At their first meeting in Las Vegas in November, 1979, Antuofermo and Hagler fought to a “controversial draw”. Antuofermo went on to lose the championship to the Englishman Alan Minter in March, 1980; Hagler won it from Minter in January, 1981.

This night in Boston, Hagler defended the crown from his old rival Antuofermo. Hagler began to cut Antuofermo’s face merely 30 seconds into the first round. The fight ended up lasting less than four rounds, as Antuofermo was so badly cut and bleeding that he had to retire. While some records have Hagler winning “RTD in the fourth”, others say it was “TKO in the fifth”. At any rate, Hagler retained the title. 

On  the undercard: 

• Mike Baker vs. Tony Chiaverini. Chiaverini, ranked No. 8 middleweight in 1978 by The Ring, lost to Baker by unanimous decision after ten rounds.
• Robbie Sims vs. Dom DiMarzo. Sims, Hagler’s half-brother, won with a TKO in the final seconds of minute two, round 2. DiMarzo had been knocked down once in the first round and twice in the second. It would be his final professional fight.
• John Dino Denis vs. Don Halpin I. Denis won in a split decision after ten rounds. The two would meet again six weeks later and that time, Denis would win on a unanimous decision, giving him the New England Heavyweight Title.
• Fernando Fernandez vs. Eddie Campbell. Fernandez won in a split decision after eight rounds. 

This pass was issued to Arthur Mercante, the noted ring official, by the cable television network HBO.  

Trivia: 

• Barbara Roach was the first woman to become a boxing judge in New England. As well, she was wife to and mother of boxers. She was inducted into the Ring 4 Boxing Hall of Fame in Boston in 2003. She passed away in 2017.
• Reportedly, Hagler had called Antuofermo “Vito the mosquito” on at least one occasion.
• After he retired, “Irish Mike” Baker worked for Senator Strom Thurmond as a US Senate mailroom supervisor. When he was still boxing, he had worked in the US House mailroom, too (also as a supervisor).

For more on this fight, see: 

• "Marvin Hagler cuts Vito Antuofermo this day June 13, 1981; retains crown" from Boxing Hall of Fame - Las Vegas (includes video).
• “No ifs or ands, some butts | When middleweight champion Marvin Hagler and Vito Antuofermo put their heads together, the loser in every was was the bloody challenger” by Clive Gammon in Sports Illustrated.