I'm no fan of the man, but as a fighter none was more complete. Speed, power, skill, chin, stamina, intelligence, killer instinct.... he had it all.
Don't Forget HEART & DETERMINATION... It'd have Been VERY Easy 4 Sugar Ray to Go into a Shell & ALLOW Tommy Hearns to Decision him OR Tap Out due to a DETACHED Retina, N their 1st Fight...But Sugar Ray Sucked it Up & Got the Come from Behind Stoppage... REED:cheer:
A prime Leonard would beat the shit outta Phony, whilst pulling out his dick and pissing in Phony's direction. I dont think Margarita even lasts the distance. Ray would let go so many clean combos on Phony's ass, that they'd have to stop it. Margarita woulda never got a SNIFF of the welterweight title in the Leonard/Hearns/Duran/Benitez era. Its debatable whether Phony even beats Palimino.
Leonard is one of those guys who when thinking back seem unbeatable. Because in those highlight films he really seems like he had it all. However he did have his worse performances, against Kalule for example
Every fighter has a few less than stellar performances, but even when Leonard struggled a bit against Kalule (who was a good fighter), he still won by TKO. I didn't just watch his career from highlight films, I watched most of his fights when they actually happened and he is deserving of all of the praise he is receiving here. And this is coming from some one who cheered against him in all fights.
This is correct and I am not saying that Leonard was seeb differently from any other fighter of the history. He is just now old enough so that people see him as the fighter he was at his best while fighters of today are seen as they are overall. Muhammad Ali is a great example of this imo. If somebody saw him only in his fights against Doug Jones and Mildenberger for example, it would be very difficult to see him doing well these days. And this comes from a big Ali fan
dsimon writes; Yeah the division was such that back then no matter how GOOD you were you also had to be tough. I think it made Leonard great in effect. Now a days he coule easily coast... and you guys are joking about Margarito right? :atu: Leanard hit a lot faster and harder than cotto for one thing and he had the cunning of Mayweather and was a similar boxig pedigree.
Yeah I think he was joking. I dont even think Margarito's family would give him a chance with a prime Leonard. And speaking of Cotto.... Leonard would have given Cotto the Davey Green treatment.
i'm glad no one says a prime Carl Lewis would have raped Usain Bolt, which i think would definitely be the case if 100m perfomances weren't to be measured with a clock.
Is the fool trying to say that Leonard couldnt compete with the fighters of today? Cause if so..:notallthere::notallthere::notallthere: Boxing isnt track you simp.
Leonard was ALSO Facing a Naturally BIGGER Man that Night AND he had the MEGA Big Money Fight w/Hearns, which Happened AFTER the Kalule Bout... REED:hammert:
I don't know if I agree with this. I think many folks have forgotten or never really knew how good Leonard really was. I don't know if it is hate or just ignorance, but I see a lot of folks trying to label Leonard as strictly a "runner or a "grappler" when he was anything but that for the first part of his career). And a lot of that is folks only seeing him in the Hagler fight (In which I think he fought the smartest fight he could against that opponent in that weight class and at that time) and later fights rather than in his Welterweight prime. Or maybe some folks choose to focus on the end of Leonard's career because it makes him look worse than he really was.
Yep. I think pointing to the Kalule fight as an an example of a "worst" performace by Leonard is actually a notch in Leonard's favor. If Leonard's "worst" performance was one in which he moved up in weight to win a title by stoppage against a quality fighter...then his other performances around that time must have been pretty impressive to make that one the worst.
Correct, but also there is not that much to choose from. First of all yes Leonard was usually excellent, second that ever since he made his breakthrough to stardom by defeating Benite he only had 14 fights, and that is counting all his comebacks. That is a very low number for a fighter who is (correctly) seen as the leading figure of his generation