There may have been a couple of fighters that could have possibly beaten Duran, but nobody destroys a prime Duran.
i've seen srl's highlights and they are extremely impressive and i feel he can give anyone hell and beat 90% of fighters to have been within his weight range. but few people can stylistically match up well with a prime hopkins. he's tall for his weight, versatile, has only been hurt in one fight, and can make almost any fight his fight. while joe calzaghe is no where near srl, the stylistic comparison of hopkins vs srl could be foreshadowed by hopkins vs calzaghe. of course, much better with both men in their primes.
Leonard is best welterweight I've ever seen in my lifetime,BUT,to claim he would have beaten any middleweight h2h is just irresponsible.The reality is that for years,he openly and publicly discussed the possibility of a mega-fight with Marvin Hagler,waiting until Hagler was shot before challenging Marv.He wanted nothing to do with Marvelous until Hagler proved beyond any doubt that his feet were in quicksand and he couldn't get out of the way of a punch anymore when he fought Mugabi.No doubt Lenny was a great fighter,but he was even a bigger conman,and,judging by the thread originator's source Lenny interview,is still one of the biggest egomaniacal assholes ever.How dare anyone question his superiority.
I dont really know when you consider Hopkins prime was. Was it when he was embarrassed by RJJ? Was it when he lost to taylor? A fat past it Oscar didnt look too bad against Bhop before the bodyshot, in fact I think he won a couple of rounds. SRL was a much better MW than Oscar, I think a much better MW than Taylor too.
1. No way in hell should Leonard be favoured over Hopkins at 160lbs. You don't even think Hopkins would be competitive? Bad call. 2. Floyd, Whitaker, De La Hoya, and Mosley would be competitive at Welterweight in losing fights to Leonard.
i understand what you mean. hopkins has gone through plenty of transformations during his career. i would probably say the hopkins that fought trinidad. his movement and reflexes were in complete condition and he could counter when he saw the opening, as opposed to clinching or simply waiting for his opponent to be completely out of position like he does now.
I don't even like Leonard. I was one of those "sell-outs" back then, even as a little kid, who rooted for Duran.
I'd have my money on Leonard in that match. Picking Robinson by a mid-round stoppage is laughable. What is this supposed to be based on? Robinson was great, but that's wildly glorifying him.