What if Ray Leonard....

The opnion that Leonard purposefully waited for Hagler to get old is ridiculous and revisionist history especially when considering the fight was getting talked about as early as 1981.
And more than likely would've happened before 1984 if Leonard didn't receive the eye injury, and his own personal demons it triggered.
Leonard was a competitor, and nothing would've driven that edge more than a victory over the most dominate champion of that era.
And in my opinion he would've beaten Hagler as early as 1983 when Duran fought him.
Hagler was the most destructive middleweight in history when opponents were aggressive with him or if he could force them to be aggressive.
But it was proven by Watts, Monroe, Duran and Antefermo ( Of all boxers) he could be taken out of his game.
Especially when he was forced to lead, and the opponent had the ability to counter his counters as Duran demonstrated against a " prime " version of Hagler .
I love Hagler, but he like every boxer had a weakness. His was he could forced to overthink and become predictable.
Leonard had speed, skills, and power and more importantly the size and mental toughness to have beaten Hagler anytime after 1982 when he basically would've grown into middleweight.
Leonard had legitimate concerns of blindness when he received the eye injury. Especially in 1982 when most of the medical perfessionals of that era were urging him to retire.
Imagine if you were in his shoes, and coming off the biggest win of your career, and possibly the greatest three year run in the history of boxing , and suddenly being told to retire because of a medical condition at the very peak of your career?
How would you have taken it?

 

Ray was in his prime and many interesting fights were ahead .. a rematch with Benitez at 154. Hearns as well ... Maybe a match up with McCallum in 84 or 85 .. he may have even taken a shot at Hagler after Hagler looked less than Marvelous vs Duran in 83 ... who knows ?

 

If he wasn't injured and stuck around welter for a bit the Pryor fight would have happened and probably Arguello, even if Leonard won those guys would have taken enough out of him that Hagler might have retired him for good assuming Leonard still had it in him to move up

 

Flash, this is what I think too.

 

Quote from Leonard, in the ring, after the Hagler fight in an interview with Tim Ryan: "this is the first time a young guy came back against an old guy (in a comeback fight)". Hence the reason for him coming back.

 

I don’t think Leonard beats Hearns at 154.

 

He was being ironic.

His investment in a time-freezing chamber that managed to keep any rust off so all that inactive time didn’t dull him was indeed a wise one.

(There are those on this forum who will type with a straight face about how Sonny Liston wasn’t right for Ali because he knocked out Floyd so quickly — twice — that he didn’t have enough rounds … and hop into a Leonard thread and wax about how big of an advantage Ray had over Hagler because he had barely fought in five years, lol.)

 

Yeah he had signed to fight Pryor. He would have beaten Pryor then it gets murky. If he fought Hearns at 154 it would have been pick'em for me. Hearns was at his best there and it may have come down to whether it was 12 or 15 rounds.

I'm in the slight? minority who thinks he could have taken Hagler whenever they would have met, barring the injury. Ray would always have the mental edge over Hagler and on the fly he was the smarter fighter with the smarter corner. IMO he'd have a good chance of winning a close decision. I could be wrong but that's the way I'd go.