If a prime Sugar Ray Leonard were fighting today....

...how would do against today's young lions from 147-160?

 

he would beat all of them

 

TODAY,he'd B UNTOUCHABLE...

Only Bernard or Roy @ 160 would have a REALISTIC Chance of Beating a PRIME Ray Leonard Amongst TODAY's Fighters,N REED's Opinion...

The Bernard that Beat Tito would have a CHANCE & REED would FAVOR a 160lb Roy...

But Not Floyd,Not Taylor,Not Pavlik,Not DeLa,Not Tito,NOBODY Else...


REED:nono:

 

Without a shadow of doubt.

 

the bernard who beat tito is no different than any other bernard pryor, dont let the titos fans fool you into thinking he did something remakable, faught the perfect fight, or had the night of his life, it was an easy fight for him and he admited it

 

Well I'm no Tito fan by any means, but the B-Hop who beat Tito was much fresher, and better than the Hop that for instance fought Taylor.

 

i agree. thats why i said prior, this new bernard is a piece of shit, 3 punch a round stink butt mutha fucka

 

What are you talking about?

Bernard and Roy wouldn't have a "realistic chance" of beating Leonard....they would CLEARLY beat Leonard at 160...ESPECIALLY Roy! :nono:

But yes, Leonard beats the rest of them at all the weights, with the possible exception of Jermaine Taylor at 160lbs (yeah...I know I'll get the heat for it...but bring it on :warning: )...simply because of the latter's combination of size, reach, height, speed and power.

Floyd gives Leonard a tough fight at both 147 AND 154lbs but loses close but clear decisions.

 

For some reason, I thought this thread was going to segue into tonight's season premeire of The Contender (which sucked, BTW)

 

I completely agree.:bears:

But I said today,...right now a prime Leonard is here. Jones is waaaaay past his prime, and even further from the middleweight division. So that doesn't count.

Hopkins is waay past his prime, and not as far as Jones but far enough away from 160 to count either.

I am talking about the fighters who RIGHT NOW are fighting and holding belts from 147-160.

 

It was easy for him...because he fought perfectly. It was pretty damned near flawless.

There's no shame in saying or "admitting" that.

It's a great fight to watch for that alone.

Peace.

 

I'd give Kelly Pavlik a chance at 160 because he is a huge guy for the weight and we still don't know how good he actually is

 

Waaaaaaaaay Tooooooooo SLOW...


REED

 

He is a big guy to be a middleweight, and he obviously punches hard and has great cardio.

And we still don't know how good he is.

But stylistically, a guy like Pavlik plays right into Leonard's hands. Tall rangy guys with solid boxing skills give Leonard problems, not tall rangy guys who do their damage fairly close, RIGHT IN FRONT of you and with little defense.

Stylistically, Pavlik plays right into Jermaine's hands too. But I don't think at this point that I would say that Jermaine, even a bigger more rangy guy.....is even remotely close to being at the same level as a prime Ray Leonard.

 

Damn, if Oscar and Floyd could do the business they did, just imagine what a Leonard-Oscar fight would've done.

I think he cleans house at 147 and 154, including the forcing of Shane Mosley to permanently drop the nickname "Sugar." I don't give Floyd much of a chance at either weight, especially at 154. Floyd would fight to win a decision; Leonard would fight to win any way it comes. His fighting heart would be the difference - never minding that he could do just about anything Floyd could do, in addition to size, power and speed advantages.

160 is hit or miss. Skill-wise, I can't think of anyone that gives him a good fight. Pavlik could conceivably put him on his ass once or twice, but I could just as easily see Leonard winning every round he stays off of the canvas. That said, Leonard never proved to be particularly dominant at 160, so who's to say he carries the weight well today, especially in an era where middleweights are really light heavyweights?

 

If a prime Ray was around today, Floyd's ass woulda never left 140.

 

Taylor is too damn dumb, and uncoordinated to do shit with a prime Leonard. Ray beats him with surprising ease.

 

I'm sure Kauki will be in here soon telling us how Margarita woulda had a chance to beat Ray.:laughing:

 

What about Donald Curry and Marlon Starling today?

 

Curry would definitely beat everyone from 147-154, not sure how he'd fare at 160 though. A guy like Pavlik would probably be too strong for Curry at 160.

Starling would have serious stylistic problems with the likes of PBF, or Williams IMO. Maybe even Forrest. But he'd eat Margarita, and probably even Cotto.

How bout Hearns? If Tommy was around today, he'd be dominate? Is there ANYONE from 147-160 today you'd have a realistic chance vs a prime Hitman? I sure as hell dont think so.

 

are you retarded? stinks damn near beat taylor, fight was close as hell, what do you think ray would do? ray is took damn quick and busy for any version of bernard hopkins

jermiane taylor? go kill yourself

 

Yeah. Sly's obsession with Taylor is amusing. Its ok, cause once Pavlik beats his ass Sly will see the light about Jermain. But even if Taylor beats Pavlik that STILL wouldnt mean he could beat Leonard.

 

If "Prime" Ray Leonard were around today, he would be fighting DOWN to the level of all these guys and THUS he wouldn't be prime, he'd just be the best of a mixed bunch. And people would be pining for Benitez.:doh:

Don't ever forget the role the 76 Olympics and Hearns, Duran, Hagler, Benitez etc all played in Leonards formation.

30 years man, 30 years. Ancient fucking history.

 

dsimon writes:

Great post Jake.:bears: Sly made some good comments also. Frankly we are talking about a scenerio where someone is too big and strong for Leonard (Taylor, Pavlic?:dunno:) or too skilled (Mayweather). Neither of which is likely.

Yes Leonard may have been knocked down by Taylor, but I think he fights through it, he had a chin after all and like Mayweather.... hitting Ray was easy (I am exxagerating::) catching him with a clean shot was a whole nother proposition.::.

I consider myself a simple guy at heart so if we abandon any weight class distinctions.... at the end of the day Mayweather is a technical virtuosa, think Mozart.... Ray had the technical ability but also was more like Ray Robinson. Namely Ray also had a lot of natural ability, much more so than Mayweather.... think a combination of Beethovan and Erick Mingus. Sugar Ray's natural power, and speed (akin to Judah's) would be the deciding factor

 

@ pavlik , :shit:

 

That fact is often overlooked :bears:

 

pavlik would've been served like Donnie Lalonde

 

Lalonde actually dominated the action for the first four rounds and I think Pavlik looks much better than him. That wasn't prime Leonard of course

 

I don't think it's much of a contest around the board. There's no one from 147-160 who would beat Ray (as you've said).

First of all, I doubt Floyd would even fight Ray and even if he did, he'd have NO chance at beating him. The "onliest" reason Floyd goes the distance would be due to his constantly being on his bike to stay out of harms way.

The other night I watched some of Leonard's fights on Youtube and was amazed at how good the guy was. Mind you, I hate Leonard more than I hate Floyd or Oscar (which is saying something) but you couldn't take away the fact that he had skill, heart, talent and more importantly...he had what none of the stars of today have...the desire to HURT you.

Leonard was one of the few guys who punched with equal speed AND power. Most guys today do one or the other.

 

A slippery southpaw who's only objective is to survive while making you look bad...is bad for ANYONE with the exception of another fast southpaw.:nono:

Leonard is a different style.