Who was the better fighter p4p? I think all would agree Ali is greater and nearly everyone rates him higher on resume but looking at both individually, who was better p4p?
It's close, but the way I see it Ali was at a disadvantage and underdog in some of his most important fights (Liston I and II and the Foreman fight, also 3-4 yrs of his prime wasted away) while Leonard kinda fought and won on his terms or with a good advantage (Made Hagler wait for yrs and fought him right after Hagler had a grueling war with Mugabe and also losing to a slightly past his prime lightweight Duran where Srl also had physical advantages over him.) Regardless, I still think Srl made some of the best figgts in history and you could expect that when a top 5 welterweight like Leonard faced the best lightweight and arguably the best middleweight of all time. Hearns was no doubt his best at 154, tho Srl has a win over him at 147, its clear Tommy is his equal the way he beat Srl at 168 and got robbed. I have Ali slightly ahead of Leonard.
Ali, in both talent and resume, no question Leonard is still a worthy comparison though, a great fighter and a legend
Scale down a man who can move the way Ali did at 6'3 220 lb and you have an even quicker more fleet footed version, Ali no question.
For my likes, I go with Leonard. I used to love to watch him fight, smooth as hell, made it look so easy. The combos he gave Hearns during mid-fight were stuff of legends.
leonard...the originator of stipulations shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as ali. even though leonard has wins over duran, hearns and hagler...i rate all three of them higher on my atg list.
Ali - just because of the way he could move for a heavyweight... Looked like a lightweight dancing around the ring. Even Leonard couldn't replicate the Ali shuffle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkoQB_ziHDU