Marvin Hagler vs Sugar Ray Leonard official press pack billed "The Super Fight", 6th April 1987, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

Press packs are information packages that are assembled by promoters for members of the media who are assigned to report on the fight. A pack usually contains statistics and bio's on all the fighters and various personnell of the fight. All put together in an attractive folder.

Condition excellent

Leonard W split decision

After a five-year absence from boxing, Sugar Ray Leonard announced that he was coming out of retirement to challenge Hagler. For his part, Hagler was so excited about the opportunity to prove himself against one of the best in the world, he conceded numerous advantages to Leonard, including glove size, ring size, and number of rounds (12 rather than 15).
The purse for the fight, which took place at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, was $20 million ($9 million for Hagler, $11 million for Leonard), the largest for a fight up to that time. Hagler surprised many by working conservatively against Leonard in the first rounds. Perhaps realizing that he was playing into Leonard's strength of dancing and circling, Hagler stepped up in the middle rounds to move in on Leonard. The fight was very close, and after 12 rounds, the title was awarded to Leonard in a controversial split decision that is still debated today.
Hagler, who was convinced he won the bout, wanted a rematch and waited a year for Leonard to agree to fight him again. Frustrated when Leonard continued to avoid a rematch, Hagler retired in 1989. He later told CBS Sportsline, "I felt as though I had accomplished everything in my career and the only thing left for me to do was to have a rematch with Leonard."

Price: £20

Marvin Hagler was born in Newark, N.J. 23rd May 1954. Hagler lost early in his career to Bobby Watts and Willie Monroe, but eventually knocked out both men in rematches. After those losses he went undefeated from 1976 to 1987, a span of 37 fights, defeating Bennie Briscoe and knocking out Kevin Finnegan twice. November 30th 1979 he challenged Vito Antuofermo for the world middleweight championship but was held to a draw. On September 27th 1980, he met Antuofermo’s conqueror, Alan Minter, for the world crown in London, this time winning his title by a 3rd round K.O. He defended the title 12 times, once by decision over Roberto Duran and eleven times by K.O. Among his victims in title bouts were Antuofermo, Tony Sibson, Mustafa Hamsho and John Mugabi. His April 15th 1985, K.O of Thomas Hearns in Las Vegas is a boxing classic. He lost the title on a very close split decision to Sugar Ray Leonard on April 6th 1987, and retired. He moved to Milan, Italy, where he became a film actor.





Equipped with speed, ability and charisma, Sugar Ray Leonard, filled the boxing void left when Muhammad Ali retired in 1981. With the American public in search of a new boxing superstar, Leonard came along at precisely the right time.
Leonard was named Fighter of the Decade for the 1980s. And why not. He entered the decade a champion and left a champion. In between, he won an unprecedented five world titles in five weight classes and competed in some of the era's most memorable contests.

There were few things Leonard could not do once the bell rang. But what he did best was analyze his opponents and devise a strategy to overcome them. He found a way to beat stylists, sluggers and brawlers. And beneath that flashy surface was a competitor with the remorseless ability to put an opponent away when they were hurt. There were few better finishers in boxing.

Leonard surfaced in the public's imagination after winning a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics. He won the WBC welterweight title in 1979 after stopping fellow Hall-of-Famer Wilfred Benitez in a violent chess match that pitted two of the game's master technicians.

After one successful defense, Leonard faced legendary lightweight champion Roberto Duran in what may be the most anticipated non-heavyweight fight in history. In a fast-paced battle, Duran dethroned Leonard with a unanimous 15-round decision. Leonard regained the title when Duran quit in the eighth-round of their rematch.

In 1981, Leonard climbed the scale and knocked out junior middleweight champion Ayube Kalule. He then returned to the welterweight division for a unification showdown with WBA champ Thomas Hearns. Leonard and Hearns waged a memorable war but Leonard, behind on all three scorecards, managed to knock Hearns out in the 14th round.

After one more fight, Leonard, suffering from a detatched retina in his left eye, retired. He returned to the ring in 1984 and knocked out Kevin Howard only to retire again.

After nearly three years of inactivity, Leonard returned again and pulled off the Upset of the Decade when he outpointed Marvin Hagler to win the middleweight title in 1987. Leonard added titles four and five in November 1988 when he recovered from an early knockdown to stop power-punching Canadian Donny Lalonde. At stake that night was Lalonde's WBC light heavyweight title and the vacant WBC super middleweight title.

Leonard made two successful title defenses of the super middleweight title, fighting to a controversial draw with Hearns and decisioning Duran in their third and final encounter.

Leonard retired again, but could not stay away. At age 34, he challenged WBC super welterweight champion Terry Norris in 1991. He was dropped twice and lost by unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden.

The former five-division champion announced his retirment in the ring immediately after the Norris fight. But in March 1997, he launched another unsuccessful comeback, which ended via a fifth-round TKO to Hector Camacho. It was the first time Leonard had ever been stopped.