Could Napoles at his best pull out a Duran-style win over Leonard?

Napoles would be a tremendously difficult proposition for Duran i feel. I never knew about them avoiding him though.

 

sorry to dissapoint you people but Leonard wasnt good enough to be in there with a fighter like Napoles. He was made from a lesser stock

 

True story. Verified in the recent Duran book Hands of Stone ... keep in mind we are referring to the younger Duran than the prime monster that fought Leonard ...

 

It would be a tough fight, but the key difference for me is Napoles doesn't "phonebooth" you like Duran does and doesn't really unpredictably surge in with feints and combos like Duran either.His slipping and countering is more about settling into that steady smooth rhythm at mid-range.

whoever wins i tend to see it being a more polite textbook boxing affair than Duran Leonard, though it would have it's explosive moments no doubt.Think Napoles vs Lewis 1 and Clyde Gray, punctuated with some tougher and more viscious exchanges like Leonard Kalule.

I'm not so sure i like Napoles' intricate defensive style against as quick a puncher as Ray either.Like Duran much of it is based on technique and that innate spacial awareness/sense of distance, but Duran had better reflexes and was often freakish in his eye for the best defensive position up close.Napoles would be the one more likely to struggle at getting settled into a defensive rhythm here imo, though Leonard might be the one taking the occasional heavier counter because of his tendency to slip into more Ali-Nunnish moves at times.Jose would flat out have trouble getting out of way ofpunches he sees coming and usually knows he can slip... think similar to what happened to canto against speed demon Chan-hee park, though to a lesser extent if we are taking napoles at his welter peak from the cokes fight rather than just, say a typical overall Welter mantequilla.

 

Armando Muniz who fought both says Napoloes would have beaten SRL.

 

Didn't he say that after Leonard had just beat the brakes off him, though?

 

No he said it at the Klitchko-Arreola fight last year. There is a link on it on you tube. I forgot who was interviewing him someone familiar though. They also asked him about the then up and coming Pac-Cotto fight. His response was pretty quick in picking Napoloes over Leonard. The interviewer asked him really!! Muniz replied oh yeah Napoloes would have won.

 

Stylewise? NO!!

Joe Naps was a slick boxer, but SRL was slicker and stronger..... Ray wins.......

Duran beat Leonard in Canada with savage amusement and underrated power at 147....... Duran's approach caught SRL off guard, but it only worked once.....

MR.BILL:rasta

 

That is what I was trying to say before.

 

Good post.

 

That's definitely possible. The thing is, it's so difficult to predict what Leonard will show up. You'll get the controlled boxing display Leonard one night and the take-a-punch-to-give-a-punch slugger Leonard another. Who could have known that he would just turn up and bang with Kalule rather than boxing him? Napoles style is probably more suited to brawling though, even if not to the same extent as Duran's is. I'm not sure Leonard would necessarily get the better of a war.

 

What makes you say that?

 

Interesting. He doesn't elaborate on it, unfortunately.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixZw8AigScs[/ame]

 

Mante has shied away from making a prediction though. I'm disappointed.

 

I don't really like all that kind of thinking though myself, it's like what i always say about 'Montreal Duran', and i'm consistent with it. I don't think it's really a case of which Leonard turns up, Leonard is Leonard, and he'll do what he can to win. If he loses, then it's full credit to his opponent imo. I do understand that there are some instances where what you are saying applies, but i tend to reserve it for those wherein a fighter is fighting so often he may be tired etc, or a past prime fighter. Not in hypothetical matches where the fighter hypothetically has all the time in the world to train. If you get what i mean?