Is Ray Leonard top 10 p4p in the last 100 years?

In my opinion Ray has a better resume

 

Is Floyd Mayweather Jr. Not a good enough resume?

 

We could go back and forth all day on

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Listen i respect your choices, who is to say who is right or wrong.But to answer your question No

 

Floyd's resume is unsurpassed taking down 16 world champions. only Mosley really gave him a fight. Mosley in his prime could have pulled it off

Mike Spinks is no slouch either with wins over Lopez, Johnson, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Dwight Braxton, Larry Holmes, Gerry Cooney beat a wilfred Benitez or washed up Hagler any day of the week

Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran tend to get overrated on this forum, almost as if being politically correct ("RayLeonard would lose to Robinson but not by no score of 11 - 4")

They are good, even outstanding of their divisions but only the best of THEIR time

 

In competition faced ? Yes , of course.
Leonard defeated four ATG's in their primes
or close to it. Plus, most of the contenders he faced and beat
were well respected, and would be champs in this era.
Longevity ? Probably not. Less than 50 pro fights,
long layoff's (Reasonable reason, the eye injury)
But still, once he decided to make a comeback
he could've been more consistent.

 

Not for me. In 40 fights I'd say he legitimately had one great win, that was Hearns. The rematch with Duran was a short notice rush job to push an out of shape Duran into a premature rematch. Benitez was a very good win. The Hagler and Hearns rematch were questionable. Most feel Hearns was robbed of a win. LaLonde was weight drained. One of my measures for greatness is durability. This is where Leonard was lacking. By age 34 with 38 fights he was washed up. Still an ATG fighter, but not in my top 10.

 

I would say he just about makes it.

 

Not even close. The only reason he is perceived as being close to that is recency bias. SRL's still well within living memory and a lot of his competition are not. But even then the big 4 get consistently overrated against adjacent greats.

 

50/50 really
All of the these could be above him
Duran
Robinson
Jones
Ali
Pep
Monzon
Louis
Moore
Sanchez
Chavez
Charles
Saddler

Maybe a few more , Can’t disagree with those who have him sneaking in at no.10 either, but he’s no higher than that

 

Young Corbett III doesn't get his due... Ross, Pep, Pac, Duran, Charles, Moore, Conn, Mclarnin, Canzoneri, SRR, Monzon, Louis, RJJ, Ali, Holyfield, Usyk.. the list of great post 26 fighters is long.. depends how u view his wins & whether u thought he won or lost... i don't think id have him top 10 though.

 

I would say def. in the top 10 but I guess at the bottom end due to limitations on the quantity of his resume - the quality however is irrefutable imo.

 

I'll elaborate on that too.. even though its a tangent .. Corbett had a very good career before 26 but from 26 onwards he put together a great resume.. beat young Jack Thompson multiple times & beat HOFer Jackie Fields & the great Ceferino Garcia both twice.. & despite being a natural 5'7 WW he would then move to MW after a bad loss to Mclarnin & put together an outstanding string of wins over Conn, Lesnevich, Walker, Apostoli & Olympic gold medallist Bep Van Klaveren... all of whom barring Klaveren should be in the HOF..

All that to me is more impressive than what SRL did.. as great as Leonard was (people think those 4 fellas from the 80s are the standard) i think there were greater fighter's before them .. they're just less recognized because media & exposure back then wasn't what it was in the 80s.

 

In these threads you can always spot those who are mad at Leonard for beating Hagler and making Duran quit.

Top 10 is entirely doable, but you can always see this in a number of ways. Moore has a more spotty record and not the same wins, but he has quantity and longevity. Floyd doesn't have the same wins (not sure anyone does) but he has consistentcy and longevity. Pac picked up his Ls but he has the insane achievement of winning belts from FW to JMW plus longevity... So it's about what you like.

 

Not directed at me, but he has no Durans, Benitez and Hearns at LHW and when he met his Hagler, he was run over.

I think the case for Spinks is weak. Yes, he had no losses at his best weight, but he didn't have the same comp either.