Middleweight bout: Carlos Monzon vs. Marvin Hagler?

Marvin Hagler himself said that he wouldn t have been able to beat Monzon.

It would have been each legend s most difficult fight, but I have Monzon winning by a close SD victory.

Both had strange boxer-puncher styles, and both had power to end the fight suddenly. Monzon fought in the off-rythym (punching and stepping when fighters were trying to recover and reset) and his skill set was based off of traps (using blinding jabs to set up a sleeper right cross), and using a rear right uppercut once the left had been shown repeatedly. Hagler s skill set was based on incredible athleticism, confusion with his switch-hitting stances, and bursts of brawling, lunging (or inside pivot) power combinations - supported by very good outside boxing in his prime.

Monzon s ring generalship was better than Hagler s and his resume was more impressive - as Monzon fought more natural Middleweights (Monzon s most difficult Middleweight opponents were Bennie Briscoe and Rodrigo Valdes, while Hagler s most difficult Middleweights fought were Willie "The Worm" Monroe and an old Bennie Briscoe).

Hagler demolished Tommy Hearns and beat a much smaller Duran by close decision. Monzon stopped the legendary Jose Napoles and dominated hall-of-famer Emile Griffith. In old age, Hagler s toughest fight was against the naturally smaller Mugabi, while Monzon s were 2 epic battles against the Middleweight, Rodrigo Valdes.

Because of their use of the boxer-puncher style (in their primes) and because of their resume - I say that Monzon had a more classical style and had the tougher road (especially in the latter part of his career). I think he frustrates Hagler enough with lateral movement and does enough with his jabs and power punches to keep Hagler from walking in (Monzon s chin was incredibly durable - unlike Hearns s).

Hagler by first round ko

Bread and circuses .

I'm a fan of Hagler but I'd have to say that the odds are in Monzon's favor. I don't know that anyone could've KO'd Monzon, not with that granite chin of his. Those that managed to score a draw (around 7-9 of them) were skilled, slick boxers mostly, and beating Monzon took a huge amount of talent yet he lost only 3, as did Hagler but Monzon fought like 100 fights (incredible number today) to Hagler's less than 70 fights (still impressive to me). Both were warriors, had guts to spare. But I suspect that Monzon's long list of fights and his experiences with diverse boxing styles could or would have given him the edge, no disrespect to Hagler.

Hagler had fair footwork compared to Monzon. Punching power, I'd give the edge to Monzon (a BIG edge, by the way). Both fought some really respectable boxers; back then, padding win columns was almost unheard of.

Yes, I believe Monzon would've pulled off the win; he was one incredible boxer (but a not-so-nice human being in his violent private life).

Monzon

Monzon had lots of ties and would only fight at home and would not travel he also did not train well for every fight, so I am going with a prime Hagler to win.

GGG would beat both

Carlos Monzon by a decision.