Could Ray Leonard have achieved greatness above welterweight?

Point well made.We'll agree to disagree on this one.I believe that the Hagler that fought Leonard would have lost to the Hearns that should have gotten the nod over Leonard in their last fight.I don't think Leonard looked great against Hearns in that fight,as obviously he was past prime.But he still looked pretty damn effective.Just different perceptions.Hagler looked sluggish and slow as early as the Roldan fight and that fact was being publicly discussed by boxing commentators like Larry Merchant and Jerry Izenburg(thanks Redrooster).

 

:good

 

I thought Benitez fought great at 154 and might have been his most consistent weight. Too bad he lost to Hearns, he could have gone on at that weight for 2 more years. He completely outboxed Duran the same year Hearns beat him. 154 was the last great weight for Benitez.

 

which I think he should have when you take into consideration how he always asked for Duran,Hearns and Leonard to move up in weight.

 

Why?Spinks wasn't on his radar.He always wanted to be known as one of the greatest middleweights ever.The lightheavyweight division posed no interest for him.Funny though,because you didn't mention that the lightheavyweight division wasn't on Leonard's radar either,until less than elite Donny Lalonde became its champion,and STILL Leonard had Lalonde fight at the 168 pound catchweight so he could claim another belt in the then recently formed supermiddleweight division.

 

He would need to stay away from Tony Sibson.

 

:good

 

Sibbo would have run the **** over

 

So Leonard defeated Hearns in Sept. '81. & by '82 He's past prime??? Leonard matured into a great fighter, by coming back to defeat Hearns. and was absolute in peak form by '82! His fight with Kalule was brilliant! The detatched retina cut him down considerably.

 

The following morning I went out to buy the paper becuz Hagler's performance was so explosive. I think I still have it. When I find it I'll post a portion of it

October 20, 1984

"Before these proceedings becams history, we had been told that Marvelous was getting a little long in the tooth...that now he was 30...slippage, they added had begun to set in"

there's more about this subject in RIng magazine covering this same fight "Hagler hammers Hamsho" but you get the point

 

I believe the pressure would get to Leonard before long and break him in the way Camacho did to a much older version. No later than the 5th would Leonard be groaning from his mortal wounds, ready to give up the ghost. The end result would be Sibson standing, leonard sitting

vs Sibbo, one of the top contenders of Hagler's day, this would go down as a gross mismatch of man vs boy that somehow the fans & media alike did not see coming (as with Terry Norris)

Ray does better against opponents that dont have alot of speed or power. a defense against Graham would have gone well for him as Graham is mostly awkard and hard to handle but wouldn't be able to hurt Leonard

 

Like Norris does good with opponents that have NO power. Riddle me this, why did he consistently duck McCallum ???

 

Gotta love how Rooster ducks any conversation involving Norris horrendously shaky chin Keeps pointing to a victory over a 35 yr old SRL as a career defining victory. Do you think Norris would have evr had the b...ls to challenge Hagler ??? Didn`t think so...

 

I agree. Ray did some odd rule breaking to fight Lalonde for two belts, yet Donny was not a 168 pound titlest and fought light for 175.. But the thing I always thought about Hagler is he did not respect the fact other guys were moving up to fight him. I think had he really been as great as Hearns or Leonard or Duran he should have moved up and fought at 175... just to prove he could do what they attempted to do and what Hearns did.

 

Norris didnt duck McCallum

Had the two met, Norris' speed would have carried the day

Too much speed