THE 1970s were coming to a close when Bob Arum, fresh off promoting a pair of fights between Muhammad Ali and Leon Spinks, checked his mail one morning to find a letter from two Massachusetts politicians with the kind of power he knew it would be unwise to ignore.

House speaker Tip O’Neill and Senator Ted Kennedy had one simple question for Arum: Why wasn’t their fighter — a local favourite enjoying a modicum of success — being given a chance to fight the best middleweights in the world?

They also had an implied threat: If Marvin (the Marvellous was yet to come) Hagler wasn’t given a chance to prove himself they would form a joint House-Senate panel to look into the reasons why — and might just investigate a lot of other shady things that went on in the world of boxing.