He`d struggle I feel against Robi`s top middleweight opponents, I don`t think Leonard was as good at middle but I feel the only welter that give him trouble on Robi`s list was Gavilan, SRL had much more power than Gavi but also had flaws that a clever fighter could exploit.
Their are very few who had the quality wins Leonard had, with the number of fights he had total. And Leonard beat quite a few very goods on his way.Gerardo, Price,Bonds, Kalule, Green, and Lalonde, all were very good fighters in their primes when Leonard beat them. He didnt have the number of fights most ATG's had. But he certainly had the quality.
Ezzard Charles - Charlie Burley Archie Moore Jimmy Bivins Teddy Yarosz Lloyd Marshall Quite respectable.
McLarnin is worth a shout: Ross Canzoneri Ambers Leonard Obviously Leonard was way past his prime, and you could throw in Villa or LaBarba instead.
Ali past his best in the Foreman,Norton and Frazier fights. Frazier wasn't that great because Ali wouldn't let him be! Basilio, coming up in weight. Lamotta ,weight weakened. Fullmer, won one of their 3 and drew another. Anyone can play this game. What does Liston's inability to cut off the ring have to do with Ali's win? Both Liston and Foreman were favourites to beat Ali. It's like saying Lamotta couldn't dance on his toes,nonsensical. Leonard fought everyone who was considered a threat except for McCallum. Ray by passed Murderers Row.
I would agree when you`re talking about the second Duran fight and the Hagler fight but not the other two, they were amazing wins Benitez had great reflexes and counter punching skills, he was better P4P than Frazier was in his respective division when he lost to Ali in their second and third bouts, plus Wilfredo and Hearns were better P4P than Norton full-stop and Liston was older than these two were when he fought Ali compared to them in their primes vs Ray.
I feel there`s a lot of weight to what you`re saying but LaMotta fought far better than Liston did, his jab was brilliant and Ray beat him more than once, losing one so LaMotta probably didn`t have stamina problems in all their bouts, plus Ray`s right hook really did the damage to Jakes gas tank along with the weight cutting problems. This content is protected
I've no problem with anyone saying Leonard, I just tried to provide an alternative.Otherwise each thread would be very short wouldn't it?
The problem here is that he lost to three of those four guys as well, somewhat diluting the accomplishment.