Sugar Ray Leonards Defence

[WHU]

Just being watching alot of SRL and was thinking how good his defence was personally i think it was good nt great tho what are your opinions.

[JohnThomas1]

Excellent, not great but well above average. The thing is it moved to a much higher level if he was in trouble. It's pretty sharp vs Benitez but certainly not on Benitez of Whitaker's level.

[WHU]

Originally Posted by JohnThomas1

Excellent, not great but well above average. The thing is it moved to a much higher level if he was in trouble. It's pretty sharp vs Benitez but certainly not on Benitez of Whitaker's level.

agreed would say mayweather jr and toney alsohave better defences. not sure who i would rate higher out of duran n leonard tho

[JohnThomas1]

Originally Posted by WHU

agreed would say mayweather jr and toney alsohave better defences. not sure who i would rate higher out of duran n leonard tho

Yeah they'd prolly pip him. I've seen Toney get hit a bit but jeez he has some moves. Floyd's defence is excellent. Leonard was fighting some serious damn fighters tho. Duran's defence and Leonard's is impossible to compare due to vast style differences. Duran's defence at his best is a great study for agressive fighters. Duran's ability to see punches is brilliant and even when hit his superb eye often has him subtley rolling with the blow.

[WHU]

ye i agree it is hard coz there is no full proof way of comparing locche is another name that springs to mind.sayin that sugar ray in usually didn hav to worry bout bein hit as his offense was so gd it kept him safe anyway

[Robbi]

Leonard's movement was the best aspect of his defense. He was very fluid technically which obviously helped as well.

[bxrfan]

Originally Posted by JohnThomas1

Yeah they'd prolly pip him. I've seen Toney get hit a bit but jeez he has some moves. Floyd's defence is excellent. Leonard was fighting some serious damn fighters tho. Duran's defence and Leonard's is impossible to compare due to vast style differences. Duran's defence at his best is a great study for agressive fighters. Duran's ability to see punches is brilliant and even when hit his superb eye often has him subtley rolling with the blow.

I think part of the reason that Duran was so successful in later years was because he never lost that hand-eye coordination.

[bob hingley]

Just by coincidence, I asked some boxing fans and friends, who I was drinking with tonight, who they thought was the most naturally gifted boxer of our personal generation was – late 70’s to date

I offerered Ray, and there wasn’t much argument, yeah, he lost to Tommy in their second fight, and yes, the Hagler fight was controversial - those who watched it at the time still must admit Leonard did far better than we all thought he would do.

But as I originally said, as natural talent goes, some may say a little wasted, Ray Leonard was the best in my generation. He could box, brawl, finish, and most importantly adapt.

Too many comebacks tarnished his short-lived prime.

[ChrisPontius]

Originally Posted by JohnThomas1

Yeah they'd prolly pip him. I've seen Toney get hit a bit but jeez he has some moves. Floyd's defence is excellent. Leonard was fighting some serious damn fighters tho. Duran's defence and Leonard's is impossible to compare due to vast style differences. Duran's defence at his best is a great study for agressive fighters. Duran's ability to see punches is brilliant and even when hit his superb eye often has him subtley rolling with the blow.

Exactly. Floyd perhaps has a bit better defense, but mostly because that's his style. SRL (at 147) could punch pretty hard and was a bit more offensively minded, i'd say. Though he was very adaptable, as you could see in the Duran rematch.

[Lobotomy]

Sugar Ray Leonard never struck me as being particulary fluid with his upper body movement, but good luck hitting him when he had his footwork in gear! He could take a tremendous shot to the head, and his ability to withstand body punishment was established in Montreal.

Having his kind of handspeed and power offered another highly effective deterrent to being attacked. But if his punches failed to cause harm to a Duran, he could always resort to those legs of his.

[GazOC]

Originally Posted by bob hingley

Just by coincidence, I asked some boxing fans and friends, who I was drinking with tonight, who they thought was the most naturally gifted boxer of our personal generation was – late 70’s to date

I offerered Ray, and there wasn’t much argument, yeah, he lost to Tommy in their second fight, and yes, the Hagler fight was controversial - those who watched it at the time still must admit Leonard did far better than we all thought he would do.

But as I originally said, as natural talent goes, some may say a little wasted, Ray Leonard was the best in my generation. He could box, brawl, finish, and most importantly adapt.

Too many comebacks tarnished his short-lived prime.

Good post, but comebacks don't tarnish primes IMHO.

[redrooster]

Originally Posted by bob hingley

Just by coincidence, I asked some boxing fans and friends, who I was drinking with tonight, who they thought was the most naturally gifted boxer of our personal generation was – late 70’s to date

I offerered Ray, and there wasn’t much argument, yeah, he lost to Tommy in their second fight, and yes, the Hagler fight was controversial - those who watched it at the time still must admit Leonard did far better than we all thought he would do.

But as I originally said, as natural talent goes, some may say a little wasted, Ray Leonard was the best in my generation. He could box, brawl, finish, and most importantly adapt.

Too many comebacks tarnished his short-lived prime.

These are very wise observations. Yes he wasted his prime but regardless, he wouldnt have gotten much farther considering his competition. On defense I give him an eight but he was surprisingly easy to tag clean with counters. I always said if you can hurt him you can intimidate him and beat him (See Duran 1, Norris, Camacho)

Most talented fighters of the late 70's-early 80's? That belongs to Hagler hands down.

[Titan1]

Originally Posted by WHU

Just being watching alot of SRL and was thinking how good his defence was personally i think it was good nt great tho what are your opinions.

He had very good defense, but not top notch.It wasn't what it could have been, but then again, Ray was a very aggressive fighter.

[AliFrazier71]

Thats what made SRL so special, his agressiveness. He was willing to stay in the trenches and fire off his punches. He was an offensive-minded fighter first and foremost. I believe if he was a defensive minded fighter, such as PBF, his defense would have been just as good as anyone's in the history of boxing.

[bob hingley]

Originally Posted by redrooster

Most talented fighters of the late 70's-early 80's? That belongs to Hagler hands down.

I agree Hagler was a better fighter, but my point was, who was the most naturally gifted, and I’d say that would be Ray.