On the night of April 6, 1987, Sugar Ray Leonard stole a fight. A couple of million witnesses saw him get away with it. Leonard s theft was so slick that the victim, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, didn't know until it was too late. His middleweight title was picked clean and gone, forever.... In its own way, it was a perfect Sting. Of course, Hagler did not see it that way. But if winners write history, a salesman, a con, a Sweet Scientist, and a sorcerer wrote this one. Leonard was each and all in the parking lot behind Caesars. This is the story of sorcery at Caesars, and how Sugar Ray put the Fight Game on Marvelous Marvin.
Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray's Marvelous Fight
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Editorial Reviews
Review
A terrific story. With simple but profound insight Steve Marantz creates a smooth fable of two epic fighters who were defined by each other- Hagler and his bald bluecollar sincerity against the get-rich-quick celebrity of Sugar Ray, a scheming con man in pinstripes. Were we all in love with the wrong guy? -- Ian Thomsen, Sports Illustrated
In deft, terrific prose, Steve Marantz has laid out the itineraries for Marvin and Sugar Ray, leading up to one memorable night in the desert. The whole story is here, as exciting as it was the first time. -- Leigh Montville, Sportswriter, Columnist and Author
In deft, terrific prose, Steve Marantz has laid out the itineraries for Marvin and Sugar Ray, leading up to one memorable night in the desert. The whole story is here, as exciting as it was the first time. -- Leigh Montville, Sportswriter, Columnist and Author
About the Author
STEVE MARANTZ is co-founder of SportsMediaGuide.com and a researcher for ESPN Content Development. He covered sports, government, and politics for the Kansas City Star, Boston Globe, and Boston Herald.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
BOOK REVIEW
Leonard-Hagler story packs a wallop
By Doug Most, Globe Staff | August 12, 2008
Don't be deceived by the title of Steve Marantz's terrific new boxing book, "Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray's Marvelous Fight."
Marantz, a longtime Boston journalist who covered boxing for the Globe, pulls no punches of his own in letting the reader know which fighter he was pulling for when Brockton's Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard squared off in their epic title bout on April 6, 1987, in Las Vegas. Marantz wanted to see the angry, shaven-headed Hagler wipe the perpetual smile off of Leonard's famous pretty-boy mug.
Of course, as anyone who followed boxing when boxing actually mattered knows, things didn't quite work out for the Marvelous one.
Surprisingly, the weakest part of the book may be its climax, the 12-round fight between a legitimate middleweight brawler known for being able to take a punch even better than he could deliver one and the aging, puffed-up welterweight from Washington, D.C., named after singing legend Ray Charles. The underdog Leonard saw Hagler as the perfect foil against whom to conclude his golden career, but the fight details almost go by too quickly, with not enough analysis of the blow-by-blow to fully convey how Leonard accomplished what he did.
Fortunately, by the time readers get to the fight, they will be so engrossed in the back story of what led up to it that the punching almost feels anticlimactic. Marantz does a terrific job of bringing to life the vastly different stories of these two proud but troubled men who came together for one night of brawling and bloodshed.
The details of Leonard's drug and spousal abuse reveal him to be as two-faced as Marantz argues, a man who was married more to his sport and the shady characters that come with it than he ever was to his family. And while Hagler certainly comes off as the more sympathetic character, it's hard to actually root for him because when the fight finally comes he's become almost a shell of his former self, someone who merely craves Leonard's fame.
The book's strength is in the way Marantz takes readers inside Leonard's head as he first teases Hagler for years about a possible big-payday fight, finally agrees to it, and then does everything he can, no matter how sneaky, to weaken his opponent before they set foot in the ring. By the time the bell for Round 1 clangs, it feels as if Hagler is already burnt toast.
The subject of possible drug use by Hagler is glossed over too lightly, because it remains not entirely clear how much he used, when he used, or for that matter, if he really used at all. The handling of the subject almost feels forced, as if Marantz wanted Hagler to have used drugs as Leonard had, so that their lives mirrored each other's as much as possible.
That's nitpicking, though. In the end, it's hard to not feel sorry for both men, who finally got the fight they wanted, and to see how much it tormented them.
Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Rayâ(tm)s Marvelous Fight, By Steve Marantz, Inkwater, 233 pp., illustrated, paperback, $19.95
Doug Most is the editor of the Boston Globe Magazine.
Leonard-Hagler story packs a wallop
By Doug Most, Globe Staff | August 12, 2008
Don't be deceived by the title of Steve Marantz's terrific new boxing book, "Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray's Marvelous Fight."
Marantz, a longtime Boston journalist who covered boxing for the Globe, pulls no punches of his own in letting the reader know which fighter he was pulling for when Brockton's Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard squared off in their epic title bout on April 6, 1987, in Las Vegas. Marantz wanted to see the angry, shaven-headed Hagler wipe the perpetual smile off of Leonard's famous pretty-boy mug.
Of course, as anyone who followed boxing when boxing actually mattered knows, things didn't quite work out for the Marvelous one.
Surprisingly, the weakest part of the book may be its climax, the 12-round fight between a legitimate middleweight brawler known for being able to take a punch even better than he could deliver one and the aging, puffed-up welterweight from Washington, D.C., named after singing legend Ray Charles. The underdog Leonard saw Hagler as the perfect foil against whom to conclude his golden career, but the fight details almost go by too quickly, with not enough analysis of the blow-by-blow to fully convey how Leonard accomplished what he did.
Fortunately, by the time readers get to the fight, they will be so engrossed in the back story of what led up to it that the punching almost feels anticlimactic. Marantz does a terrific job of bringing to life the vastly different stories of these two proud but troubled men who came together for one night of brawling and bloodshed.
The details of Leonard's drug and spousal abuse reveal him to be as two-faced as Marantz argues, a man who was married more to his sport and the shady characters that come with it than he ever was to his family. And while Hagler certainly comes off as the more sympathetic character, it's hard to actually root for him because when the fight finally comes he's become almost a shell of his former self, someone who merely craves Leonard's fame.
The book's strength is in the way Marantz takes readers inside Leonard's head as he first teases Hagler for years about a possible big-payday fight, finally agrees to it, and then does everything he can, no matter how sneaky, to weaken his opponent before they set foot in the ring. By the time the bell for Round 1 clangs, it feels as if Hagler is already burnt toast.
The subject of possible drug use by Hagler is glossed over too lightly, because it remains not entirely clear how much he used, when he used, or for that matter, if he really used at all. The handling of the subject almost feels forced, as if Marantz wanted Hagler to have used drugs as Leonard had, so that their lives mirrored each other's as much as possible.
That's nitpicking, though. In the end, it's hard to not feel sorry for both men, who finally got the fight they wanted, and to see how much it tormented them.
Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Rayâ(tm)s Marvelous Fight, By Steve Marantz, Inkwater, 233 pp., illustrated, paperback, $19.95
Doug Most is the editor of the Boston Globe Magazine.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Hawk
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am happy that I have this book in my boxing library and I believe that it was worth the investment I made to purchase this book.
But I really wish (and I have had this discussion directly with the author), that Mr. Marantz had been a bit more forthcoming with his own personal scorecard that he had when he covered the fight live for the Boston Globe.
The entire theme of the book that Sugar Ray Leonard "Stole" the bout and "tricked" the judges, rubs me a bit the wrong way when you realize that Steve Marantz's OWN Scorecard for the bout was 117-111.....for Sugar Ray Leonard.
Yes, a single round and two points difference from the card handed in by the much maligned scorecard of the official judge Jo Joe Guerra.
The fact that Mr. Marantz does NOT disclose this or point out that several well respected Boxing writers, historians, trainers and fight game insiders (the Majority of them in fact) of the time, also scored bout for Sugar Ray Leonard never sat well with me either. And in fact some scored the bout for Leonard in a similar fashion to how Guerra and Marantz himself scored the bout: One sidedly so for Sugar Ray Leonard. Jeff Ryan from KO Magazine, Micheal Katz from NY Daily News, to name two.
To leave all of this out of the book IMO is extremely misleading to the reader.
And looking at some of the comments reviewing this book, it is quite clear that this is what the book ultimately did:
Mislead the reader.
Sorry, I believe full disclosure was REALLY required here.
Especially when it pertains to Marantz's own scorecard that he had when watching the bout live at ringside.
