THIRTY YEARS ON, it’s still spoken about in reverential tones by boxing fans.
On 15 April 1985 the veteran ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler and Tommy ‘Hitman’ Hearns met in a fight that would become known, simply, as The War.
Hagler was the undisputed middleweight champion of the world having held the titles for almost five years. With 64 professional fights under his belt, and a few weeks short of his 31st birthday, he put the gold on the line for an 11th time, taking on the fearsome Hearns in Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas.
Having punched his way up through the lower weights with just one defeat on his record — to Sugar Ray Leonard — the ‘Hitman’ was bidding to win the world title in a third division (he would later become the first man to win world titles in five divisions).
Together they combined for a fight that came to define boxing’s golden era in the 1980s. It lasted eight minutes and one second, but they are arguably the greatest eight minutes the sport has ever seen.
Enjoy them again here.
