Minter showed considerable character in putting the episode behind him, and four months later established himself as a world title contender by stopping his old foe Tonna in the sixth round at Wembley. These have been rubbish times over the last few months and now we’ve lost a legend like Marvin. That’s what he was, a legend.

Lee Roy Murphy vs Chisanda Mutti: An epic and truly legendary battle. Murphy and Mutti went to war in Monaco and gave all they had and no one could have asked for more. But then came the unbelievable ending. Hagler: “His timing was first class, when he threw a punch he got you. He wouldn’t throw and miss and he wouldn’t be out of distance. He was very heavy-handed.” Hagler wishes he could’ve faced fellow legend Carlos Monzon. The great Argentine retired in 1977, when Hagler was becoming a contender. I first met him when he was over for the Alan Minter fight in 1980. I was living in Clapham at the time and training at the Lavender Hill Boxing Club with the Finnegans (brothers Chris and Kevin) and others. Marvin came to train at the gym and we had to leave, but I shook his hand before we went. I never really thought we would end up fighting each other one day.

Yesterday’s Heroes: A long history of Belsize BC

Mugabi and Tony Sibson: I remember seeing Tony Sibson at the weigh-in. This guy was strong. I remember when he hit me on the chest, he looked much stronger and bigger than me, and he’s supposed to be a middleweight. Mugabi, I believe he put on more weight before the fight. I could feel his body against me. He felt like a light heavyweight, he didn’t feel like a middleweight. When he threw punches, they were all deadly, very hard punches. This guy felt like a light heavyweight to me, so I had to wear him down, to take away some of that strength.

TONY SIBSON relinquished his European and Commonwealth titles to ensure he got the right preparation for his tilt at Marvin Hagler’s WBC and WBA middleweight titles on Friday February 11, 1983. The challenger’s overreliance on his left hand when under duress, as instinctive to him as blushing, was suicide in this company. It was as self-defeating as if he’d been rowing a boat. BBBofC British/ WBC World Light Heavyweight Titles. Referee stopped the bout at 2:04 of the ninth round.

Yesterday’s Heroes: Freddie Mills and Len Harvey collided in 1942 while both serving as members of the Royal Air Force

In his inestimable chronicle "Four Kings", the American writer George Kimball recounted the story of why Hagler chose to turn professional after winning the national amateur championship in Boston in 1973, rather than wait for a tilt at Olympic Games glory in Montreal three years later. "You can't take a trophy and turn it into a bag of groceries," was Hagler's fuss-free philosophy. ROBERTO DURAN would be the only man to hear the final bell in Hagler’s next six fights– which included one of the the greatest fights of all-time against Thomas Hearns. In his last bout, in 1987, Hagler would lose a hotly debated decision to a returning Sugar Ray Leonard – one Marvelous Marvin would never get over. Livingstone Bramble vs Ray Mancini II : Mancini was the same perpetual motion machine, but as in their first fight, Bramble made his punches count, exploiting openings and inflicting cuts. In short, he had his man’s number; “Boom Boom’s” face was a mask of red as early as the fifth, and after a closely-fought contest, Bramble took a well-earned decision.

After Ol’ Blue Eyes crooned to the swooning masses, but before Johnny Cash unleashed his melodious murder ballads onto his legions of faithful followers in Worcester—Tony Sibson among them, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden stopped through town on their 1982 co-headlining tour, Van Halen set up shop for a three-night stand that October—as did the J. Geils Band on New Year’s Eve and the first two days of 1983, and other acts as diverse as Crosby, Stills & Nash, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, the Charlie Daniels Band, The Who, and KISS all tried their best to blow the roof off the Centrum. The book also suggests that Hagler's opposition to English fans after boxing at Wembley Arena in 1980 put paid to his fight with Sibson taking place in Birmingham three years later.The southpaw won his first 11 fights and was progressing nicely until he lost on cuts, having been ahead, to Don McMillan in June of 1973. It was the beginning of a bad run, in which he went 3-4. All four losses were on cuts.

Matthew Hilton vs Buster Drayton: Jim Lampley said it best during commentary: “You will seldom see a more spectacular demonstration of sheer courage and competitiveness on the part of two boxers.” Matthew Hilton’s gruelling victory over veteran Buster Drayton is how all world titles should be won, with maximum effort expended against a redoubtable foe who just keeps coming.

He Who Dares: The night Pete Rademacher attempted to become world heavyweight champion on his professional debut

If the shoe was on the other foot, I’d have gave him a rematch because it shows the mark of a champion.” The former British, Commonwealth and European champion and world title challenger, who shared a ring with Marvin Hagler at Madison Square Garden, eventually came full circle.