Could any other lightweight have beaten SRL?

Benny Leonard could do it. I think Barney Ross could also. Benny many considerered the greatest pfp fighter ever. He could do everything. The ultimate fight I think is prime Benny rising in weight to welter to fight prime Sugar Ray Robinson. Leonard taught Tunney to go to the body to beat Greb. They say he fouled Brittan on purpose because he didn't want the welterweight title. People don't realize Benny was considered Like Robinson is now. Time just erodes that memory.

 

yes, not the Ray of 2nd Duran fight and on, but before that.. If they fought him on the inside and they made him get out of his fightplan. But they would all lose the rematch. Ray would find his mistake and fix it.. One of the only guys where he would have trouble beating him again is Hearns, because of Hearns reach. That means Ray cannot control things with his movement or tactics. He had to get inside on Hearns. Hearns was sort of the opposite strategy of the Duran fight.

 

LMAO @ Benny Leonard and Barney Ross beating Ray Leonard.

 

Joe Gans

 

Yeah it’s easy to say all these old timers based on their reps but really unless you were there to see them at the time it’s hard to say how good they would have been against today’s or more recent fighters based on just very old black and white film.

I gotta go with those that I’ve either seen live in the flesh or on tv and say the likes of one-time lightweights like Floyd Mayweather Jr, Sugar Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao would all have a chance of doing what Duran did. I wouldn’t entirely rule out De La Hoya’s chances either.

 

Armstrong (but NOT at 133½ pounds, when he beat Ross, 142 pounds, by unanimous decision, adding the World Welterweight Championship to his belt.) PLUS Benny Leonard (who Duran's own trainer thought was superior to Duran.)

 

Or collective standards change as technique improves..

 

I don't think Ross would have enough pop to keep Ray honest.

 

Arcel never trained the light weight Benny Leonard. Interviewed directly after the Montreal fight Arcel stated Duran was the best lightweight of all time.Source Hugh McIllvanney.

 

I agree. Duran was a phenomena that night.

 

I think that both Jose Napoles and Ray Robinson started at lightweight.

 

My post about Armstrong & B Leonard doesn't say "Arcel" trained B.Leonard.
But since you brought it up....Wiki states this regarding Ray Arcel:
"The champions he trained were Benny Leonard, Ezzard Charles, Jim Braddock, Barney Ross, Bob Olin, Tony Zale, Billy Soose, Ceferino Garcia, Lou Brouillard, Teddy Yarosz, Freddie Steele, Jackie Kid Berg, Alfonso Frazier, Abe Goldstein, Frankie Genaro, Tony Marino, Sixto Escobar, Charley Phil *********, Roberto Durán and Larry Holmes."

 

Arcel trained Leonard after the stock market crash, when Benny made a comeback