Who's afraid of Valero's 24-0 record?

Mugabi was 25-0 (25 kos) when Hagler tore him to pieces

By ALEX P. VIDAL / PNS
July 2, 2008

LAREDO, Texas  –  In boxing, what matters most is quality not quantity. Quality of the opponents, not their quantity.

History has proven not all boxers that are undefeated and knockout specialists are invincible. To a certain extent, there has to be an ending to their dominance in square jungle; and records reveal their imminent Waterloo occurs during world championship tussles.

Former World Boxing Council (WBC) light middleweight champion John "The Beast" Mugabi of Kampala, Uganda was the most prominent among them.

Mugabi, perhaps the deadliest warrior to grace the middleweight division in the mid-80's, was 25 years old when he was pitted versus Marvelous Marvin Hagler, then undisputed crownholder of the middleweight titles in WBC, World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF).

Because Mugabi was ranked No. 1 contender in all the three world boxing bodies and possessed an immaculate and fearsome record of 24 wins, no defeat with 24 wins by knockout, oddsmakers thought The Beast was the missing link in the long quest to end Hagler's mind-boggling supremacy in the division.

They were wrong. On March 10, 1986, Hagler (62-3, 52 KOs) blasted the Ugandan to smithereens in the 11th stanza of the 12-round battle for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Although he knocked out cold all his previous 25 rivals, Mugabi had no match to the vastly incredible Hagler, then 31 years old, and was the darling of the boxing community in his time.

Hagler ruled the world unmolested and was unfazed by Mugabi's fearsome record. The Beast was never the same again after being exposed by Hagler. He lost by technical knockout (TKO) to Duane Thomas in his next fight, a WBC light middleweight showdown also in the same venue.

On Nov. 3, 1984, former WBC super bantamweight champion Jaime Garza was 40-0 with 38 knockouts when he lost his title by a shock first round knockout to unheralded Juan Meza who had 41 victories against five losses.

Venezuelan phenom Edwin Valero, 26, has caught the attention of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum for possessing a nerve-tingling 24-0 ledger spiked with 24 knockouts (18 in the first round). He is next in line for WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who is fresh from toppling David Diaz in the 9th round in the fight dubbed "Lethal Combination" at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.