Who was the better pure boxer, Sugar Ray Robinson or Sugar Ray Leonard? Mnay can point to Robinson-Gavilan II, where after a great 6 rounds, Robinson proceded to out box the galiant Cuban. Many can point to Leonard-Duran II where Leonard put on a boxing display and completely frustrated Duran in submission. Who was the better "boxer" and why?
Sugar Ray Robinson is by far the better boxer. He is bigger, stronger, maybe not as quick, but tougher and just as graceful on his feet - maybe even more. He also jumped up to 160 way more successful than Leonard could. Can you imagine Sugar Ray beating LaMotta 5 times as well as the likes of Turpin, Fullmer and Basilio? I can't.
In terms of skills/ability/talent I'd give the edge to Robinson. Leonard however, was more constant, and won more of his big fights than Robinson did.
I believe last time this thread was around, people said Leonard couldnt punch as well backing up as Robinson could. Ive seen much more footage of Leonard though. Agree? Id say Leonard was faster, and as versatile as he Was perhaps Robinson was even more versatile, with more power to boot.
When it comes to pure boxing I would go with Leonard although I think Robinson's overall package is superior. Leonard's match with Benitez was an amazing display of pure boxing and Robinson never really fought with that approach from the films I've seen of him.
+1 It's a shame we don't have the film to see a welterweight SRR against Bell, Gavilan, etc. But I pretty much agree with your post.
I think Robinson had better hand and footspeed though its marginal because they both were blazing. SRR had better power in both hands. He had better range. On the other hand I think Ray Leonard was better on the inside. A little better defensivley though Im not positve on that cause we dont have much to go on Robinson in his prime.
He's right, though. Of his big fights, Leonard only lost to Duran, and quite arguably Hearns in the rematch. Robinson lost to Turpin, Basilio and Fulmer in title fights. To be fair, this question is hard to answer, because from what we have on film Leonard met vastly superior opposition. The version of LaMotta Robinson stopped wasn't nearly as good as the Hagler Leonard outpointed, for example. Would be extremely interesting to see Robinson against Gavilan, who's one of the few of Robinson's opponents who could perhaps compare to Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Hagler in terms of skill and overall quality.
Since he beat much better opponents - yes. Fullmer? For god's sake. I have much more problem seeing Leonard losing to Fullmer and Basilio.
robinson was proven better and with more talents but i admire leonard's tactical mind over most anyone.
Robinson was old against Basilio/Fulmer (something like 35-37 without looking it up), we're not picking up on Leonard losing against Norris are we?