Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali were both showboaters. Which of them was the better fighter?

Excuses , excuses. Every major trains said the same thing on Ali .. he did everything wrong, got by on supernatural reflexes till they failed then on toughness and ended up a vey sick man from all the punishment he took because he lacked boxing skill and stayed around too long ..

 

Ali was a battleship

Leonard was a dingy.

Ray only fought a few people in their primes , Ali was so good, he not only fought the best, he mocked them.

Different league entirely - Leonard would showboat only when he was outclassing his opponent, or trying to make them mad. Ali, mocked and showboated before and then during his matches. I was just a whole different level .

 

Natural skills or boxing skills ?

 

Duran is in another stratosphere to those guys. As is Hagler. Kalule is superior too. I can't believe you're trying to make a case built around that argument.
I watched FOTC again last night.
It's insane how often Frazier caught Ali. He could barely miss.

 

Both, of course. There is no and/or for any great fighter ever. Ali had both, but relied heavily on his natural skills, as we all know.

Surely, you do understand that this isn't black or white, just the one or just the other?

 

Yeah, that left hook found its mark many times. It should be said that he often ate a lot of shots to get into position to deliver it, though.

 

I'm not sure what your argument is. Leonard moved more against Hagler therefore he got hit less? He left himself less vulnerable to counters?
Isn't that the point?

Ali was in great condition for FOTC. You don't go 15 rounds at that pace taking those shots otherwise.
He got hit alarmingly often by Frazier, who essentially threw one kind of punch in the fight, the hook.
Sorry to say, but any other fighter other than Ali would have been crucified for not being able to deal with just one punch.

Look at the swarming pressure Ray had to deal with, from a two-fisted aggressive ATG in Duran. He dealt with it far better than Ali did, who basically took shots because he couldn't negate the hook.
Yeah he lost, though not by much, but he didn't have to ship shots like Ali did.

Only a shot Leonard took the kind of punishment Ali took against Frazier and others.

 

Yeah, the 60's Ali was harder to hit, no doubt. I don't think Chuvalo hit him that much either tbh. Fair amount of low blows, though.

 

Yeah, 215. But still lean and light on his feet.

 

You're just repeating yourself. Your logic here has severe holes in it.