Marvin Hagler was the undisputed middleweight boxing champion of the world from 1980 to 1987, knocked out 78 percent of his opponents and was knocked down only one time during his entire professional career. In 1982, he changed his legal name to “Marvelous Marvin” because network announcers at his fights often did not refer to him by his preferred nickname. Marvelous Marvin was:
• a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame,
• named Fighter of the Decade (1980s) by Boxing Illustrated magazine, and
• twice named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
On March 13, 2021, the 66-year-old Hagler died after suffering severe chest pains and shortness of breath, which are typical signs of a heart attack. His wife, Kay Hagler, wrote on Facebook, “I am sorry to make a very sad announcement. Today unfortunately my beloved husband Marvelous Marvin passed away unexpectedly at his home here in New Hampshire.” However, his good friend and fellow boxing champion, Tommy Hearns, told reporters that Hagler was “in the ICU fighting after-effects of the vaccine.” Anti-vaxxers immediately jumped on this quote and claimed that Hagler died from COVID-19 vaccine side effects, with no evidence whatsoever.
Early Life
Hagler was brought up in the tenements of Newark, New Jersey, but at age 13, his family was forced to move to Brockton, Massachusetts after the 1967 Newark Riots in which their home was destroyed, 26 people were killed and $11 million in property was damaged.
Soon after moving to Brockton, Hagler was beaten up by a local boxer. The next day, he walked into a gym owned by Pat and Goody Petronelli and asked them to teach him how to fight. Since he was not 16 years old, he had to lie about his age. The Petronellis became his trainers and in 1973, at age 19, he was the National AAU 165-pound Champion, the National Golden Gloves Light Middleweight Champion, and the United States National Middleweight Champion. He finished his amateur career with a 55–1 record.
Professional Boxing Career
Hagler then fought as a professional and it took seven years and 50 fights for him to become the World Middleweight Champion. In 1983, Hagler beat World Light-middle-weight Champion, Roberto Durán, who became the first challenger to last the distance with the 29-year-old Hagler in a world championship bout. He went on to win 62 out of his 67 fights, 52 with knockouts.
Personal Life and Death
In 1980, at age 26, he married his first wife, Bеrthа. They had five children but in 1990, she won a restraining order barring Hagler from visiting their children and demanded that he seek treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. His boxing handlers say he had been bitter since losing the middleweight championship he had held for nearly seven years to Sugar Ray Leonard in a 12-round split decision in one of the highest grossing boxing matches ever.
After his loss to Leonard, he retired from boxing and moved to Italy, where he became an actor and a commentator on televised boxing matches. In 2000, ten years after the end of his first marriage, he married Kay Guarrera, an Italian. They appeared to be deeply in love as they were together constantly at most of his public appearances, and lived for 21 years in Milan, Rome and New Hampshire until the time of his death.
Hagler’s son, James, said that his father was taken to the hospital on March 13 with chest pains and trouble breathing, and died about four hours later. His wife said that he died of natural causes at his home. Tommy Hearns criticized the anti-vaxxers for using the death of Hagler to denigrate vaccines with no supporting evidence.
Vaccination Safety Reports So Far
From December 14, 2020 through March 8, 2021, the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) received 1,637 reports of people dying after more than 92 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been given, and none of these deaths have been found to have been caused by the vaccinations. The CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) physicians review each case of death as soon as it is reported, and so far, “A review of available clinical information including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records revealed no evidence that vaccination contributed to these patient deaths.” This report covers all of the time after vaccines were received, in all 50 states, several U.S. territories, and among U.S. citizens living abroad.
For those of you who are mathematically inclined, the death rate of all ages in the U.S. is 869.7/100,000 = .008697. The death rate so far for people vaccinated for COVID-19 is 1637/35,000,000 = .000046, so the average death rate for the general population is more than 180 times greater than the death rate for those who have been vaccinated for COVID-19. That does not even take into account that the age of the average person vaccinated is much older than the age of the average citizen.
Harm Caused by Anti-Vaxxers
The US Department of Health and the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center report that more than 534,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19. The only way that this pandemic will end in North America is when about 85 percent of the population is immune. That will not happen without vaccinations. More than 100 million vaccines have been given and more than 35 million people in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated. Unfortunately, at this time 35 per cent of African Americans (according to the Kaiser Family Foundation) and one third of Republicans (according to a CBS News poll) plan to avoid the vaccine, even though all of the data gathered so far shows that the three approved brands of COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.
My Recommendation
I believe that you should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a health gesture for your friends and neighbors. Following the advice of the anti-vaxxers will prolong the current pandemic and increase the number of people who die from the disease.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler
May 23, 1954 – March 13, 2021
