Rarely can you recall a moment or two that literally altered your life, your consciousness, or your belief in beauty.

Unless you were alive and lucid on April 15, 1985, when millions enjoyed the eight most enchanted minutes in the history of boxing, when Marvelous Marvin Hagler fought Thomas Hearns in Las Vegas.

Though a world title carried more cachet 30 years ago, it still doesn't frame the fight in proper hues. This bout was for more than a belt. It was for pound-for-pound supremacy, two bucks in rut fighting for ownership of the other's soul. It italicized the boxer's duality of rancor and respect. It baffles our civil sensibilities to see two men assault each other then hug moments later. But if two men deserved a punch and peck on the cheek, it was Hagler and Hearns, who defied and then defined the modern aesthetics of sport.

Hagler was a middleweight monolith who ruled his division through boxing's halcyon years, the perfect successor to the iconic Carlos Monzon. He's been living in Italy for decades now, but spent some of his time talking to CBSSports.com about his epic bout with Hearns, the state of boxing, and the megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

Jason Keidel, CBSSports.com: What did you feel the second you signed the fight with Hearns?

Hagler: I think It was well overdue. We were supposed to have it two years earlier. And he broke his little pinky finger. The second time we got this on.

We went to 26 cities to promote the fight. Every day we looked at each other's face. This wasn't a regular fight. It was a war. Then he started making comments, about how he's gonna knock my bald head off. I said, "then I know at least you're gonna show up." It was like that for two weeks.

CBSSports.com: What did you think of Hearns at the time?

Hagler: I've always respected him. Watched him his whole career. This was something that had to happen. It was gaining publicity. It was bound to happen. I needed it, in a sense, because we needed fresh meat. I'd cleaned out the division. They all talked about what they'd do to me and I never ducked them.

CBSSports.com: How long did you train?

Hagler: We trained two and a half months. At the time it was the longest camp. I trained for [Ray] Leonard for three months. I trained in Provincetown, Mass. Back then they didn't have all the tourists on Cape Cod. Very isolated. Very good spot. I called it the jail. All you could do was train, run, walk, talk boxing.

Thirty years ago, Marvin Hagler walked away, barely, with the middleweight title belt. (Getty Images)
Thirty years ago, Marvin Hagler walked away, barely, with the middleweight title belt. (Getty Images)

CBSSports.com: How did you feel entering the ring?

Hagler: We had our game plan together. We knew what Tommy would do. He fights the same way no matter who he's in the ring with -- half-uppercut, half-hook, long right hand. Very skillful.

I hated the referee. Richard Steele would keep stepping in the way. I didn't know who's side he was on. I knew something was up. It didn't smell right to me. You don't see nothing you don't hear nothing. It was very curious.

CBSSports.com: Hearns hit you so hard he literally broke his hand on your face. How did you handle his power? He knocked the stone-jawed Roberto Duran out cold.

Hagler: My mind was so focused that this was war. His punches didn't even faze me. I wanted him to hit me. I saw the look on his face when I took his best shot. You don't have time to think. You have to react.

I saw it in his eyes. His look was like, "I think i might be in trouble." I wanted him to keep hitting me. He tried to box me but I kept the pressure on him. [I didn't] let him rest.

CBSSports.com: Did you feel any additional pressure?

Hagler: I'd been in enough fights that I felt Tommy's style was like other fighters, like other fighters out of Philly in the early part of my career. I respected Tommy. He's dangerous. He's got a lot of heart. He wants to win. I built my body like an omelet. Tommy said when he hit me, my head felt like a helmet.

CBSSports.com: Did you study Hearns?

Hagler: In boxing there's no more secrets today. Technology is such that you know everything about everyone. But I didn't care about it back then because I had to worry about my strategy. Also, I was the rare fighter who can fight righty or lefty, so I was ready.

CBSSports.com: How did you feel once you won?

Hagler: The fight had so much feeling, so many emotions. I felt such intensity. If he got up I probably would have tried to kill him. Even today when we talk about that fight, Tommy still says he thinks we should do that again. And I say, "Why? Because you don't remember the first time I knocked you out?"

When I finished with Tommy he's never been the same. Same with [Ray] Leonard. You gotta kill Leonard to beat him. But no one is the same after I fought them -- Hearns, Duran, Leonard. All of them.

CBSSports.com: Many people still think you beat Ray Leonard.

Hagler: I can't tell you how many times I've been told that. Every day, even in Milan, they walk up to me with their phones or tablets, and show me the fight with Tommy, and tell me that I beat Leonard. To be the champion, you have to beat the champion. He didn't take my belt.

CBSSports.com: How would you prepare for Mayweather?

Hagler: I'd fight the same way I fought Hearns. Keep him off balance, don't give him time to think.

CBSSports.com: How would you prepare for Pacquiao?

Hagler: Now that he's been knocked out I'd look for that opening. Remind him that it happened. I've never been floored like he was against Marquez. But I've seen other fighters who've been through it, and they change after that. They aren't as sure of themselves.

Fighters remember that one-punch KO. Something clicks and they lose it. They don't wanna be knocked out. It happened to Roy Jones.

CBSSports.com: Does the fight on May 2 help the health of boxing?

Hagler: This is great for boxing. Just what we need is a fight like this, to show the younger generation what this sport is about. After these guys there will be another breed. They will wanna see guys like me and Tommy and Leonard and Duran.

CBSSports.com: Prediction for May 2?

Hagler: I'm not ready for that. Let's see how they are toward each other. If it's all smiles, a love-fest, then that's one thing. But if they hate each other, get angry and hostile, then I can look in their eyes and see who's got the edge.