Targets Ali’s grandson Nico Ali Walsh
Super middleweight James Hagler, Jr. (2-1, 1 KO), the grandson of the late Hall of Famer Marvelous Marvin Hagler, has signed an exclusive managerial contract with Fighter Locker, owned and operated by the nephew of Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, Boston-based Ryan Roach.
The plan is for Roach to have Hagler fight in Massachusetts, ideally in Brockton, the City of Champions in which Hagler as well as another Hall of Famer, Rocky Marciano, fought out of during their professional careers.
“I was looking for a manager and read about Ryan,” Hagler said. “I looked him up online, talked with him, and met him last weekend for the first time. He is not a greedy person. By far, he offered me the best deal I have ever received. He really wants to help me. Ryan’s a cool dude. I feel good about signing with him.
“Fighting someday in Brockton and Boston means a lot to me, because of my grandfather’s background, and that’s one of the reasons I signed with Ryan. My mother and father are from that area, and I still have a lot of family living on both sides living there. I’ll be the third member of the Hagler family to fight in New England, joining my grandfather and uncle (Robbie Simms).”
“I’m excited to be managing James,” Roach commented. “Right away, I was interested in a fighter with the Hagler name. I spoke with James and he’s good kid who is all in. He wants to prove himself on his own and I get that, because I want to make it on my own terms, not my last name.
“We’re excited to get him fighting in New England. We’re going to do great things together. We plan on having him fight in Brockton, hopefully this summer, to bring boxing back to Brockton.”
The 31-year-old Hagler, who fights out of Atlanta, didn’t start boxing until he was 24. Why did he start so late?
“My grandfather didn’t want any of us (in the Hagler family) to box,” James explained. “I wanted to be a boxer since I was 3 or 4. He didn’t want anybody in his family to go through what he did in the Sugar Ray Leonard fight. My father (a boxing promoter in Atlanta) was an amateur boxer who fought in the Olympic Trials. He stopped boxing because my grandfather wouldn’t watch him fight. My father didn’t want to continue fighting.
“There’s a lot of pressure on me fighting because people expect me to be like my grandfather or want me to live up to the Hagler name. I feel good following in my grandfather’s footsteps. When guys fight me, it’s like their championship fight, because they want to say they beat a Hagler for bragging rights. I know that they will always have their best fight against me.”
James had a relatively brief amateur career, fighting in Alabama and Georgia, and the southpaw made his pro debut December 14, 2019, in Ohio, when he stopped Michael Widmer in round one. He’s only had two fights since, winning one and losing the other, the latest this past November.
Hagler will fight as a super middleweight for now, but he intends to campaign as a middleweight in the same division his legendary grandfather owned for so many years. He does have a dream fight in mind, saying, “I met Muhammad Ali’s grandson (Nico Walsh). I’d love to fight him someday.”
31 years old and 2 and 1? I wish him the best…
Yes and can you imagine the matchmaking? I mean he must have lost to a corpse. Marvin Hagler’s grandson is the golden ticket to a promoter and they couldn’t stop him from losing in 3 fights! Hell they got Mike Lee to like 17-0 and Tommy Morrison’s son the same. Nico Ali is a sideshow but they will get him to 20-0 and a big payday. This guy must be bad.
the clot shot killed Marvin. Oh his family (all not doctors or intelligent) say the shot administered right before he died complaining about the effects of the jab, and zilch in the msm. It is evil. Reggie Jackson, etc. Evil
Strange, I was triple vaccinated and yet no clots. Hmm… This is a fact. On top of that, I was administered two doses of Shingrix (vaccine for shingles) within the same six month period and no clots. No side effects…
Yet….. (and I hope you never experience any side effects, but the FIFA soccer players have been dropping like flies since getting vaxxed. The US military
has also been seeing big increases of health issues after getting vaxxed. The
mortality rate for 18-64 year olds has
increased considerably since the vaccines were rolled out. I fear what we
learn in the next3-4 years. Do not trust
the lame stream media to tell you the truth. Best wishes, Scoob.
“ the FIFA soccer players have been dropping like flies since getting vaxxed”
This is neither true, nor backed up by anything other than your opinion. Just stick to boxing.
YEAH ME TOO SCOOB… HAD MY SHOTS, BOOSTER… HAD THE FLU ON THE SAME DAY AS THE BOOSTER… SHINGLES A TWO SHOT DEAL… NO CLOTS… YA KNOW I GET SO TIRED OF EXCUSES FOR PEOPLE THAT DON’T DO THE RIGHT THING… BUT NO PERSON HAS BEEN ABLE TO TELL ME WHY OVER 90% OF THE PEOPLE IN THE HOSPITAL SUFFERING FROM COVID-19. ARE UNVACCINATED… READING ON BOXING AND AFRAID OF A LITTLE PIN PRICK… WHAT A JOKE!!!!
“The shot clot killed Marvin”… GTFOH with this ignorant bs. This is a boxing forum not stupid ignorant nonsense like this!
Dumb comment. Even Hagler’s wife said that the vaccine had nothing to do with it.
Boxrec says he lost his last fight to DQ for excessive holding.
Must have learned that technique from John Ruiz.
He certainly didn’t learn it from his grandad.
What about Reggie Jackson?
Talk about an up and coming prospect, certain to be future world champ and hall of famer
Massachusetts State Athletic Commission is one of the most laxed of them all. I don’t imagine him fighting anyone too challenging.
Sounds like joe frasiers daughter looking to cash in on a fight with laila ali. She sucked and all it did was give laila more credibility for beating a nobody with a name