After Marvelous Marvin Hagler finally got a shot at the undisputed world middleweight boxing championship in November 1979 against then champ Vito Antuofermo…whom he fought to a 15 round draw…..even though many boxing pundits at the time said that Hagler won the fight…..but the Marvelous one was fortunate that a second title shot against England’s Alan Minter…..who took the title away from Vito Antuofermo in a split decision title fight in March 1980…..then defended the title in a rematch in June 1980…..by defeating Antuofermo by a 8th round TKO…..whereby Minter bloodied the cut prone Antuofermo so badly that the referee stopped the fight.
When Hagler entered the ring against the then champ Minter…..he was ready for bear…..with an intense resolve to not leave the decision to the judges like he did in his draw against Antuofermo in his first title shot….as Marvelous destroyed the British world champion with a TKO in the 3rd round…..thus finally winning the undisputed middleweight crown in his 54th fight…..entering the ring with a 50 – 2 – 2 record with 40 KO’s….as this fight started the “legendary boxer” of the golden age of boxing on a string of 12 straight title defenses…..as he fought anybody and everybody who thought they could wrestle the title away from him…..and dominating the middleweight ranks from 1980 – 1987…..a span of 7 years.
This was another battle between a “legendary boxer” (Hagler) and a “really good boxer” (Minter)….which happened often during the golden age of boxing from 1964 to 1995…..providing further evidence of just how many “really good boxers”, “great boxers”, “super great boxers” and “legendary boxers”…..who filled the ranks of boxing many divisions during this incredible era of boxing in the world…..and as with all the other fights between talented and skilled boxers during this golden age….it is worth the watch.