Hawk
But I really wish (and I have had this discussion directly with the author), that Mr. Marantz had been a bit more forthcoming with his own personal scorecard that he had when he covered the fight live for the Boston Globe.
The entire theme of the book that Sugar Ray Leonard "Stole" the bout and "tricked" the judges, rubs me a bit the wrong way when you realize that Steve Marantz's OWN Scorecard for the bout was 117-111.....for Sugar Ray Leonard.
Yes, a single round and two points difference from the card handed in by the much maligned scorecard of the official judge Jo Joe Guerra.
The fact that Mr. Marantz does NOT disclose this or point out that several well respected Boxing writers, historians, trainers and fight game insiders (the Majority of them in fact) of the time, also scored bout for Sugar Ray Leonard never sat well with me either. And in fact some scored the bout for Leonard in a similar fashion to how Guerra and Marantz himself scored the bout: One sidedly so for Sugar Ray Leonard. Jeff Ryan from KO Magazine, Micheal Katz from NY Daily News, to name two.
To leave all of this out of the book IMO is extremely misleading to the reader.
And looking at some of the comments reviewing this book, it is quite clear that this is what the book ultimately did:
Mislead the reader.
Sorry, I believe full disclosure was REALLY required here.
Especially when it pertains to Marantz's own scorecard that he had when watching the bout live at ringside.
Hawk
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is one of the better boxing books I've read. It is well researched, well-written and pulls no punches when covering the skills, flaws and foibles of Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. We see that there is Ray Leonard the nice guy and "Sugar Ray Leonard," the crafty, media manipulating Hollywood darling who is a master of ring psychology and public relations.
Both guys conquer their toughest opponents in the ring, but succumb to their toughest enemies outside the ring (adultery, cocaine abuse, volatile domestic episodes, divorce, etc).
As for the fight itself, both men put on a stirring performance, but according to author Steve Marantz, Sugar Ray "put the fight game" on Marvelous Marvin by psyching him out (complimenting him outside the ring, mocking him in the ring, throwing dazzling, crowd pleasing flurries several times a round, bolo punching, ducking, dodging, dancing, sticking and moving, frustrating Hagler at every turn.
Sugar Ray was a winner in the eyes of the public for putting on such a strong performance for this being his 2nd official fight in 5 plus years. Hagler came on in rounds 5-12, winning a majority of those rounds to make the fight close. Actually, I felt that a draw would not have been unreasonable. But two judges scored it 115-113 (one for Hagler, for Leonard), the other judge had Leonard way ahead, 118-110.
For me, the most disturbing part of the book was the court documented description of Leonard's brutal abuse of his first wife Juanita. I came away from this book admiring the boxing skills of both fighters, but appalled by their behavior at times outside the ring.
To this day, the world is split on who truly won the Leonard-Hagler fight. 6-6 or 7-5 either way is not out of line, but 10-2 for Leonard seems extreme to me. But the book itself is a knockout! All boxing fans should get this book.
Both guys conquer their toughest opponents in the ring, but succumb to their toughest enemies outside the ring (adultery, cocaine abuse, volatile domestic episodes, divorce, etc).
As for the fight itself, both men put on a stirring performance, but according to author Steve Marantz, Sugar Ray "put the fight game" on Marvelous Marvin by psyching him out (complimenting him outside the ring, mocking him in the ring, throwing dazzling, crowd pleasing flurries several times a round, bolo punching, ducking, dodging, dancing, sticking and moving, frustrating Hagler at every turn.
Sugar Ray was a winner in the eyes of the public for putting on such a strong performance for this being his 2nd official fight in 5 plus years. Hagler came on in rounds 5-12, winning a majority of those rounds to make the fight close. Actually, I felt that a draw would not have been unreasonable. But two judges scored it 115-113 (one for Hagler, for Leonard), the other judge had Leonard way ahead, 118-110.
For me, the most disturbing part of the book was the court documented description of Leonard's brutal abuse of his first wife Juanita. I came away from this book admiring the boxing skills of both fighters, but appalled by their behavior at times outside the ring.
To this day, the world is split on who truly won the Leonard-Hagler fight. 6-6 or 7-5 either way is not out of line, but 10-2 for Leonard seems extreme to me. But the book itself is a knockout! All boxing fans should get this book.
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