Marvin Hagler vs Juan Domingo Roldan 30.3.1984 - WBC, WBA & IBF World Middleweight Championships

Hagler defends his Undisputed Middleweight Championship of the World against the Middleweight Champion of Argentina, the dangerous Juan Domingo Roldan. Sugar Ray Leonard would be assisting the commentary. More info below...

Marvin Hagler's record was 58-2-2 coming in and held the WBC, WBA and IBF World Middleweight belts. In his last fight he claimed a 15 round unanimous decision over Roberto Duran, a fight in which he was criticized for not being able to knock Duran out. That minor criticism aside, Hagler was recognized in every boxing circle as the King of the Middleweight division and had been since the late 1970's.

Juan Domingo Roldan's record was very similar to Haglers at 52-2-2. He had been Middleweight Champion of Argentina since 1981 and had successfully defended his title 4 times, winning all of those defenses by KO. In 1982 he also won the South American Middleweight title. Roldan was considered a dangerous fighter because of his unorthodox style and heavy hands. His last loss was back in 1982 by DQ against Ricardo Arce, a loss he would avenge just 2 months later. Roldan had fought a lot of people however most were not known outside of South America, and he had only fought outside of his native Argentina four times in 56 fights.

In the opening seconds of the first round, Hagler went down after Roldan caught him with a glancing left hook on the back of the head. Hagler felt he had a slipped, but the ref disagreed and awarded a knockdown to Roldan. This would be the only official knockdown of Hagler's entire career. In round 3, Hagler hurt Roldan with an uppercut to the eye causing it to swell shut almost immediately, Hagler saw his opening and pounced sending his opponent sprawling into the ropes for a knockdown of his own. Roldan would keep coming forwards for the rest of the fight but with a badly swollen eye he was struggling to see the punches coming. As early as round 8 Roldan had been telling his corner that he wanted to quit but for whatever reason they continually pushed him back out to continue. In round 10, Roldan finally succumbed to Haglers onslaught and went down. He got to his feet before the 10 count but he told the ref he didn't want to continue. Roldan had given it his best, but being unable to see the punches coming from somebody who could hit with power and accuracy like Hagler, was just too dangerous. The crowd was initially upset Roldan had quit but when you watch the fight back, he made the right decision.

Juan Domingo Roldan had one more fight in 1984 and then retired from the ring... For 18 months. Like many fighters before and since, he just couldn't stay out of the ring. He returned to the ring in 1986 and racked up 12 wins in a row, including a TKO win against the durable James Kinchen. In 1987 he got a shot at the vacant WBC Middleweight title but lost to Thomas Hearns. The following year he took on Michael Nunn for the IBF Middleweight belt but came up short again. After 3 failed attempts at world titles Roldan finally retired for good with a final record of 67-5-2.

Hagler would continue boxing until 1987 when he lost a controversial decision to Sugar Ray Leonard. However when Hagler retired, he stayed retired. He had become so disenchanted with boxing and being "cheated" that he vowed never to step back into the ring...