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.
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 blue-collar 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 itineraies 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