Sugar Ray Leonard vs Pipino Cuevas 1980

Leonard by stoppage anywhere from round 7 through 12. Cuevas didn't have the boxing skills to stay with him.

 

I see Ray winning, but I don't see it an easy fight and he might go 12 to avoid that left hook and power. Cuevas takes a decent punch. He took a lot of Hearns punches, so he could take a lot of Ray's punches.

 

Leonard late stoppage

 

Gotta favor Leonard but it would have been a great win. Cuevas was an excellent fighter

 

The speed of Sugar Ray Leonard carries him to an 11th round TKO over a tiring exhausted Jose Pipino Cuevas to unify the World Welterweight Title. Cuevas has his moments early in the bout staggering Sugar Ray with his lethal left hook in the second round but Leonard used his footwork and swift combinations to keep this fight at ring center. Leonard will meet mandatory challenger Thomas The Hitman Hearns on Dec 16th in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be televised by HBO.

 

Easy win for Leonard.

 

Ray would be too much for Pipino. He'd stop him late imo.

 

I would say Sugar from anywhere from 11th to 13th round TKO.

 

He was a B level fighter. Benitez was B+. Hearns was A-. Sugar Ray and Hagler were A class and Duran was A+ but the smallest of the bunch.

 

I think Duran, Leonard, Hearns and Hagler were all A+ fighters but that’s just my opinion.

 

Hearns chin was a bit too glaring a weakness for him to quite on the level of the others. Knocking him out is easier said than done, but the other 3 have no glaring physical weakness like that.

 

Fair enough but I still think he was pretty damn awesome. And in most cases it took an exceptional fighter to stop him at least when prime

 

Sounds like an A- fighter to me.

 

I think if an absolute ATG like Benitez is a B+, then Cuevas at a B is a damn good fighter.