ATG: Sugar Ray Leonard or Pernell Whitaker

Leonard but its not as huge a difference as you may think at first glance, questions:

1. Who was the best head for head at their best weight given, Whitaker looked unbeatable at 135, and Leonard lost to Duran, nearly lost to Hearns and had a close 1 with Benitez, admitadly all ATGs. Whitakers comp wasnt as good but he cleaned his division
2. Who was best above their best weight? Leonard beat Hagler, beat Lalonde, Kalule....Whitaker beat Chavez, McGirt, Vasquez....
3. Who was best post-prime? Whitaker salvaged a KO against Hurtado, deserved a decision over Delahoya and made it hard for Tito, Leonard lost to Hearns and Norris and arguably was past prime against Hagler

Its closer than you think but Leonards better resume and better offense and physical gifts edge it for me but there is a good case for the Pea

 

Leonard by ONE PLACE. Razor-thin margin between them, but Leonard has the edge as his punching power allowed him to be slightly more effective in his versatility.

 

Leonard by one spot as of now. They're in the same vicinity.

 

IMO, Whitaker's win over Vazquez gets vastly underrated. Duran recieves praise by the bucketload for his win over Barkley at 160, mainly on his advanced age at the time combined with the size difference. Whitaker was also a natural lightweight who probably went as far as he possibly could with his move to 154.

The physical disadvantages Whitaker was up against with Vazquez were around the same Duran was faced with against Barkley, give or take a slight bit reach and height.

I'm not saying Whitaker's win is as good as Duran's as many factors were different. Just using it somewhat as a gauge.


With that said, Leonard.

 

Its a pity Whitaker didn't unify at 147 or look to clean house.

 

Eh, he was almost a decade into his career by the time he was consistently fighting at WW...

 

Leonard, but not by alot. Leonard is a top 10 atg. Sweet Pea is a top 12-15 atg. So its not a huge differance.

But in terms of who was actually the better fighter... I think thats clearly Leonard. Sweet Pea is perhaps the best pure boxer in history, but Ray was arguably the most complete figher ever.

 

He actually did look to clean house, but got old and sloppy in the process.

Don King would not let Tito fight him after the pasting he gave his other meal ticket, JCC.

He was set to fight Quartey in 1996 but got stuck on Rivera and wasted time rematching him and eventually when he did look to fight Quartey he was already a drug addict and got suspended when the fight was in the works.

Around 1995 I think he could beat Tito and Quartey if he was in serious shape. Would have added to his legacy quite a bit if he did it. Even if he did though, I'm not sure that catapult's him over Leonard.

 

Im with the mob here...I cant justify having Sweet Pea over Leonard at this stage but I think it would be a travesty to have them even 10 spots apart..I have only 2 spots between them.

Both deserve to be in the teens IMO.

 

Yeah, I think in 93-94 Pea would have beaten Tito. Pernell was still pretty close to his prime then, and Tito was still a kid.

I think Whitaker's absolute prime though was from 89-92.

 

As much as I wanted to give the nod to Sweet Pea, I have to give it to Sugar Ray because of his edge in power and his ability to finish a fight strong.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard based on his top 4 wins and I think he was arguably the more complete fighter. Not much in it though, as most have clarified.

 

SRL, has the better wins on his resume (Duran & Hearns)...razor-thin as far skill goes