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Product Description 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.
Customer Reviews:
Boston Globe reviewNovember 3, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
BOOK REVIEW Leonard-Hagler story packs a wallop By Doug Most, Globe Staff | August 12, 2008 Don't be deceived by the title of Steve Marantz's terrific new boxing book, "Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray's Marvelous Fight."
Marantz, a longtime Boston journalist who covered boxing for the Globe, pulls no punches of his own in letting the reader know which fighter he was pulling for when Brockton's Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard squared off in their epic title bout on April 6, 1987, in Las Vegas. Marantz wanted to see the angry, shaven-headed Hagler wipe the perpetual smile off of Leonard's famous pretty-boy mug.
Of course, as anyone who followed boxing when boxing actually mattered knows, things didn't quite work out for the Marvelous one.
Surprisingly, the weakest part of the book may be its climax, the 12-round fight between a legitimate middleweight brawler known for being able to take a punch even better than he could deliver one and the aging, puffed-up welterweight from Washington, D.C., named after singing legend Ray Charles. The underdog Leonard saw Hagler as the perfect foil against whom to conclude his golden career, but the fight details almost go by too quickly, with not enough analysis of the blow-by-blow to fully convey how Leonard accomplished what he did.
Fortunately, by the time readers get to the fight, they will be so engrossed in the back story of what led up to it that the punching almost feels anticlimactic. Marantz does a terrific job of bringing to life the vastly different stories of these two proud but troubled men who came together for one night of brawling and bloodshed.
The details of Leonard's drug and spousal abuse reveal him to be as two-faced as Marantz argues, a man who was married more to his sport and the shady characters that come with it than he ever was to his family. And while Hagler certainly comes off as the more sympathetic character, it's hard to actually root for him because when the fight finally comes he's become almost a shell of his former self, someone who merely craves Leonard's fame.
The book's strength is in the way Marantz takes readers inside Leonard's head as he first teases Hagler for years about a possible big-payday fight, finally agrees to it, and then does everything he can, no matter how sneaky, to weaken his opponent before they set foot in the ring. By the time the bell for Round 1 clangs, it feels as if Hagler is already burnt toast.
The subject of possible drug use by Hagler is glossed over too lightly, because it remains not entirely clear how much he used, when he used, or for that matter, if he really used at all. The handling of the subject almost feels forced, as if Marantz wanted Hagler to have used drugs as Leonard had, so that their lives mirrored each other's as much as possible.
That's nitpicking, though. In the end, it's hard to not feel sorry for both men, who finally got the fight they wanted, and to see how much it tormented them.
Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Raya(tm)s Marvelous Fight, By Steve Marantz, Inkwater, 233 pp., illustrated, paperback, $19.95
Doug Most is the editor of the Boston Globe Magazine.
Great Book!!October 20, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray's Marvelous Fight" by Steve Marantz is an excellent expose of the storied bout between Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. The book delves not only into the makings of the aforementioned Super Fight it also documents the inexorable forces in play between Leonard and Haglar from the earliest days of their respective amateur careers that virtually predestined the ultimate meeting between the two in the ring.
The book also chronicles two other primary players from this era in boxing in Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran. Both Hearns and Duran play prominent roles in separate fights with Leonard and Hagler as well as between themselves. These round robin fights made up a big portion of what is known as the Glamour Days of boxing that occurred in the 1980s when the best the game had to offer actually would fight each other to determine who the best was.
Unquestionably the top two boxers of the 80s are Leonard and Hagler. In "Sorcery at Caesars..." Marantz spares no detail in letting the reader in on what drove these two men to reach such incredible heights in their boxing careers. The book also shows the seedy under belly of the boxing game complete with its corrupt promoters and predictable vices. Still Leonard and Hagler rise above these obstacles to push each other to levels that would seem unobtainable by mere mortal men in this well written page turner that I could not put down!
Boxing GameSeptember 30, 2008 A look into the lives of two very contrasting personalities and fighters. The author describes very well how the fight can also be won out of the ring. A good short read.
A great story and a great fight....September 10, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Reading this book is like having a All Access Pass to one of the greatest confrontations in boxing! It is well researched and written. Hard to put down,as the story unfolds before you. If you've never seen this fight before, you'll want to when you finish reading this book! It really gives you a very good glimpse into the machinations of the fight game. Did Leonard win? Did Hagler win? The contraversy goes on... I know one thing Steve Marantz wins with this book by KO! Buy the book. Thanks Mr. Marantz for a great story....
Great Fight Book and MoreAugust 3, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Steve Marantz has done a masterful job of explaining in detail the alchemy of the fight game as well as the epic 1987 champtionship battle between Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. He does so by diligently taking the reader back to the roots of each fighter, and then stepping us forward through their pugilistic and personal histories. He finishes with a brilliantly clear, round-by-round picture of the historic fight between these two giants of the ring. In the process, he brings close other boxers who figure into this tale -- most clearly that of Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns. By the book's end I was rushing to my computer to check out youtube footage of the many fights that Marantz expertly chronicals.
The author may be overreaching when he attempts to highlight the hidden demons of cocaine abuse and womanizing -- that lurked behind the boxing scene -- in both Leonard's and Hagler's corner. Similarly, one might criticize Marantz for presumption when he explains some of the psychological injuries suffered by Hagler in his battles with Leonard and the boxing world. How, afterall, could this author truly know what motivated, displeased, or haunted either of these boxers. And yet, to keep the narrative flowing, Marantz frequently states as fact what can only be conjecture. Even so, Marantz appears to have done assiduous homework -- with quotes and references from many sources. Rarely does he make a statement about either boxer's emotion or mood without an immediate attribution or direct quote. The book is nothing if not extremely well sourced.
The product of all this research is a great boxing book that dances and weaves as smoothly as Sugar Ray, with the power of the Marvelous one himself. A great story well told.
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