Who do you rate Higher Benny Leonard or Pernell Whittaker?

I dont think Ive ever scored that fight...I just sit back and enjoy it.

Whilst I dont ever remember thinking Pryor was falling behind, the fight certainly felt like it was in the balance around that time.

 

...Pryor won more rounds, certainly.

 

1. Benny Leonard
2. Pernell Whitaker

Head to head I like Leonard in a very close decision.

I rank them as the best lightweights and the best p4p boxers of all time. I base this on their skills/abalities and their in ring acomplishments.

 

I think Leonard's wins over an ATG welter like Jack Britton give him the edge over Pea. Add to that the fact that Leonard had more fights against HOF/quality opposition, and on film looks to have been a bit more talented and well-rounded than Pea.

The flipside to that would be that Pea did succeed in capturing the welter title, whereas Leonard came up short when it seemed the way was wide open for him.

 

My2Sense...Regarding your comment on Leonard falling short of the Welterweight title...In 1922, Leonard dropped the Great Welter Champ, Jack Britton, in the 13th round, and did something not in character for Leonard..He hit Britton while Britton was taking a count, and the referee disqualified Leonard, for his foolish action...Mystery there ...Later on it was hinted that Billy Gibson, Leonards mgr. was warned by mobsters that Leonard could not win...Or else...So ability wise Leonard m,should have been Welterweight champion also...He was that great...Just before Leonard retired in 1925,he cwas offered a title bout against the Toy Bulldog, Mickey Walker, but decided to retire instead...Now THAT would have been a test for the great lightweight, Benny Leonard...

 

Leonard on both counts.

 

didn't know about that:admin

 

damn right! sing it brother:bbb

 

oh yeah, and as to the thread...stupid classic forum! it's always getting in the way of what i KNOW. which apparently isn't much at all...

after reading this thread, as well as a couple of other threads in recent weeks, i can't rate whitaker higher than leonard anymore at either lightweight or p4p. i want to but i'm having trouble justifying it other than "we have film of pernell and he looks awesome!".

my top 3 at lightweight doesn't actually even include whitaker at the moment and p4p, i used to have him in my top 10 but that has to be re-evaluated as well

 

Laugh it up but neither of you can actually justify such a placing unless your criteria specify's that all candidates must be Mexican.

 

haha, no but i just got a soft spot for lopez. i rate my guys in my top 100 heavily on ability and talent. it's skewed as such unfortunately away from people we don't have footage of but essentially lopez was undefeated, two weight champion, whose resume sucks but looked almost flawless on film for most of his career pre-alvarez. that's damn impressive.

 

How do you measure talent and well roundedness? Leonard looks to have been maybe a bit more athletic, with better footwork, but I don't see many other things he did better than Whitaker. And from the footage available, his body work, infighting ability and defense are not as good as Whitaker's, nor is his combination punching.

 

They are very much mioor images of each other.