By the same token, I respect your p-o-v as well. SRL beat better fighters in his time, which is a formidable argument in itself and obviously has merit. I don't understand how anyone can get too hot and bothered about this issue really, they are both stone cold ATGs in the same vicinity as each other.
Honestly I think once we're outside the top 5, there is very little separating the next 15 guys. At number 6 I have armstrong and at number 20 I have hagler. All these guys are brilliantly great.
I agree man. Both guys have had such amazing careers that had I accomplished 10% of what they did in mine, I'd literally skip instead of walk the rest of my life. Ring Gods, the pair of them.
I always feel that because they were both extra-ordinary but one was a lightweight and the other a welterweight, it was impossible to rank Leonard above Duran due to their prime meetings being 1-1. Over-simplified probably, but they seem to have been "equal" when they met in their best years and Duran was the one moving up. So pound for pound...
I think that if duran can beat a prime leonard at his prime weight then he can certainly beat leonard at lightweight. Duran fought everyone at their ideal weight. Had he fought them at his prime weight he'd have been much more successful imo.
Absolutely:deal IMO by keeping it simple the glaring truth is for all to see & that Duran became only the 2nd fighter in history since Armstrong to successfully navigate his way from 135 to 147 & whipping the P4P global golden boy SRL in fine style while doing it & least we forget that total domination of another great previous champion of his time in Carlos Palamino & that was when he was 29 yr's of age which back then was positivly gereatric:yep Leonards accomplishments are no where near that of Duran's:bart Too much contraversy & smoke & mirrors with Leonard & his home-made on/off career IMHO:smoke Duran beat Leonard when Leonard was at his peak with all the advantages of youth/weight/strength/power/speed & it counted for ****-all once Duran got his teeth into him & leonard could only best Duran by employing underhand & unsporting methods & tactics to gain the upperhand in the re-match & this was a blue-print of the policy Leonard then employed for the rest of his home-made on/off career & thats never to fight anyone on an equal & level playing field if yer can get away with it. he did that with Duran in Montreal & got battered & against Hearns in 81 he was comprehensivly outboxed the whole fight until Hearns gassed out. You never saw Duran duck Hagler did you:bart
Another reason why I think Duran is a very special ATG is that his performances in the SRL and Palomino fights said to me that he could be one of the extremely select group (including SRR) who would be top 10 or possibly even top 5 H2H at two of the traditional 8 weight classes.
Leonard because he has better wins, is more versatile, managed to prevail against kryptonite and is a more complete package Wasn't his last LW fight at the age of 26, with plenty of fights around 140lbs inbetween his LW defenses. I think Duran was prime when he beat Leonard at the age of 28, and prime but not in his greatest condition in the rematch
Duran wasn't 'moving up though' he'd been at WW for 2 1/2years and had fully grown into the weight Leonard's loss to Duran also isn't as bad as Duran's loss to DeJesus. I can't see Leonard losing to a fighter like. Hagler was also more highly rated at the time Leonard fought him that Leonard was when Duran beat him. The Leonard win for Duran only grew as Leonard rebounded and had greater success against Hearns and Hagler, in a way like the. But wait