What was the greater performance: Whitaker-Nelson or Leonard-Benitez?

Leonard. He fought a prime Benitez while Nelson was on the down swing.

 

Nelson was at least 1 weight class up from his best weight, possibly 2. Whitaker has some gems, but I don't rate this as highly as some of his other efforts.

 

Whittaker is overrated...

 

Still go with Leonard. I always thought he brought more to the table than Whitaker.Personally I always enjoyed watching Leonard more anyway.

 

I thought Whitaker's performance was the more well rounded.

Benitez offered a hard target for Ray to hit, but offered little else in the fight. It basically just came down to a high speed game of snap, with Ray proving he is a little quicker on the draw.

Whitaker showed every skill under the sun against Nelson and thoroughly rendered him ineffective, despite a rather earnest effort from Nelson. The effortless way Whitaker did it was all the more impressive as well. He had gears to hit Nelson couldn't even draw out of him.

 

Whitaker looks more impressive because he makes everything look so simple...that's the beauty of his appeal.

But if you do factor in the quality of the opponents in front of them and the weight divisions they were fought at, you'd have to say Leonard. Leonard was almost perfect that night to me.

 

I would say Whitaker's, mainly because I think Nelson was better than Benitez.

 

I voted for Leonard against Benitez because of the style versus style issue. Whitaker's defeat of all time great, Azumah Nelson, was indeed impressive. Nelson was just a bit more made to order for Whitaker than Benitez was for Leonard.

In my opinion, greatness is best exhibited with the ability to overcome. I believe Leonard had to overcome more to defeat Benitez.

 

Azumah was one weight above his best, but it's not as if he was fighting a significantly larger fighter, if at all. In fact, Nelson was probably still the stronger man in the ring. Thus, this win for Whitaker in the fashion it was won can only be attributed to his skill level IMO, and therefore it rates at the very top of the list of his best performances for me.

To the question: While I'm not sure about the rumors regarding Benitez's lack of training prior, he didn't look at his best to me during the fight, having watched and compared his sharpness, reflexes, and overall ability during it to some of his better efforts from 140-154. Regardless, Leonard put on a masterful display, and even if Benitez was not at his very best for this particular night, he was still a fantastic fighter. To outbox and outslick one of the top men to have fought in the sport in that area the way Leonard did was incredibly impressive. One of the best technical masterclasses of all time, IMO.

On the other hand, the style of fight that fight undertook played to Leonard's strengths, as it was one of few fights where he could really pick his spots and relax in the ring, as Benitez was a counter-puncher himself. Leonard was just a step ahead of him throughout the night. With Whitaker's performance against Nelson, he was fighting on the backfoot, on the move and behind the jab all night long, a lot of times under serious pressure and barrages. Fighting that way for 12 rounds against a fighter of Nelson's caliber and dominating thoroughly is pretty astonishing.

I think Whitaker's path to victory was more difficult in regards to the style of fight and the comfort level with which it allowed. Both were among the best technical masterclasses on film, though.

 

Interestingly enough, I see it as the exact opposite, which is why I probably give the edge to Pea, despite the fact that Wilfred was likely the better fighter than Nelson.

 

Depends on what you like. Whitaker looked to have the better performance, boxing Nelson soundily, while Leonard stuggled at times (with the better fighter) and had to exert himself for the win. Masterclass or competitive chess match?

I will vote for Whitaker-Nelson.