Fighters that were beaten in their primes can never be considered the GOAT!

yeah who cares about the official decision. For example, everyones and their mothers know LL beat Holy the first time around, no matter what 2 blind judges said, and that Kov didn't lose against Ward the first time around. Seems like Sly is the kind of person that needs an authority to tell him what he can and can't think

 

So a man should be penalized for having never lost?

 

Leonard was a welterweight and not a small welterweight at that. Against Duran he was in his prime...absolute peak. Duran was a blown up lightweight who already had a long career. Leonard had no business losing to him if he wants to claim the p4p title. None

 

Who they beat and how they beat them should take priority over absolutely everything else. Of course losses count and if somebody beat them in their prime at their best weight without it being avenged then sure, hold it against them.

 

Leonard in his prime at his best weight lost to a guy that was slightly past prime and NOT at his best weight. Duran has to forever rank higher than Leonard in a p4p discussion and not even close

 

Just this alone is a monumentally fucking stupid thing to say and you always say it... several times per month every single year and it doesn't get any less stupid

This exact thread has happened literally 100 times

The same exact "points" have been made and smashed to shit over and over and over again

 

Shit the fuck up. I’ll keep repeating it until it sticks on your thick head

 

Referring to Roberto Duran as a "blown up lightweight" is just breathlessly disingenuous to begin with... but it becomes comically so when you are doing it for the purpose of performing a reality-melting reacharound on a guy that defended a welterweight championship against Robert Guerrero

 

Leonard also did avenge that loss, so it cannot be held against him. And though those fights were before my time, from what I've read, nobody was saying Duran was past prime or shot. Not to mention, both fights were competitive, despite some saying that Leonard was schooling Duran in the rematch. He wasn't. Both fights were fought tit for tat, and it was by two hall of fame caliber fighters.

Leonard's wins over Duran, Hearns, and Benitez are legit GOAT status wins. Especially when you add to that a win over Hagler while coming off a 3 year layoff and coming back to compete at a weight he hadn't previously competed at.

 

By your reasoning if the judges had scored the exact same fight for Leonard then it doesn't matter. He's in the discussion. You can't have black and white criteria like that in a sport as nuanced as boxing. It's not like he got beat by Ricky Burns, he lost to one of the greatest fighters that ever lived, in a close fight, which he avenged twice. One loss to Duran doesn't wipe out the wins over Hearns, Benitez and Hagler.

 

No but he can be forever penalized for always fighting boxers who fought weight-drained/out-of-their-division/on-the-slide/punchy-&-slow/forced to wear pillow gloves, etc

 

Yet another Mayweather troll-thread that yet again exposes Muffin The Mule for his overall lack of boxing history.

 

duran is one of the greatest p4p fighters ever but welterweight wasn’t his best weight. Leonard shouldn’t have lost to him at Leonard’s best weight if Leonard wanted a claim to GOAT status. I do see your point about if the decision went the other way...but objectively Duran won and the judges scored it that way also

 

Yeah, why the fuck would Duran be past it against Leonard. He was coming one of his best performance ever against Palomino