My 2nd time seeing this fight. What impresses me the most is the fact that Leonard was shutting out Benitez while barely getting out of 2nd gear. He could have played it safe and won 15 rounds to 0 while barely even opening up his jar of tricks. He turned it up late to get the stoppage. Magnificent fighter. It got me thinking. After watching this fight how in the hell could anybody pick Mayweather to beat prime SRL? And as much as it pains to me say this, but you can throw in Pacquiao there too. By the way did Mayweather ever fight anybody as good as Benitez? Let alone Hearns and Duran? Mayweather's best win is an old Pacquao nearing the end, who hadn't scored a stoppage in 6 years. His best win over an opponent in their actual prime was Diego Corrales. Fine. In his day, Corrales was a very solid fighter, but come on now. He is miles from Benitez. And he doesn't even belong in the same sentence as Hearns and Duran. And as far as Pacquiao goes. Well, Pac did beat Barrera and Marquez. He beat Morales when Morales was a drained zombie. But those guys are Featherweights. Manny Pacquiao is a blown up Featherweight. Now he did beat Cotto who was an excellent Welterweight, but come on now. Cotto isn't anywhere near Ray Leonard. You mean to tell me that Pac (any version) is beating Ray Leonard? A career Welterweight who blasted out Hearns and Benitez? Trying to be objective here.
Leonard was as close to a complete fighter as I've seen in my lifetime (obviously, I did not have the privilege of watching Sugar Ray Robinson). Ray was fast, hard-hitting, tough, physical when it was required, a skilled boxer, and he was responsible defensively for a high octane, offensive fighter. He was also damn spiteful. He beats Mayweather by clear decision, much to the chagrin of the "TBE!" crowd, and likely stops Pac.
No one says Pac would beat Leonard though. But there are many who pick Floyd over Leonard (both at their best). LOL Floyd was badly hurt by old Mosley. Leonard is a bigger and certainly more skilled than peak Mosley, let alone that old version. He'd catch Floyd somewhere. Or if Floyd plays it extremely safe, Leonard dominates him on scorecards.
Hagler is a middleweight though. Floyd and especially Pac are not natural welterweights. Srl was an amazing boxer, way tougher than he looked and a h2h nightmare fir any boxer at 147 in history. Since Hagler is my favourite boxer, I dont really like SRL, especially outside of the ring but you cant deny his greatness in it.
Well yea, Hagler was a Middleweight. And Leonard stood up to his onslaught, even though the debate of who won will always rage on.
Yeah but back in the early 80's Hagler would have destroyed him. He waited for him to age. He was the original deck stacker who laid the blueprint for Floyd. Thats why I dont like him.
Yes, I do think over 15 rounds at his peak Hagler stops Leonard. But I'm saying, even '87 Hagler tears through Mayweather and Pacquiao.
I can see Floyd sneak a ud against that Hagler. Reasons: - Hagler was shorter than listed. I dont think he is much taller than Floyd. - same day weigh ins meant he was fighting at 160. In the current era would ge be a blown up welter or 154 fighter? - floyd is faster - hagler struggled with Duran's boxing over the first 12 rounds. - floyd would heavily stack the deck in his favour and only take it if he could win for sure. People think he is much bigger than Floyd and blows him away easily but I feel it could look similair to the Duran fight. I would love to see a vr version of where Hagler knocks him trough the ropes though haha
I think that Ray was a bit overrated, IMO. He lost to a past peak Duran and dropped 11 rounds to Hearns in their first fight. He fought the Duran rematch like a buffoon, refusing to engage. I don't rate that win as highly as most. It wasn't some masterclass peformance.
Past peak Duran? Hmmm....possibly, but Duran was still a terrific fighter who fought superbly that night. Consequently, there's no shame in losing to a still great fighter. Masterclass or not, Leonard won the rematch and knotted the rivalry at 1-1. As for the Hearns fight, yes, Leonard was certainly behind on the cards. I disagree, however, with your claim that he dropped 11 rounds to Hearns prior to the knockout. It's been years since I've watched the fight, but I felt at that time that Leonard had won around 5 rounds, including arguably two of the more dominant rounds in the fight (remember he had Hearns hurt), before he closed the show in dramatic fashion. All of that is subjective conjecture, however. What isn't is that Leonard rose to the occasion late and stopped an all-time great, allowing him to notch his second win over one of the "Four Kings." Leonard was beast and no worse than the 2d or 3d greatest welterweight of all-time.