I Had A Dream About Hagler vs Toney

By Scoop Malinowski

Last night I actually had a dream fight dream and it was James Toney vs Marvin Hagler.

It was a stunning dream for an array of reasons. I don’t think about boxing much lately, not like as a kid I’d daydream about big fights every day, especially Duran vs Leonard 1.

Most of my dreams now are about my father Eugene Robert Malinowski who passed away four years ago at age 84 1/2. I think about him every day and have short dreams about him once ever two or three weeks approximately. Just short dreams where it seems he visits me, brief encounters like opening the door and there he is smiling. Or playfully bumping his shoulder into my chest. Or driving in a car and stopping some place to eat.

The Toney vs Hagler fight dream was very clear also. It was in an unrecognizable arena and the crowd was just a gray blur. But the fistic action was like a movie and director Sylvester Stallone caliber.  The action was maybe 20 seconds and featured Toney attacking Hagler with fury but it was not the same technical style and skills of the actual James Toney that boxing fans are so familiar with, it was more like an actor portraying Toney. Toney was moving forward and firing punches and landing on Hagler, who in typical Hagler character, was absolutely unmoved and unhurt by the strikes.

In the fight sequences, Hagler would absorb Toney’s shots and then reply with big hits that jolted Toney’s head back in a more exaggerated way than we normally see, which would be just a few inches. Hagler was nailing Toney and his head rocked back two feet or so, but Toney did not go down or wobble. After two times when Hagler landed his more impressive blows on Toney, the fight was over and right after the bell Toney marched forward to embrace Hagler and kissed him on the cheek. It was great sportsmanship and class from Toney. And another recognizable boxing figure completed the scene in the ring – not Michael Buffer, Larry Merchant, Ferdie Pacheco, Angelo Dundee or Ed Derian – but it was as Toney’s trainer none other than Ice John Scully!

That was the dream. A few short sensational fight sequences of Hagler vs Toney. I’m not even sure who won, but the general feeling was Hagler won the decision and Toney fully accepted it and was honored to compete against Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

So there you have it, the James Toney vs Marvelous Marvin Hagler “Dream Fight” has officially happened in my mind, though it probably may not be recorded on Boxrec.