duran v leonard greatness comparison.

Yes, but not by you.

 

to me Ray's welterweight reign is much greater than Duran's lightweight reign.

I think Ray's win over Hagler who was champion for 7 years and 11 or so title defenses is better than Duran's over Ray who was on the second defense of his first title

I say when a guy wins a title that is where his weight started. A guy starts in 1967 when he is 15 years old does not really mean that much as far as gaining weight and getting bigger. What hurts Duran's legacy for me is not enough wins against elites. It is a big flaw in his record. People say he is top 10 ever, but I cannot see that with his wins against elites. one win against an elite before Ray was really elite. And that statement bothers people, but the fact Ray lost was Ray as the variable not Duran.

 

same tired. Great fighters. Ray was more versatile and proved more in his wins, but Duran was a tougher individual mentally and had a long career. Same as JCC Sr.

 

I only reached as far as the green highlighted part & realised it was pointless to read anymore, a green fighter doesn`t dominate & hand a master like Benitez his first loss, behave yourself, Leonard was as prime as it gets when Duran beat him (& I have no bias either way, both are amongst my all time top 10 favourite fighters)

 

a more prime Ray would have beaten Benitez better without the beating he took. He couldn't go to the post fight celebration Ray was so sore. Hearns on the other hand had a tough fight with Benitez, but outboxed him in a way Ray didn't but could have a year or two later. Also Benitez fought great at 154. Ray fought Benitez on the inside.

 

Beating Benitez made Ray PRIME:deal

 

That counts against Leonard when were talking about Greatness at the elite level of the sport.

Remember Duran gave Leonard that chance to redeem himself.

 

Yeah but nobody puts DelaHoya anywhere near Duran in the alltime rankings. He`s not even in the same state.

 

Leonard, Whitaker, Saldivar, Sanchez all come to mind as far as getting the job done nicely in roughly 40-45 career fights.

 

I don't see that. A loss does much more for a young fighter than a win. Duran after Dejesus, or Hearns after Leonard, and Ray after Duran. make Ray prime anymore than beating Cuevas made Thomas Hearns prime or beating Buchanan made Duran prime. And Duran lost to Esteban soon after winning his first title like Ray did to Duran, and look how Duran won the last two fights like Ray won the last two. That is significant.

 

but careers can have 40 fights. Evander Holyfield won his first title against Qawi at 15 fights, yet I know Ray didn't have many fights after he won his first title compared to most. Hearns had 40 fights after he fought Cuevas, and Ray had something like 14. But he had the wins which the other guys couldn't get.

 

Duran probably thought Ray would fight the same fight. Ray fought totally different from the get-go and was moving his feet and coming inside and out not setting against Duran. Ray started to set in rounds 7 and 8 when Duran started to slow down even more and that is when Duran quit.

 

Good stuff.

Managed to be complimentary without compromising your beliefs. For the record, Ray's an ******* and one truly conniving **** of a cut throat. He was just a ****ing brilliant welterweight who nabbed some big wins above his class against Hagler and Kalule. All that other garbage counts for nothing. Pretty much the real deal 77-82 though, all-time level. Always kind of felt the more SRL's abilities and accomplishments are fleshed out at 147, it only makes Duran's win greater... And I do consider it pretty much the best ever. It secures his top ten spot for me.