How many middleweight champs since that day on April 6, 1987 could have beaten Ray or Hagler as they were on that day against each other?
Well I think either would have had trouble with B-Hop...his height and reach advantage would be a tall order for Hagler to overcome , and I think his ability to slow fights down to his own desired pace would keep Leanord from being effective..... Although I will say, between the 2, Leanord would have the better chance of executing his game plan As for that fight itself, I have Leanord winning, I've never understood what all the controversy is about.
Right after their bout transpired, Nunn would have won lopsided on the scorecards over both. Personally, I was glad Marvin did not come out of retirement for the guy--not with those stale reflexes. And Leonard was never going to sign a contract for a tall lanky southpaw boxer like Nunn at middle back then. Actually, Ray would have his hands full with Kalambay/McCallum/Hearns rematch at 160. Herol Graham was not a style that suited Ray either. Lots of tough fights and I don't see anything but a very close decision win if Leonard managed to win. No stoppages though.
I don't generally care about punch stats...they're not as accurate as people think and they don't tell the whole story of the fight. From my living room TV Hagler didn't pass the eyeball test in that fight.. If you wanna say Leanord 'stole' rounds, well I guess....Hagler should have done more to stop him. Honestly Hagler had ever advantage going into that fight and failed to capitalize. I say he deserved to lose that title and Leanord did enough to take it from him
It’s funny that people will discredit Floyd’s win over Manny and say Manny (or both) we’re past their best....to me Pac and Floyd were a higher level and closer to their best at the time of their fight than these 2. SRL looked slightly better at executing his plan than Hagler, although I had Hagler nipping this. But to me if people want to discredit or discount Floyd/Pac, then this fight should equally be dismissed. SRL won a close (semi controversial) fight, but to me it shows less of how a prime fight would go in contrast to Floyd/Pac Anyway, at this stage a good portion not only of greats but very goods would be as much or more than either guy could deal with
Norris would be far too frail to beat Hagler at middle and Benn wasn`t ever at this level specifically at middle where he wasn`t competant defensively at all. Jones and Nunn were a lot better than Benn and both would have had too much reach for Norris, I don`t know why Norris was added at all, he never fought at middle and was knocked out by a former welter.
The punc The stats were bull, I was talking about a youtube channel that counts punches properly and show every shot that landed.
You forgot Hopkins and GGG, remember it's the '87 version of Hagler in his last fight, but I like your last pick the best !!!
I think the southpaw stance and Hagler's deceptively long reach would trouble Hopkins. 75 inch reach.
I can see your point regarding Floyd-Manny, but Floyd had a significant size advantage over Manny, Manny seemed legitimately injured to me, and Floyd fought in a safety first manner. Although Marvin was faded, Ray was too, plus it was his first fight at MW, it was his first fight in over 3 years, and he gave a good performance where he let his hands go against a naturally bigger fighter. All things considered, I give Ray much more credit than what I give Floyd.
