I swear, sometimes the guy was so fast, I had trouble seeing him on TV Altho, a heavy underdog in the Leonard fight and at a huge disadvantage in experience, dominated from the first round on as his speed was just uncopeable In his next big fight vs Curry, many still had doubts thinking Ray might have had an off night but after seeing the mighty display of fireworks en route to easy 8 rd stoppage, people admitted to me "I knew he was good but I didnt know he was THAT good!"
He was fun to watch on those King cards. Even tho it was Jackson that found the soft spot on his chin (which seems excusable), by the time Troy Waters got to it, we knew it was only a matter of time. And the wheels came off rather quick;y. Outside of that issue, he was an excellent athlete, great quicks, pretty combos and the requisite mean streak. Shame he never fought Julio Cesar Vazquez.
The way I see him as he beat a broken down Meldrick Taylor, a beaten down John Mugabi, a shot Donald Curry and was beaten by Simon Brown. So I rate him as a slightly above average boxer.
I think his handspeed was great, although some of his fundamentals were not so great. His handspeed could have been a competition for many of the greats, but his chin really lacked. His foot speed was ok, but his handspeed and offense kept guy off him. He exchanged too much for a guy who did not have a good chin. I think a young Leonard would catch him and stop him in the midrounds. He was not unbeatable at all.
i think that's sour grapes coming on b/c of the way he dominated everyone with his speed t say that his speed was just okay is like saying Tommy Hearns hit like a girl His bout with leonard was absolute perfection. and the score reflected that Imagine if he had come along during Cuevas - Benitez - Hearns - Leonard time. Nobody would stand a chance
Any of those dude would have beaten in that era. The Leonard from 10 years earlier than their 91 bout would have stopped him mid rounds.
A comet who soared rapidly and just as quickly fell to earth.Fortunate to get ATG's when they were past prime, but very fast,his chin was crystal though.
The 1991 Ray.. To be specific Feb. 9, 1991 Ray, I think it was a Sat. night. Now I don't even know the dates of fights coming up. Being young is nice. As for Norris against those guys? I think Cuevas has a good chance to lower the boom on Norris. Benitez I think would beat him and Wilfred was strong. Remember he went 15 with Duran and Hearns and Ray. Hearns? The jab would be too much and the power.. Hearns usually landed his punches. Against Benitez? He didn't but who did.
you are in error as is Pernel/sweetpea Leonard could barely stop Larry Bonds and if he cant catch a barely moving target, then someone with five times the speed AND who hits back, and will out hit you 10 -1 as he did leonard He wouldnt win a round, and didnt and that's the way it is! Little Cuevas? Too slow Hearns was susceptible to left hooks. Look what someone like leonard did to him in their first fight. It turned the fight around Benitez is one of those slow south americans, like Cervantes and Duran was a slow, flat footed fighter. he couldnt handle Kirkland Laing, so he wouldnt be competitive against someone like Norris whose speed was uncopeable
Curry did far better than Leonard and had a lot more left, he was quicker than Ray at that point who was really slow v Norris and pretty slow in every fight after the Hagler bout, Ray was a very quick welter that didn`t carry his speed up that well, but Norris was quick as hell, the only fighter that matched his speed was the much smaller Taylor, but he didn`t have enough power or defensive capability to beat Norris despite scoring well early in the 1st round of that mis-match.
Cuevas at least had a punch but was too slow and would never get a clear shot at him Benitez didnt even HAVE a punch. In fact, Wilfred was overrated and so what if he was strong? He's not an inside fighter anyways. As the fight would turn out, Wilfred WOULDNT be so wonderful as he drops every rounds against someone like Terry who could box, bang N move I just find the differences in speed between the two as unconscionable. It's not fair Terry wins this one without really showing up mentally. it's just that easy and as for Hearns, its well known that he didnt like getting roughed up. The way I see it, Tommy with his reach, holds a slight lead in the scoring going into round six until Terry cuts loose a left to the temple, and follow up left to the jaw and Hearns starts to stagger back with a look in his eyes that he doesnt want any more and batters Hearns along the ropes like he did Taylor until the ref steps in to save him Duran? he dont even belong in the same ring. stick to someone like palomino
Terry's only weakness was when he fought flat footed, like Roy Jones, he could be caught square and could look vulnerable but how many times did he do that?
Duran at welter was amazingly fast, he was slower at 154 but harder to hit than Norris, Benitez had far quicker reflexes than Norris and slipped far more shots than Norris did, Norris didn`t haver Leonard`s chin which was why he was blown away by the devastating Jackson, McCallum wass much more effective at dealing with the vicious fast punches of the hawk who was blown out in 2 himself by Mike.
