He was at his complete peak when he retired, much like Ali at the time he entered exile. You could argue his peak started when he came out the other side of the Duran rematch tho as he had mastered the mental side of the game after a crash course from Duran in their first fight. Everything was in place at that time.
Between Andy Price and Bruce Finch. Yes I'm including Montreal, against Duran because even in that fight, he was coming on strong the last 3rds. And it may have set the stage for what was to come in their 2nd fight, and "No Mas" . Between Price and Finch though very few welterweights would've been a serious challenge for him, the night he beat Hearns probably only one, that's the original " Sugar Ray". Ray Leonard still is the best welterweight I've seen, only surpassed by the legendary run at welterweight by Ray Robinson.
Someone posted a video of him whooping Davey Greens *** on here the other day, I would say that was a pretty vintage performance.. His actual peak was pretty short lived, he suffered quite a bit of damage in that hearns fight despite going on to more success at the higher weights
Leonard's assault of Pete Ranzany has lingered in my memory in the 40-odd years since. It was similar to his annihilation of Dave Boy Green. Leonard was vicious.
As JT says, he was at his peak when he retired in 1982. His final fight before he announced his retirement in November 1982 was in the February when he was still only 25 years old. That fight showed Leonard being so good that he could effectively play with Bruce Finch as if beating him required no special effort on his part. Once he got bored of playing, he just took him out like he was flicking a switch. It was like a cat playing with a mouse for its own amusement and then saying ‘playtime’s over.’ He could have beaten almost any welterweight in history at that point.
