Leonard moves up to middleweight and fights the defending champion Gene Fulmer for his title. Does Leonard take it?
Fulmer's style was so ugly, Leonard would quit, either doubled over with laughter or too grossed out to continue.
Leonard would love to knock Fullmer out in the first round just to prove he's far greater than everyone already thinks. He goes into this fight planning to kayo Gene early if he can. That's the kind of ego he has. Can he do it? Yes, if he stuns Fullmer and follows up with a volley of fast, hard punches that land solidly -- as he did against Pete Ranzany, Donny Lalonde and Dave "Boy" Green -- he could put Fullmer away. The only way Gene could slow Ray down is by ramping up his no-fouls-barred means of attack. I don't think Leonard will wilt under this pressure. Leonard took a perverse, almost sadistic pleasure in knocking tough-guy style maulers and hard punchers unconscious. This time he'd have an extra incentive: To outdo the "other" Sugar Ray who beat only Fullmer once in four tries. Fullmer would be a valuable pelt for Leonard to hang on his wall.
Leonard knuckle s down and gets a decision over Fullmer. This is not a comfortable fight for the Sugar man tho ,Fullmer would never stop coming forward and his chin wasn't bad at all.
It would depend on the referee and the era they fought. Fullmer was much stronger than Ray. He used that strength and awkwardness to his advantage. He would maul his oppponents. When he fought Robinson in 1957 he basically tackled Ray and pushed him out of the ring. They called it a knockdown and that was in New York. If the fight is out west they would probably have a ring the size of a broom closet. If they fought in the 50s Fullmer by decision. In the 80s Leonard would probably be able to have some room to box and move away. In that case Leonard on points.
Fullmer would overpower Leonard GF was a legitimate 160lber champ, a guy with a good defence and a very physical style I don’t think Leonard did anything better then Robinson in fact I think he fell quite short of SRR and is closer to say Mayweather… the gulf in boxing ain’t wide, the size and strength is up there, Fullmer had the style to stop Leonard doing what he wanted look he’d be in the fight but it’d be an ugly bout - I’ll rewatch them both, for the sake of keeping this thread alive instead of more HW hot dogs and monster trucks.
Hi Guys. So, this fight features an ATG, with a very solid chin ( in his prime ) up against a strong rugged, but predictable, non top ten middleweight, who was beaten by the likes of, Gil Turner, Del Flanagan, Bobby Boyd, and Al Andrews ? add to this Leonard hung with and beat a top 3/4 ATG in Hagler, took on LHWs and KOd them, beat a monster at WW in Hearns, went toe to toe with a peak Duran, and lost by a whisper, also some have compared and aligned SRR loses to Fullmer as a vocal point, that doesn't equate in my mind, the Robinson that Fullmer beat was shopworn and old, lots of respected poster have his prime when he weighed 147, which was long before he fought the likes of Fullmer, Basilio, etc, I sense a nostalgic whiff of, Leonard isn't man enough, he is a fancy boxer but will be found wanting when the going gets tough, and Gene will bully him, not for me, Ray had steel in him, which was supplemented by a huge ego, which truly great fighter didn't have one, for me this fight will be a grandstand for Leonard to showboat his vast array of skills, of which he had in abundance, he could win how he wanted, either by supreme boxing, had fast jabs, followed by blistering combinations, or stay in close, and deny room for Genes overhand grenade throwing rights, either way I don't envisage this great fighter losing to the likes of Fullmer, good solid fighter that he was. stay safe guys, chat soon. Mike.
When I envision fantasy matches I envision the competitors at the absolute pinnacle of their careers and when I look back at past competition i always pay close attention to what stages the competirors were in their careers. If not why do the exercise or just call it handicap matches.