Robinson, Ali of 64-67, Willie Pep were all perhaps better fighters than a prime Leonard but he`s in their league certainly & its very debateable because Ray Leonard WAS absolute top tier, one of the apex of boxing.
Something about this man that just amazes me ... he seemed nice and humble on the outside but the confidence he had and the style he possessed will probably never been seen ever again. Speed, power, combination punching, good defense, great awareness ... he fought fights he didn't have to fight and he managed to win. A win against Camacho would've set up a fight with DLH ... he didn't have to fight Norris, nor did he have to fight Camacho. He could've ended his career with one loss ... he didn't have to fight Hagler either as it was evident that he had problems with his eyes and the long layoff hurt his endurance.
1. Thats right , but Roy never fought anyone with rays speed and accuracy at MW and left gaps which others could not counter , but ray had the speed and technique to , as he has proved against the best MW of all time Hagler. 2. Thats also true , benitez though is a bigger version of Whittacker , but with better defence, and was stopped. Sweat pea a great lightweight, but not welter. 3. Floyd is a very smart fighter , but Ray is just better in every department , i didnt say it wouldnt be competitve just that floyd loses every round. This is no disrespect to floyd as he is great , but below Ray. 4. Im not glorifying every boxer of the past , but when you bring up Sugar ray leonard you are up against a top 5 great of all time so your standards have to be very high. Of the men mentioned Roy , Sweat Pea and floyd , these are truely great fighters , but Leonard is simply better , no disrepsect to current or recent fighters.
Tito would have been swinging at fresh air for 12 rounds , Oscar had him swinging away for 8 rounds and missing ,SRL would kill him before he even got to hopkins. Please look at a couple of videos and see how good ray really was , truely amazing.
The problem is Hearns hits harder then some heavyweights. His power is all about LEVERAGE. If Floyd got cocky and made a mistake, you better believe that Hearn's sharpness and precision would nail PBF. Plus, hearns had the reach of a damn heavyweight! he was around 6`1! His reach would probably eliminate some of Floyd's speed and accuracy. I give it to Hearns, 4th round KO!
I'm obviously not saying he's better than Leonard but I believe a prime Camacho Sr. would beat Leonard at LW OR JWW...:yep
It took something amazing to beat Thomas Hearns at welter... That exactly what SRL was... Really watch a SRL fight from the beginning to end. He would be wide eyed, studying his opponent, watching their tendencies, looking for mistakes. After 2 or 3 rds. he would start to dissect them. Now PBF lovers, here`s the difference between PBF and SRL. Once SRL saw what he needed to see(usually followed by a cool smile on his face on the way to his corner between rds). He would open up, and look to dominate and punish his victim and close the show with balls, power and panache. He was about spectacular victories! He dared to be great,and he fully undertook the risk that came with that. PBF does not! If he was matched against a guy who was as fast, hit MUCH harder, and who would look to dominate as SRL would. His gifts couldn`t overcome the whole package that was SRL. You might think or say that PBF had tighter defense, true maybe. But thats because PBF doens`t take the risks associated with going balls out for a spectacular victory. SRL, could be hit because he went for it... I actuall think that SRL would break PBF in half with his very underated body attack. If you don`t think so, you might want to ask Thomas hearns... SRR would have had ice cream between rds if he fough PBF... The reason I like SRR over SRL at welter, is that SRR did it all with a bit more power, impenetrable chin, and better height and reach(which he used well) Plus like SRL, SRR would not be wary of going after it when he needed to...