Do you consider Ray Leonard among the 20 Greatest fighters of all-time ?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Unforgiven, Jul 17, 2008.


  1. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    That is your position. Mine is that the case can be made either way. That being the case, sweeping Leonard out of the 20 based upon what is a possibility - and not actually one I agree is true - seems invalid.

    You rate Monzon above him because he dominated one weight divsion. Burley because he regularly fought men in bigger weight divisions. Kid Chocolate because was talented and robbed. All this is true. But as far as criteria goes it basically takes into account eveything apart from what interests most people most - fights against other all time great fighters whilst at or around peak. Here, he is 4 and 1 having tangled with more ATG fighters than most great boxers. He was severely tested and passed, in a way fighters with more fights, who were more dominant across a longer period of time, were not.
     
  2. redrooster

    redrooster Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Remember, I am more knowledgable of the accomplishments of past fighters than many here (though I am decades past my prime) so you may see names which you are not accustomed to seeing.

    Just taking a sample from each decade you could do it without a problem. I don't like to thrown names around thats not my style but here are a couple

    Johnson, Fitzsimmons, Dempsey, McGovern, Wilde, Villa, Jeffries, Atell, Gans, Ketchel, the great B.L, Loughran, Walker, Greb, Tunney, Flowers, Mclarnin, Louis, Basilio, Cerdan, Moore, Charles, Marciano, Robinson, Jofre, D. Tiger, Ali, Arguello, Monzon, Napoles, Duran, M. Spinks, Hagler, Camacho, Norris, Jones, Bowe

    That's at least 35 off the top of my head but I know I missed a few people
     
  3. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    :blood

    You rank Dempsey above Leonard pound for pound?
     
  4. Sweet Pea

    Sweet Pea Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    :lol: Says the guy who didn't include Henry Armstrong in the top 25 list he posted a while back.
     
  5. Minotauro

    Minotauro Boxing Addict Full Member

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    You rate Riddick Bowe over Ray Leonard?
     
  6. redrooster

    redrooster Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Yes I do. His winning performances over Holyfield proved his greatness besides all his other great wins. Bowe changed me from a skeptic to believer and a huge fan.
     
  7. Addie

    Addie Myung Woo Yuh! Full Member

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    If you rate Bowe over Leonard then you lose credibility. He had an incredibly short career also, and didn't beat the fighters that Ray did. I should have known.
     
  8. Addie

    Addie Myung Woo Yuh! Full Member

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    Camacho and Norris :patsch
     
  9. Unforgiven

    Unforgiven VIP Member banned Full Member

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    I dont really see what you're saying about the Louis/Leonard debate.
    Louis is just one name of the 20. Personally I rate Louis above Leonard, for which you admit there is a case. So, that shouldn't be a problem.

    I dont accept that "wins over other all-time greats" are all that should matter. Seeing off the challenges of a good field of competitors is a lot of what being a great champion is about, certainly in the days when there was one champ. Or clearing up contenders, fighting the top guys multiple times, re-matching the men who gave close fights etc.

    Sometimes very good contenders are prevented from becoming "greats" because they came up against a better one who bar their path to greatness. So I dont put as much stock in that than you suggest we should. For example, Hagler's win over Thomas Hearns was a classic display, but I dont necessarily believe his "ATG" tag actually made him a "tougher test" to pass than some of the other tough men at middleweight Hagler fought his entire career.

    That's not to say that I dont believe in the significance of Leonard's wins over ATG, or his greatness. I do believe. I just think the gaps and layoffs, short title reigns etc., compromise the overall picture and that he wouldn't feature in my top 20.

    On reflection, Charley Burley is the only name on my list I'd re-consider.
     
  10. redrooster

    redrooster Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I would also add DLH, P.W., Bob Foster, Armstrong, Ross, Canzonari, Burley, Victor Galindez, Saad Muhammad, Sal Sanchez. That's another ten.

    See how easy it was?

    This doesn't look good for Leonard. :oops:
     
  11. Russell

    Russell Loyal Member Full Member

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    I don't see how you can rate Bowe on a P4P list.

    That's a lot of ****in' pounds.
     
  12. enquirer

    enquirer Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Yes,and p4p head to head top ten. Even robinson doesnt have the four great wins that leonard has....
    Some atg fighters have never defeated a fellow atg,and some have defeated maybe one,ray beat four and all of them were in very good shape when he beat them. (ie,not shot,40 pounds overweight or 300 years old.)
     
  13. he grant

    he grant Historian/Film Maker

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    Galendez, Saad Muhammad pound for pound over Sugar Ray Leonard ? Am I catching this right or missing something ? It's got to be a joke, right ? :yikes
     
  14. redrooster

    redrooster Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Saad and Vic were two of my heroes. He was even nicknamed miracle matthew for the way he pulled them out. I've never seen Ray in the kind of trouble Matt had been in then come back to win. And he did this over and over.

    Galindez of course was a great fighter. Even with his face sliced up in the Rossman fight he would never say die whereas most other fighters would have just given up. I'm not saying Leonard would have but I don't think Ray would have lasted as long under the same circumstances. Up until the end, Vic was giving as good as he got! And you know what happened in the rematch. :good

    Two good examples of Matt's courage and ability to come back to win were the rematches with Lopez and Johnson. I could scarcely believe what I was seeing, like something out of a Hollywood movie. Yet they did happen.

    leonard had never really been in trouble the way matt was. When he ran into problems he ususally lost like in the Duran fight when Roberto tagged his chin, that was it for him and let Roberto dictate.

    Same with Norris. The fight was up for grabs when round two was about to end when Terry caught him with a blinding left then followed up the next round with the uppercut. Norris owned him from that point on.

    In short, Ray dint do well in tough fights wheras Matt and Vic thrived on them and were able to make numerous deefenses.
     
  15. redrooster

    redrooster Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    What re you talking about? Robinson owns wins over everyone that was champion from two decades. Robbie could have beat a worn out slug like Hagler any day of the week!

    Robbie whipped Armstrong. He whipped Zivic. He whipped Bell, Gavilan, lamotta five times. And that's just for starters. With Leonard you'd be lucky if he even gave one rematch and if he did, it would be at the end of the decade.