Editing Marvelous Marvin Hagler (section)

===Early career===
Hagler was a top-ranked middleweight boxer for many years before he fought for the title. He struggled to find high-profile opponents willing to face him in his early years. [[Joe Frazier]] told Hagler, "You have three strikes against you, "You're black, you're a southpaw, and you're good."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://a.espncdn.com/boxing/columns/kellerman_max/1512173.html |title=ESPN boxing |publisher=A.espncdn.com |access-date=May 16, 2014}}</ref> He often had to travel to his opponents' hometowns to get fights. His first break came when he was offered—on two weeks' notice—a chance against [[Willie Monroe (boxer, born 1946)|Willie "The Worm" Monroe]], who was being trained by Frazier. Hagler lost the decision but the fight was close, so Monroe gave him a rematch. This time Hagler knocked out Monroe in twelve rounds. In a third fight, he defeated Monroe in two rounds.

Boston promoter Rip Valenti took an interest in Hagler and began bringing in top ranked opponents for Hagler to face. He fought [[1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Olympic]] gold medalist [[Sugar Ray Seales]]; Hagler won the first time, the second was a draw and Hagler knocked Seales out in the third fight. Number one ranked Mike Colbert was knocked out in the twelfth and also had his jaw broken by Hagler. Briton [[Kevin Finnegan]] was stopped in eight and required 40 facial stitches.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Pat Putnam |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1093545/3/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029212307/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1093545/3/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |title=A Sinister Reputation |magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=April 17, 1978 |access-date=May 16, 2014}}</ref> He dropped a controversial decision to [[Bobby 'Boogaloo' Watts]] preceding those victories, but knocked Watts out in two rounds in a rematch. Hagler won a ten-round decision over [[Bennie Briscoe|'Bad' Bennie Briscoe]], which ultimately concluded his [[Spectrum (arena)|Spectrum]] expedition. By then, promoter [[Bob Arum]] took notice and signed him.