Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [141]
Those close to the middleweight champ knew he had to go after Duran and he finally complied. Staring at Hagler with exhaustion pasted on his face in the ninth, Duran, mouth agape, took three straight jabs. Duran had started fast but was tiring. At his age, it was impossible to keep up the pace. He continually shook his arms as if pleading with them to comply. No discernible response came as Hagler reverted back to his technical dismantling rather than follow-up the previous battering.
Commentator Al Bernstein noted in the eleventh that “something might be going on in Hagler’s mind” as he questioned the hesitant nature of the champion. Hagler moved inside in the twelfth, where he’d been dominant despite his long reach, and bullied Duran. With his hands down by his side, Duran put on his first real scowl of the night in attempt to mock Hagler. It was bravado from a man who managed to provide brief sparks but little more. Moments later they were finally in the trenches again and squaring off as Hagler motioned Duran forward after nailing him with a right hand. Duran landed a straight right followed by a nice uppercut as Hagler motioned to his face for more. A cut, which was swelling, appeared underneath Hagler’s left eye from absorbing straight right hands. Dipping into his broad repertoire, Hagler displayed a straight left, right jab and another of his pinpoint right uppercuts to best Duran in the thirteenth. As the round closed, Hagler wagged his tongue at Duran, a sign that even the serious stalker could have a little fun.
Yet sensationally the official scores had Duran ahead. Going into the fourteenth round, judge Jutras had it 124-all, Yoshida scored it 127-126 for Duran, and Oveson also had it by a point, 125-124, for Duran. He had to win only one of the remaining two rounds to pull off one of the greatest upsets in history.
Hagler showed his mettle. After landing six consecutive shots to start the fourteenth, he then obliged the WBA judges with short, pulverizing right hooks to Duran’s hanging head, and continued to press in a workmanlike manner. By outpunching Duran in the final stanzas, Hagler would leave the judges no choice. It was clear at that point why Duran only occasionally took the risks that defined him in previous bouts. As timid as Hagler was in certain spots, he was just too big and strong.
Duran came out for the final round pounding his chest and sticking out his chin. Nevertheless, Hagler now had a slight lead: one point, one point, and two points on the three scorecards. He padded the lead with an assortment of punches, which included three uppercuts along the ropes, a straight left, and a short right hook, laughing inside as Duran couldn’t come close to turning any of his punches. The fight ended with Hagler bundling Duran against the ropes. As the bell sounded, Duran squatted and glared menacingly at Hagler, as he had after his first fight with Leonard. He spat glorious defiance to the end, while Hagler brooded, blood seeping from a cut around his swollen left eye.
As the men waited in the ring, Duran walked over to Hagler, put his fist in the air and berated him. Hagler, who picked up a purse between $8 and $9 million, answered with his hands toward the sky as the scores were read in his favor: Jutras, 144-142, Yoshida, 146-145, and Oveson, 144-143. Had Duran stolen just one of the last two rounds, he would have won. It would have been a bad call, for all the courage and skill of his performance. Many believed Duran’s aura swayed the judges to make the fight much closer than it was. “I give Duran a lot of credit but you got to give me credit, too,” Hagler said