What's your Opinion Of Sugar Ray Leonard?

One of the most talented fighters of all time who managed to make Benitez look like a B level boxer. Phenomenal finisher.

 

Hagler was clearly slipping by degrees . He was punching slower, being hit more for sure .. he was also fighting less as well .. by the time he fought Leonard he had only one fight, Mugabi, in two years .. that said, he was still considered a brutal force, well conditioned, hard punching and tough as nails .. Leonard saw the Mugabi fight and felt his speed would be his weapon as Marvin was getting hit

Hagler was slowing down but still dominant .. his speed was down, he was getting hit but he was still a monster .. I always thought the fight was super close and Leonard managed to edge the event from ring size to glove size to distance by playing Marvin but there is no doubt his performance was a perfect storm coming together .. his style , his speed would always be challenging .. Marvin had slipped a bit and Ray was in better shape than anyone imagined .. as the underdog he played the crowd perfectly while Marvin, like he did against Vito and Duran, doubted himself and fought dumb .. came out conventional, boxed Ray as a right handed fighter, he could not have made it an easier start .. imagine if he came out balls to the wall like he did against Hearns and made Ray fight ? It was an extremely close fight but no one was ever hurt and Ray had all the flash and drama on his side and he stole the night in a fight he had no business winning ..

 

If he didn't have such a granite chin, Mugabi would have knocked him out. He was getting hit early and often by Mugabi's right hand bombs. He simply couldn't get out of the way of the punches anymore.

 

And yet Leonard was still good enough to draw with Tommy after Hagler, as well as win constructed for him fights for 168 and 175 straps in the same night when he knocked out (albeit mediocre) LaLonde. John, we will simply agree to disagree on this issue as we have done in the past. The last word is all yours.

 

People forget how much the talk of Leonard's eye surgery and previous retirements factored into the feeling that he was going to get beaten up.

 

Dont you actually mean popular instead of good ?? He clearly lost the fight to Hearns and Tommy was robbed because of Rays popularity .. He lost that fight ..... And good to pull of that sham of 2 titles at the catchweight of 168 when Lalonde was at LHW ?? Again , dont you mean popular ?? Ray was still the most popular fighter in the world . And at this stage, He wanted the titles but didnt want to put in the work .... Of course Ray was still very good and should get all the credit in the world for beating Hagler, but Ray got what he wanted because he was popular .... And going in and out of retirement to cherry pick fights , well sometimes it worked out for him and sometimes it didnt ..

 

I guess this thread shows what a polarizing fighter/person Ray has become amongst fight fans and perhaps shows why in the recent fans favourites poll on this forum, resulted in Leonard voted a surprisingly low 19th placing while the other members of the 80s ‘Four Kings’ Duran, Hagler and Hearns were all voted into the top 5.

 

Marvin was washed up when Ray fought him

and Tommy was washed up by the time he rematched him

In truth, the names were big but the competition was soft

The Norris fight was the real barometer of his capabilities

 

I dont know how great he was. Some people here act like giving him their highest possible endorsement will convince the rest of us but I'm not fully convinced

He was talented, and very smart

doubt springs up when you look at the timing of his later fights. I've heard it said he was actually knocked out in a sparring session in preparation for Hagler. This strengthens the claims of the "washed up Hagler' version we keep hearing about
because a prime Hagler would not fail to knock out Leonard when his sparring parther did

Not only that, but we know Ray made the claim that it was a diminished Hagler

Someone who is "starting to slip" does not suddenly retire

Let's face the facts; Hagler was very much on the way out

 

he may not openly admit it but from what I heard in this interview, going into fall 1985/ spring 1986, he didnt want to fight anymore
if anyone would know, it would be his promoter, not some biased SRL fan

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Poor example Clint as Hearns was also an old man and if anything further away from his peak form than either Leonard or Hagler were. Read the articles going into the bout - Hearns was considered almost, if not, shot. To compound this Leonard has admitted at least three times on public platforms (at least once in front of a large crowd as speaker) that Hearns should have got the decision in that fight. You've criticised his win over Donny many times so that one isn't proof of anything. Hagler would have walloped him as well lets be honest.

 

Not really, John. If Tommy were an "old man" and further from his peak than Lenny or Marv, how did he manage to convincingly beat Virgil Hill for a 175 strap after Lenny 2? If he was as you say, then what does that say about Hill? Honestly, I always thought Hill was overrated anyway.

 

I thought Tommy edged it too, but it was a close fight nevertheless. You cannot deny that. LaLonde was a mediocre 175 pound champ, but he was a 175 champ nevertheless and Lenny stopped him. He didnt win a disputed decision. And you said it yourself when you said he was still very good. I don't get your point. Popular? Then why did you write Leonard was still very good?

 

And by the way, I will always criticize the LaLonde fight, but why isn't that proof of anything? He legitimately stopped a 175 pound titlist, albeit a mediocre one at that. And if it isn't proof of anything, what does that say about Leonard? Does
that make Leonard a cherrypicker like Surf said a couple of contris ago?

 

I missed that poll, Ken. What was the title?