points” was done with sheer eloquence
LITTLE BIT “SCARED OF HAGLER”
As a writer, there were some individuals you “engage with using less force” than you usually do. I didn’t like “pissing off” Mike Tyson. So it was ever so “rarely” could I get real with Iron Mike. With Marvin Hagler, I again had great trepidation when it came to asking “pointed” questions.
EXPLAINING MY 7-5 SCORE TO MARVIN
Having had 2 people in boxing “pull guns” on me for my opinions and writing was scary! I wasn’t worried about Marvin Hagler “shooting me.” But tick him off and he might be inclined to grab you by the chest!
REMEMBER, THIS IS MARVIN HAGLER
Having an insurmountable amount of R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the Brockton MA native and being just a tad scared, I took a deep breath. “Well, you gave away the first 4 rounds. All Ray had to do was ‘steal 3 rounds’ down the stretch to eek out my 115-113 score.”
DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT?
He looked at me, and I almost wanted to “look away,” but certainly not in a state of fear. I just have “tremendous respect” for this man, and believe me, I emphasized that each time we spoke over the years.
US, MILAN, JAPAN, MALAGA, ET AL
Nearly every Port I saw Marvin & the Mrs., and we’re talking 4 different continents, he would ask me “to explain the Leonard score” to him.
MARVIN LIKED “PEDRO IN CHECK”
I think he did that for two reasons. 1) Marvin didn’t agree with me. 2) And he may have sensed my reluctance to “forcefully” argue the point. Essentially, I “handled” Marvin Hagler with kid gloves!
SATURDAY NIGHT LIAR “PUT IN CHECK”
So, having had a “good” rapport with Hagler, how “long do you think it took” before I got up and called out the clown that had repeatedly said he “visited Marvin in prison.”
MOTHER DUCKER “SHUT THE DUCK UP”
When I told him and his crew who I was in the biz and my professional relationship with Marvin Hagler, you could see the “wind” escaping his Macho-less ass. “If you want to bullshit people, pal,” I said, “make sure you don’t do it in front of somebody THAT WILL call you out on it.” He never said another word all night!
Pedro Fernandez
Note: Pedro Fernandez is a multi-award-winning writer whose career in journalism has taken him to 34 countries. He is also a former San Francisco Policeman and was a Nationally Ranked 4-time Golden Gloves boxing champion.
He hosts “Ring Talk Worldwide,” a syndicated radio talk show on Sports Byline USA. You can watch it Sat & Sun @ 11:06 AM PT on YouTube or Twitch.TV. Find Pedro-Pete Fernandez on Facebook as RING TALK