Saturday, June 21, 2014

SI's Best Shirtless Covers

From: Sports Illustrated
Marvin Hagler 
and 
Roberto Durán
Nov. 7, 1983

Marvelous Marvin Hagler (born Marvin Nathaniel Hagler; May 23, 1954) is a retired American professional boxer who was Undisputed World Middleweight Champion from 1980 to 1987. Hagler made twelve undisputed title defenses and holds the highest KO% of all middleweight champions at 78%. At six years and seven months, his reign as undisputed middleweight champion is the second longest of the last century, behind only Tony Zale. In 1982, annoyed that network announcers often did not refer to him by his nickname, "Marvelous", Hagler legally changed his name to Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

Hagler is an inductee of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. He was named Fighter of the Decade (1980s) by Boxing Illustrated and twice named Fighter of the Year by Ring Magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. In 2001 and 2004 the Ring named him the 4th greatest middleweight of all time and in 2002 named him the 17th-greatest fighter of the past 80 years. The International Boxing Research Organisation (IBRO) rates Hagler as the sixth-greatest middleweight of all time. Boxrec rates Hagler the fifth-best middleweight of all time. Many analysts and boxing writers consider Hagler to have one of the best "chins" in boxing history.

Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a retired Panamanian professional boxer, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" ("Hands of Stone") during his career.

In 2002, he was chosen by The Ring to be the 5th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. Bert Sugar rates him as the 8th greatest fighter of all-time and the Associated Press voted Duran as the #1 lightweight of the 20th century. Many even consider him the greatest lightweight of all time. He held world titles at four different weights—lightweight (1972–79), welterweight (1980), light middleweight (1983–84) and middleweight (1989). He was the second boxer to have fought a span of five decades, the first being Jack Johnson.

He finally retired in January 2002 at age 50 (having previously retired in 1998) following a bad car crash in October 2001, with a professional record of 120 fights, 104 wins with 69 KOs. Up until the second Ray Leonard fight, he was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel.

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