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Some of Boston’s earliest boxers were mobsters, gangsters and cheats. But others left a historically positive mark on Beantown’s favorite sport, like “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler.
After getting roughed up one afternoon in 1968, the 14-year-old southpaw from Brockton walked into a boxing gym that happened to be owned by legendary manager and trainer Goody Petronelli. Under his tutelage, Hagler accrued a 55-1 amateur record, defeating gold medalists and becoming a national boxing champion on his way to the undisputed world title in 1980.
To this day, Hagler holds the highest knockout percentage of all undisputed middleweight boxing champions at 78 percent.
– Margaret Willard, The 100 Companies