Well, Duran still had Davey Moore and Iran Barkley ahead of him. As well as being very competitive with Hagler, only challenger to take him 15 rounds. All great performances against bigger, younger men.
Leonard`s of course. SRL-Duran II was one of SRLs most important fights for his legacy in a positive historical sense.... vice versa for Roberto.
Leonard would have missed out on Hearns, Hagler & Lalonde tho. There really is no dispute here, the answer is 100% Leonard.
Leonard would probably still have met Hearns, maybe Hagler too. Lalonde was completely contrived. I'm of the same opinion. I think Duran would have dropped a few places, maybe. But Leonard would have dropped a lot.
Still think the Hearns fight was as important and as proof of his talent. I have Leonard between 20-30 on my ATG list.
I just do not see how beating Moore and Barkley is that great an accomplishment in light of the fact that he lost to Benitez and Hearns at 154 and to Hagler at 160. Being competitive with a fighter is not that great considering it was not a brawl. it was a tactical fight where Hagler was sort of lackadaisical and had to turn it up at the end. Now Mugabi vs. Hagler was competitive and a war for 11 rounds. Had Duran retired after Montreal yes it would have helped his legacy, since after that he never beat another legend in 21 years of fighting.
How do you explain Duran losing to Benitez easily a little over a year after he lost to Leonard? Another fix?
Nah, Ray would have won the title again and fought those guys. He would have just explained the Duran fight off as fighting Duran's fight as was proven he did by how easily he beat Duran in the rematches. But Duran would have always come back and had another fight and Ray would have won the fight easily by moving like he did in the rematch and rubber match.
Can you imagine how good Hagler would have looked had he retired after he stopped Hearns? That would have hurt Leonard's legacy since he would not have had the Hagler fight to enhance his greatness. Alot can be said for retiring at the right time, but fighters never do it. Had Ray retired after Hagler, or at least after the 3rd Duran fight he would be seen a little better than now after Terry Norris. Norris exposed him as an old fighter.