Who Had The More Impressive Performance-Ray Leonard or Sal Sanchez?

That's a hard one that that. I think Sanchez's win over a proven fighter like Gomez was probably the best for an aficionado! Leonard Hearns was just more bigger profile.

 

:good agreed

 

I think Leonard's was better. Sanchez was a bigger man fighting a smaller man. Leonard fought a stylistic nightmare against Hearns. That being said both were huge fights and victories

 

Leonard had the harder chore, I think. He was physically overmatched against Hearns (who wasn't?) and he had to solve the difficult boxing style Hearns presented. He had to go get him.

Sanchez had it comparatively easy because he was the naturally bigger guy and didn't have to go looking for Gomez. After the first round, any semblance of nuance in Gomez's game was gone, and he just kept coming forward into the threshing machine.

 

I saw both bouts in person. The big surprise to me in the Salvador Sanchez vs. Wilfredo Gomez bout was that Sanchez fought much more aggressively than usual, which seemed to baffle Gomez to a great degree.

Ray Leonard seemed to find a way to pull his chestnuts out of the fire when stopping Tommy Hearns in their first bout. Whatever you think of Leonard, he injected a tremendous amount of interest among non-heavyweights. To give you an idea of the huge change, I also saw the first world welterweight title bout between Carlos Palomino and Armando Muniz in person at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles during the 1970s. That highly anticipated bout had a gate of about $140,000. Leonard's first bout with Hearns generated millions of dollars of revenue.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Leonard for me because he was facing a natural welter like himself ,and giving up power,height and reach to a very skilled boxer .Gomez was coming up in weight..

 

Leonard's win over Hearns is more storied; the comeback from behind, the whole 'you're blowing it son' thing from Dundee.
But for me, I think Sanchez' win was better. He took apart a greatly feared Gomez, who was a beast just one weight division lower. It wasn't ever close, despite what the scorecards said. (If memory serves Sanchez was ahead, but not by as much as one would think.)
And yeah, Sanchez looked fresh as a daisy afterwards.

The win over Hearns was extremely impressive, don't get me wrong. But Ray struggled a lot whereas Sanchez made it look easy.

 

I wouldn't say Sanchez fought aggressively per se against Gomez. He wasn't left much of a choice but to fight, and being as he was never one to shy away from an exchange if the situation called for it, simply obliged Gomez. Gomez was the one being aggressive. To a fault, really. All Sal had to do was let him come in and pick him apart.

 

Pipino Cuevas? I think you mean Wilfredo Benitez.


I think both are massive wins, but Wilfredo Gomez was thought of even more highly than Hearns at that time. A lot of Hearns' best wins came after. The manner of victory also -- Sanchez bossed the match while Leonard was made to look befuddled and unsure till' late in the bout.

 

Good question and very hard to choose. But Sanchez just put on such a masterclass. Destroying someone like Gomez like that. So I think I have to go with that one.

It's all about what you like in the end, though. I also find it hugely impressive that Leonard could dig deep and pull it off when fighting in a way which wasn't his natural style. That no one else below 160 even managed to touch Hearns makes it even more impressive that Leonard could get to him like that.

Sanchez-Gomez for me, though. I mean, the guy looks as relaxed as someone knitting when he floors Gomez for the first time after exchanging with him with his back to the ropes. Has anyone ever looked that cool in the ring in comparable circumstances? Sanchez was almsot insanely relaxed in the ring.

 

I'm a Ray Leonard man, but the way Salvador handled his business against Wilfredo makes me appreciate that performance more.And if he was in Ray's shoes in that fight against Thomas, he would've ended that fight also.