Sugar Ray Leonard vs Pete Ranzany

Check out that right hand at 1.35. Leonard was like lightning at his peak. Damn.

 

What a horrible beat down. Referee should have waved it off after the first knockdown.

 

This fight is one of the main reasons I don't really buy the "Leonard fought Duran's fight" bollocks re the Brawl In Montreal. Leonard was comfortable fighting aggressively on flat feet and throwing punches with mean intent, he did it before Montreal and he did it very, very well. People seem to think he was all twinkle-toes and pitty-pat point scorers on the backfoot. Not so at all IMO. He was an absolute badass and fought like one often.

I really don't want to take GreatA's thread down that ancient and thoroughly tedious road though, so I'll say no more about it, I'll instead just appreciate one of the finest all-round performances from one of the greatest fighting machines of all-time. Thank you for posting this.

 

Far too late for that, Popkins, I suspect.

Ray Leonard can never seem to get his due in the Classic forum without someone bringing up Montreal or the Hagler controversy. It's a damn shame.

 

I rarely see anyone mention either of them. Leonard gets the credit he deserves for sure. He is a stone-cold ATG, one of the greatest fighters ever p4p, and he is not refused this status on this forum, other than by a couple of trolls that no-one takes seriously anyway.

 

Very true.

Who the hell was more versatile than Leonard? :think

 

:rofl I don't mean to be an annoying ****, Popkins, but that's pretty odd.

 

The only people who refuse to recognize Leonard's status are a couple of notorious trolls. Even if someone thinks Hagler beat Leonard, it's still a colossal achievement for SRL that he even managed to make it debatable, considering the circumstances. And he avenged Montreal. So even if these two things are mentioned, big deal. Neither of them detract in any major way from one of the greatest careers in history. **** the trolls. Serious fans recognize Leonard's greatness and his status, I never see non-trolls degrading him.

 

Yeah, but poor Pete hung on way too long. Look at Ranzany versus LaRocca, what a beautiful boxing exhibition. you could swear you were watching Ali reincarnated!

 

And the most lethal knockout of his career came immediately prior to Montreal. He had to be figuring he could at least drop Duran if DeJesus was able to do it twice. Ray's body of work prior to Montreal needs to be more closely looked at by younger fans. A very different customer than Howard Davis, Jr., who more closely resembled in actuality that twinkle-toes and pitty-pat backfoot point scoring stereotype. (Howard had neither the punch torque or chin to attempt carrying off what SRL did.)

No, instead, I'd encourage folks to watch Ray dropping Ecklund multiple times, starch Javier Muniz in one, or handling Mayweather Sr. His climb up the ladder was impressive, and it bears repeating that he was not the biggest star from that 1976 US Olympic Team when his professional career began.

 

Whilst were on the subject...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cXppog_20c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cXppog_20c[/ame]

 

What a disgraceful referee. **** sake.