Benn stopped a past prime Barkley who had been beat the previous 2 fights. Benn was actually hurt bad himself in that fight. The bottom line is Leonard mixed it with great fighters and beat them. Duran the greatest lightweight of all time who is also a top ten ATG. Haglar the greatest middleweight of all time. And a P4P ATG monster puncher in Hearns. Leonard himself is a top 20 ATG. You wont fined Benn anywhere near the top 100. Benn as aggressive and game as he was had quit in him when he was hurt. Leonard in his prime would never have been beat by Eubank, Collins, Watson or Malinga. Leonard was only ever beaten by truly great fighters. The same thing can not be said for Benn. Benn would not beat Leonard. Leonard was too good. He proved himself against better fighters than Benn.
I don't care less who Leonard beat as a Welterweight, or how great he thinks he was, or his fanboys, only an idiot would say Benn couldn't knock out Leonard. You obviously know f**k all about Benn, claiming he had quit in him when hurt. Benn was at his most DANGEROUS when hurt, best evidenced by the McClellan fight. Every time he moved in for the kill on a hurt Benn, he got hit, HARD, and backed off. As for Barkley, bull****, in his previous 4 fights he'd knocked out Hearns and Olajide, and lost on points to Duran and Nunn, both of which were NOT slouches. So save that crap for someone stupid enough to fall for it. Leonard the ***** wouldn't even fight Mike McCallum, never mind someone who hit like Benn.
You mad? Barkley was past his best that is quite clear imo. He wasn't shot but he sure as hell wasn't in his prime. That was actually a cracking fight. Leonard fought Hearns. He hits harder than Benn i dont care what you say. Sure Hearns didn't Ko Barkley like Benn did but look at all the chumps on Benns record that he couldn't KO. Guys who Hearns would have sent away in a stretcher :deal I grew up watching Benn and he had quit in him. Sure he was very dangerous when he was hurt but he was also proven to display quit when hurt. When Watson put him down with a jab he took ages to get up from the knee position because he knew he was done. He never fired back when Eubank was ****ing him up against the ropes. He sagged n took it like a *****. Then there was the first Collins fight where he faked an ankle injury. The second Collins fight he blatantly quit. When asked if he was ok in his corner after round 5 he replied ''one more round'' then when the round ended he walked to his corner shaking his head. Benn was past it by that stage but he still quit. Your obviously a Benn fanboy :deal
The enlarged part alone proves you haven't got a fvcking clue as to what you are talking about.:hi: Like I said your fvcking Tommy Hearns couldn't dent what you call a " past it " Barkley. Yety Benn fvcked him. So which is it moron? Is Hearns a harder puncher than Benn who just had an off night against Barkley, or are you full of ****?
Cue another 8-10 pages of 'Foxy 01' baiting every gullible sap (who isn't intelligent enough to see what he actually is) into an all-out flame fest.
I couldn't stand SRL, and I think at MW Benn beats him good. But prime for prime Nigel would hardly lay a glove on him. I'll take 147-154 SRL to beat Benn by KO. I saw both mens' careers from beginning to end, so I can't be accused of knowing "f**k all" about either. With that in mind, I didn't see some huge improvement in Benn after Watson embarrassed him. A slight one maybe, but nothing that would intimidate SRL. I was on the Benn bandwagon at that time btw, and jumped off quick after that fiasco. Leonard would counter Benn to death. Nigel would see more gloves than he'd ever seen in his life and when the hornets cleared and he could see again, he'd find nobody in front of him, the phantom having glided away, waiting for him on one side or the other. Benn would spin to meet him and be met with another blizzard of gloves, capped with a nasty left hook. Somewhere along the way Nigel gets hurt, and when SRL had you hurt, that's when you saw his killer instinct come out. He was a great finisher of hurt prey and he would pounce and finish off Benn. The MW version of SRL who fought Hagler? I'll take Benn by KO. But SRL anywhere from 147 to 154 I'll take over Benn by KO within 8.
If we're talking about the Leonard that fought Hagler, then it's an easy fight to pick. Benn gets schooled, and stopped. I don't care about the difference in size. The gap in class is too huge for Benn to overcome.
Benn couldn't KO bums! He's been knocked down and stopped by a jab. He's faked injury and he's quit. He's overrated to **** :yep You still mad?
Very tough fight to pick a winner in. Leonard is a lot greater overall fighter then Benn but was certainly not at his best when being a middleweight. Benn was an extremely ferious fighter and at times looked brilliant but also at times looked lackluster. My gut tells me Leonard finds a way to win but it wouldn't surprise me if Nigel Benn came in and was on that he would be able to take a middleweight Leonard out.
Very contradictory because Barkley lost those previous two fights to Duran himself and lb4lb #1 Michael Nunn. Some people gave Iran both of those fights. Leonard in his welterweight prime would've been eaten for breakfast by huge, ox-strong light-heavyweights Eubank, Collins and Watson. He wouldn't have stood a chance.
Fighters broke their hands on Amparo's head and not even McClellan (who Tommy himself said hit harder than him) could nail down Sanderline Williams. Tommy couldn't budge Doug DeWitt and Nigel punched him all over the ring. Lenzie Morgan was a light-heavyweight (who was clearly robbed against Tiozzo in his previous fight), and Wharton and Giminez were hardly ever even dented in their entire careers - brickhouses, and Benn was never a natural super-middle (could still make middle). Would Tommy have laid out Eubank or Collins if he couldn't lay out Doug DeWitt? Don't get me wrong, even a shottish Tommy Hearns would've been hell for Benn because he jabbed from the waist like Malinga always did against Benn, probably winning every minute unless caught. Benn liked to get under straight jabs from the chest to come up with his bombs, he couldn't deal with a long lashing Holmes-like jab and Leonard could have success with it for a while!
I do not think Benn was a big enough name for Leonard to consider fighting at the time. Nor was he a big enough challenge (Lalonde or Norris).
That's what I'm beginning to think as well. Especially if this were the ACTUAL middleweight version of Leonard who didn't even ascend to 160 until 1987, rather than a prime version moving up.. By the time Benn began making a name for himself, Ray was basically finished or near finished.