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Marvelous Marvin Hagler (born Marvin Nathaniel
Hagler in Newark, New Jersey May 23, 1954), a
native of Brockton, Massachusetts, was a very
tough looking character, and a number one ranked
Middleweight boxer for many years before he could
fight for the title.  He often had to travel to
his opponents' hometowns to get fights, and he
even boxed against the best that the city of
Philadelphia had to offer. He lost decisions to
Willie Monroe and Bobby 'Boogaloo' Watts, and had
to suffer while watching less deserving
challengers receive title shots against Carlos
Monzon and Hugo Corro.

This served for Hagler to build upon a character
that was as tough as steel, but with a soft spot
in his heart toward his fans. Hagler avenged his 2
defeats by knocking out Monroe and Watts in
rematches, and won a 10 round decision over Bennie
Briscoe in a classic Philadelphia confrontation,
and by this time he had made fans in both
Massachusetts and Philadelphia. By then, promoter
Bob Arum, a lawyer who had helped in the White
House during President John F. Kennedy's tenure,
took notice and signed him. Hagler needed some
gubernatorial help, but Arum pulled the strings,
and finally, in November 1979, Hagler was in the
ring with a world Middleweight champion. Vito
Antuofermo gave Hagler a shot, and the fight
turned into a Middleweight classic. One of the
greatest championship bouts in Middleweight
history was unfortunately marred by controversy,
and Hagler had to settle for a draw or tie. This
only added to Hagler's frustrations.  

Antuofermo lost his title later to Alan Minter,
who became the 2nd champion to be brave enough to
defend his title against the Brockton menace.
Hagler went to London and beat Minter in 3 rounds
at the Wembley Arena. At the conclusion of this
bout a riot broke out, and Hagler and his trainers
had to be carried away to their locker rooms by
the police, in the middle of a rain of beer
bottles and glasses. 

Hagler proved a busy world champion and he
defeated future world champion Fulgencio
Obelmejias by a knockout in 8, and then former
world champ Antuofermo in a rematch by knockout in
5, both at the Boston Garden. Mustafa Hamsho, who
would later defeat future world champ Bobby Czyz,
followed, and he was beaten in 11. Caveman Lee
lasted only 1 round, and in a rematch in Italy,
Obelmejias lasted 5. United Kingdom|British
champion Tony Sibson followed in Hagler's list of
unsuccessful challengers, falling in 6, and
Wilford Scypion went in 4. By then, Hagler was a
staple on Home Box Office|HBO, which was the Pay
Per View of its time.  A super-fight vs Roberto
Duran followed and Duran was the first challenger
to last the distance with Hagler in a world
championship bout, but he lost a unanimous 15
round decision. Then came Juan Roldan, who became
the only man to drop Hagler, scoring a knockdown
seconds into the fight, but Hagler got angrier and
proceeded to beat Roldan, stopping him in 10.
Hamsho was given a rematch and lost in 3, and then
on April 15th, 1985, Hagler and Thomas Hearns met
in what was billed as The War (boxing)|The War. In
a sensational slugfest, Hagler survived one of the
best first rounds in history and won by an
electryfing 3 round knockout. Next was John
Mugabi|John "The Beast" Mugabi,a thunderous
puncher who was 26-0 with 26 knockouts. Hagler
took Mugabi's best shots and came back handily,
stopping Mugabi in the 11th in what would turn out
to be his last successful defense. Hagler's next
challenger was Sugar Ray Leonard, who won a close
split decision in Las Vegas on April of 1987.

After his defense vs Hearns and before his fight
with Mugabi, Hagler changed his name legally to
Marvelous Marvin Hagler and made a few
commercials, most notably a commercial for Pizza
Hut and later Gillette. He enjoyed his fame and
relished the fact that after so many years in the
background, he was finally a household name. 

He thought his decision loss to Leonard was
undeserved, and quit boxing (after being refused a
rematch) tired of the backroom politics of the
sport. He moved to Italy, where he made movies,
including playing a US Marine in the movie Indio
(movie)|Indio. In 1995, he starred alongside
Giselle Blondet in another low budget film. Marvin
has four children to his first wife, Bertha, his
children are Charelle, Celeste, James and Marvin
Jr. Hagler is now married to Italian beauty Kaye
Guarrera and lives in the Milan suburbs. 

He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall
Of Fame in 1993.