More skilled: Pernell Whitaker or Sugar Ray Leonard

Both very smart and complete fighters. They also possessed great athleticism mixed with their great boxing ability. And their styles were obviously very flashy. Who do you think was the more skilled fighter technically?

 

Ray Leonard was well schooled in all areas of the game from infighting to outfighting, and he may have been the (slightly) superior athlete. As well as being technically flawless, he was also a spontaneous tactician - in his prime, you have to describe Leonard as flawless.

But for me, Whitaker takes the technical certificate by a clear margin. Very few fighters have ever possessed his level of vision and ability to interpret movements before they happened.

I can imagine Ray Leonard being almost impossible to outbox because of his athleticism (9.5), fundamentals (9) and brain (8.).

Whitaker?

Athleticism: 9
Fundamentals: 9
Brain: 10

I can't think of many fighters who even entered Whitaker's stratosphere regarding scope and awareness, let alone ran him close for virtuosity. It's there on film for all to see.

The ones who do pop up:

Willie Pep (perhaps slightly less brain than Whitaker but even more harmony)
Ezzard Charles (Burley, Moore, Walcott and Bivins couldn't touch him at his very best)
Jose Napoles (possibly - cleanly out boxed skilled fighters in earlier times)

Perhaps older fighters like Joe Gans, Packy McFarland and Benny Leonard would have something to say about all this, however, lack of film continues to deal them injustice.

Oh, and I've always rated Archie Moore for technical ability, at least when he was a bit older. If, back in the '40s, he knew what he knew in the '50s, history may have looked a bit different. And everyone will nod their head when they imagine: 'if Archie Moore had a great jaw...'

 

You could flip a coin here, there`s no wrong answer.

 

In the classic sense of the word, Whitaker is more skilled. I would pick Leonard to win at their best common weight though.

 

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I have ALWAYS said that a defensive fighter like Floyd or Pernell, would SMOKE SRL. Srl was Pretend-slick. He was fast, relied on his speed advantage to overwhelm opponents, rely on his range and footspeed to avoid punches. That was the jist of his defense. He wasnt a skilled genius or a child prodigy like Floyd and Pernell. I know some idiot is going to say Floyd SR. GTFO!!!

 

I could go with this. I don't think it is a very wide margin if it exists at all, nor am I sure what you would measure it by as they both have differing skillsets.

@ WW I don't see anyway Pea could beat him and might not be surprised if SRL stopped him in the 13-15 rd range were they to fight under that eras rule set.

 

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Not a defense wiz at all.

As a follow up question, how do you think Ray Leonard fare against guys like old Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah, Ricky Hatton, old DLH, Gatti, old Mosley, Victor Ortiz, and Miguel Cotto?

 

I'd say Leonard is at par with Pernell. Maybe slightly better after his performance and loss to Duran. In my opinion that's Ray Leonards best performance ever....

 

Great question. I think he beats Baldo, Hatton, Oscar, Gatti. But he runs from Mosley, Ortiz, and Cotto. He wouldnt walk anyone down like Floyd does cuz SRL skills werent that superior. He plays it safe against Ortiz, or risk getting tagged and banged up pretty bad. The same goes for Cotto and Mosley, but Ortiz would drag him into the deep waters. I dont want to hear "Ohh Ortiz cant do anything to SRL" Listen styles make fights, a bigazz strong brawler like that, will cause problems for SRL who has limited skills.

 

Yea but remember he had to run. Pernell is too skilled, he can stand in front of you and not get hit so how can you say he was better? He didnt stand toe to toe in the rematch, for that is what got his azz whooped in the first place.

 

It's simple. Ortiz would headbutt him, would keep talking to him trying to apologize for what happened, than Ray gets him with a couple of punches and send him to sleep.

Seriously though, I'll admit I haven't got the chance to watch Leonard fighting, but how do you have him beating Gatti and De La Hoya who are both much better than Victor?

 

Two of the best Fighters of the last 30 years,i think Ray was the perfect fighter but Sweet Pea was so good,i think if they fought Leonard would win but Sweet Pea might have been more skilled,ah i dont know,two boxing greats..

 

Styles. Floyd fought Oscar at 54', and Oscar was passed it. SRL would beat him I feel. Gatti was small, slow, and had ZERO abilities. Floyd fought Ortiz at ww, in his prime, weighing 164lbs. And You forgot a few names. Cotto and Mosley. Anyone with that much power could turn it into a dog fight, and all I said was SRL would run from them all. Ortiz was just closest to his prime, and hit harder than them at the time Floyd fought him.

 

Ortiz wasn't much bigger than Gatti, and if we're comparing their speed and skills I gotta go with Gatti.

 

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