Benny Leonard was the greatest lightweight of all time - by a long way

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Manassa, Nov 4, 2009.


  1. GPater11093

    GPater11093 Barry Full Member

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    youll be waiting a long time
     
  2. mightyd40

    mightyd40 Spartan Full Member

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    ill take it :good
     
  3. Mr Butt

    Mr Butt Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    i read this after tunney lost to greb in 1922 tunney wanted an immediate rematch ,tunney at thi point was managed by billy gibson who also looked after leonards affairs at this time ,so gibson ask's leonard to have a word with tunney and influence him to wait a while before fighting greb again and tunney listened to leonard that is some respect
     
  4. MRBILL

    MRBILL Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    No.. No, it doesn't... Styles make fights, etc......... Ben Leonard was a slick boxer with good technique and skill, but he couldn't bust an egg over a kitchen counter........ In my view, Benny Leonard's best chance of beating Roberto Duran in a time machine would be to fight the pre 1973 Duran at 135 pounds........... Duran was NOT in his true prime when he beat Ken Buchanan in New York in 1972.... At age 21, Duran was still shy of his real prime days / years..........
    :deal

    SO! Okay, perhaps the Benny Leonard of 1922 does indeed school the Duran of 1972 in a time machine, that I can believe is possible.... But the Leonard of 1922 / '23 fighting the Roberto Duran of 1974 / '75 at 135 pounds, no way would Benny Leonard beat that animal in the ring.......
    :bbb

    MR.BILL
     
  5. junior-soprano

    junior-soprano Active Member Full Member

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    first : i am not saying that he ain't the best. i haven't seen enough off him to make a fair judgement. but if duran was better then that is a good criteria. nothing wrong with that imo
     
  6. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

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    Of course you are correct, Leonard was crude and easy to hit,a myth.
    Him, and all those other old guys were rubbish.
     
  7. Sweet Pea

    Sweet Pea Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    Once again, you're talking straight out of your ass. I remember when you said something similar about Jofre.:lol:
     
  8. TheGreatA

    TheGreatA Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I wonder how Benny Leonard came up with those 70 knockouts he had if he couldn't bust an egg. Willie Ritchie, Freddie Welsh, Rocky Kansas, Johnny Kilbane and Charley White must have been taking dives.
     
  9. Bill Butcher

    Bill Butcher Erik`El Terrible`Morales Full Member

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    All this might be true.... but the tele evidence of Benny is disgraceful to say the least so we`ll never know for sure.

    Im one of those posters that like to see more than the black & white words of a fighters resume.

    Ps. how many times have you read/heard about a fight then when you see it, it looks **** all like it was made out to be - THATS the reason you wont find Benny Leonard, Greb, Langford & co on my lists.


    Botswana :smoke
     
  10. MRBILL

    MRBILL Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    F.O., Peawee............. If Benny Leonard even dreamed in a time machine he could hurt or KO Duran, he better wake up and apologize.......:hi:

    MR.BILL

    Peawee,

    Also, your butt-buddy Jofre may have been great at 118 pounds, but for Christ Sake, nobody could hardly ever get that guy to leave his backyard in Brazil.......
     
  11. Drew101

    Drew101 Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Add Saoul Mamby, Ernesto Marcel, Hiroshi Kobayashi, and Guts Ishimatsu and Hector Thompson to the list of quality champions and challengers for Duran, and this becomes a lot closer in terms of comparing resume.
     
  12. MRBILL

    MRBILL Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    I agree......... People tend to forgot that Duran fought plenty of NON-title fights against quality fighters at weights of 136 to 148 pounds between 1972 to 1979....
    :hey:good

    MR.BILL
     
  13. teeto

    teeto Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    :rofl:rofl
     
  14. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

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    Mr Bill,I fnd your posts entertaining ,but, you are wrong if you think Leonard couldn't punch.
    He was the only man to stop Welsh.
    He dropped a great welterweight in Jack Britton ,who was only stopped once in 196 fights.
    Stopped Rocky Kansas,who was only stopped 3 times in 85 fights.
    Kod Ritchie Mitchell twice.
    Floored Jimmy duffy 6 times in 2 rds for an early stoppage.
    Kod that great left hooker Charley White who was stopped 4 times in 111 fights.
    Leonard had a fast and deadly right hand ko punch ,his %'s are misleading ,because he fought a ton of no dec bouts .
    Read up on him a bit, he had good power.:good
     
  15. My2Sense

    My2Sense Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I'd say it suggests that he had lost focus/desire after Leonard beat the **** out of him.

    Welsh was supposed to be damn near "impossible" to stop right up until that fight, so a win like that is damn impressive regardless of any speculated circumstances.


    Leonard weighed within the LW limit for one of their fights which he is credited with winning a no-decision in.