H2H Benitez is the GOAT at 140

How much Mayweather have you watched? He's a much sharper, pinpoint counterpuncher than Leonard ever was. He places his leads with unrivaled precision. I know that the norm around here is to pretend that Leonard did everything better than Mayweather but it's just not true.

 

Of course it is.

 

They never fought at 140. :hey

 

Yes but moving laterally only works against opposition who need to set themselves to throw, these two are fine with losing rounds as they wear an opponent down because they're experienced championship fighters who know a fight is fought over 12 and not 5.

Running all fight against these is a very tough ask and even then not likely to be favoured on the cards.

 

Ive watched Mayweather since 1998, seen almost all of his fights, since 1997. At jr.lightweight/lightweight he was one of the most dynamic fighters Ive seen. So yes Ive watched a helllava lot of Floyd jr. Matter of fact, Ive seen his dad, and both uncles fight live on national tv . But I have one question for you. And all Floyd jr.fans, name me the one A.T.G he defeated who was close to or at there prime. I can name 4 off the top of my head Leonard defeated. Plus I can name two very goods whom quite a few people thought would beat Leonard. What's my opinion on greatness? What did that fighter do AFTER they fought Leonard. Were they successful AFTER that title shot. Duran had great success AFTER the Leonard Loss, so did Benitez, until his lifestyle caught up with him, of course Hearns did. Hagler let his bitterness beat him, but Im sure he could've beaten most middles at that time AFTER the Leonard fight. Even Kalule went on to fight for a championship AFTER the Leonard loss. Name me the one fighter outside of Alvarez that was successful AFTER Mayweather. (and the jury is still out on Alvarez in my opinion). So if Leonard was fighting Mayweathers competition of course his accuracy would be sky high. Esp if he was pot shotting like Mayweather does. The one thing Mayweather may have done better than Leornard was Defence and even that's debatable because Leonard entered fights with bad intentions and aggressiveness leading to taken more chances of getting hit. Mayweather has almost double the amount of fights Leonard had, yet not one of his opponents outside Alvarez was successful AFTER he defeated them. Imagine that.

 

Of course Leonard's best opponents were better than Mayweather's. But your argument that Leonard's accuracy therefore would have been sky high against Mayweather's opponents is a logical fallacy and speculative, wishful thinking. Some boxers are simply better at placing punches and walking their opponents into punches than others. It's no knock on Leonard's greatness to acknowledge that.

As a side note, Hagler retired so your speculation on what he could have/would have done has no bearing on the point of what their opponents did after their fights. Kalule deserves credit for eventually winning an extremely close decision over a still-unestablished Kulumbay, but other than that he was stopped in his two biggest fights. And other than beating a lethargic, notoriously inconsistent Duran 3 weight classes above Duran's bet weight, what other big wins did post-SRL Benitez pull off? In any event, Leonard clearly fought the better top opposition but I disagree with what you are trying to infer from that fact.

 

Hearns--pre prime
Hagler--post prime
Duran--post prime, didn't train
Benitez--borderline ATG. Wrong weight class

 

Hagler past his best never fought at 140.

Benitez was at his best as a junior welter imo, but if this is his wrong weight class tell me what was the right weight class for hin?

 

What I'm saying is this, how good a fighter looks, his accuracy,his knock-out rate, the way they look defensively etc, is all determined by the quality of the competition. If a fighter is fighting a bunch of has been,or never was, of course his accuracy and knock out rate etc should be high. And in Floyds case his knock out rate has gotten worse.

 

I was talking about "I can name four prime ATGs off the top of my head who Leonard beat" comment

 

Benitez would be too big for the names offered in this thread. He was large for the weight, and had been a drainer in his teenage years. In my opinion, he's more rightly judged alongside the Leonards and the Gavilans.

Chavez never possessed the speed or dynamism needed to bother El Radar. This especially rings true after having ventured up to 140.

Moreover, what's often overlooked is Benitez' counter-punching and activity up close. In a chess match, yes, someone like Mayweather might get the better of the action, but it would require a rare offensive performance. Only if these two conditions are satisfied- that Floyd overwhelm Radar with what I consider superior speed and the latter completely relinquish the role of the aggressor- would I give Mayweather the remotest of chances. He has to back Wilfred up. Stay in the perimeter and he'd catch the brunt of Benitez' body blows.

 

Well, in Benitez's case, his getting knocked out rate got higher.

 

To be fair he did beat 4 atg fighters who were all champions at the time of his victory.

Spin it all you want if you feel the desire.

 

Berto a never was, Pac,past prime at least 5 yrs, Maidana,never was Alvarez,green and maybe a never was, Guerro, never was, Cotto, past prime, and wasn't special in prime, Ortiz, never was, Moseley past prime at least 10 yrs, Marquez one helleava jr.light weight/featherweight fought May way above his weight limit,and past his prime. Hatten past prime, nothing special in prime, Dela hoya past prime at least 6yrs, Baldimir, really? Zudah, past prime,had talent but also had major weaknesses, including himself, Mitchell,Brusales Gatti,? You threw that out their, I'm just counter punching.

 

Berto a never was, Pac,past prime at least 5 yrs, Maidana,never was Alvarez,green and maybe a never was, Guerro, never was, Cotto, past prime, and wasn't special in prime, Ortiz, never was, Moseley past prime at least 10 yrs, Marquez one helleava jr.light weight/featherweight fought May way above his weight limit,and past his prime. Hatten past prime, nothing special in prime, Dela hoya past prime at least 6yrs, Baldimir, really? Zudah, past prime,had talent but also had major weaknesses, including himself, Mitchell,Brusales Gatti,? You threw that out their, I'm just counter punching