Best Fighters of the 1980's, 1-10

Leonard hater?

 

Looks good actually. You did a great job

Had leonard whipped prime Curry, and Pryor, or even better, Pryor, Curry and then at the end, Micheal Nunn, then you'd be talking fighter of the decade

but Hearns altho hot at the time (on his way to becoming hotter for the Hagler fight) isnt enough to qualify

one big puncher isnt enough

Though Leonard faced one big puncher one time, and won, Hagler faced seven and won all his

Moreover, Hagler won p4p honors 4 times to leonard's one

that clinched the title for me

Micheal Spinks won runner up by virtue of his string of wins at lthvy, then capped it off by stepping up 25 pounds and decisioning a fat, lethargic, over the hill Larry Holmes (isnt this what impresses ESB posters?)

as for Pedroza, he'd have fared better except for the two bouts with Lockridge and draw with Taylor

 

Yes - I think Pedroza's place is arguable, along with the other two placed in the bottom-3 of my list.

I think Camacho, Arguello and Chandler have a justifiable shout. In fact, Camacho really should be in my list.

 

A poll of top boxing writers of the time had him number 1. Given the quality of the top end and an avenged single loss i thought it fair.

 

Leonard has three wins over extremely high level ATG's in the 80's. The win over Hagler was incredible given the odds and what he had to overcome. It may well be the greatest win of the 80's.

What list of names would you put forth as having 3 wins over ATG's during this period? The sheer quality of these wins gets him BIG mileage. No-one else had even close to these wins.

 

Spot on … And he only had 40 fights overall .. Had the luxury of doing what he wanted because of his popularity and used this to go in and out of retirement.. He could have continued to be tested and prove he was the best, but he passed on it ..

 

It doesn't really top Duran/Leonard; Leonard/Hearns; Hagler/Hearns.
I can probably think of many a bout which competes with Hagler/Leonard.

I tend towards Unforgiven's take on how Leonard was being portrayed by the sporting media. I would even go further and state that I think Leonard's return in '87 was entirely a Sugar Ray Showcase.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard KO Mag. Fighter of the '80s.

But, yeah, I know you are the objective expert. KO was run by a bunch of idiots.....

 

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Ray Leonard
Marvin Hagler
Thomas Hearns
Michael Spinks
Larry Holmes
Mike Tyson
Jeff Fenech
Julio Cesar Chavez
Roberto Duran
Evander Holyfield

Honorable Mentions:

Salvador Sanchez
Aaron Pryor
Azumah Nelson
Jung Koo Chang
Eusebio Pedroza

 

since you are using KO mag as your reference, it was KO mag who appointed Marvin p4p #1 four years straight

that's four times to Leonard's ONE time

and since less can never mean more, it is Hagler who is rightfully number one fighter of the 80s

 

While I see Unforgiven's point, and it's a decent one, I just can't get behind any list excluding SRL totally from a top 10 list. In fact, I couldn't even put him below top 5 when it comes down to it. Frankly, the eye test tells me all I need to know when it comes to SRL, and there is no way he wasn't one of the top 5 fighters in the 80's. He cherrypicked.. he got extra media support and push... I feel he was gifted a few decisions.... but that fact is, he's my no. 2 WW of all time, and that has to count for something.

 

Yeah - I understand the point of view. Problem for me, where Leonard is concerned, is the constant retirements and not a great deal between '81 and '87 (Finch and Howard). I add to this that, even on his return, he was fighting a Hagler, who was clearly not the force he had been and, despite that, was blessed with the SD. He was clearly beaten by Hearns but gifted a draw and he fought an ancient Duran, who'd just had his 'Last Hurrah'.

Suffices to say that, whilst I think Leonard was an extraordinarily talented fighter; a talent displayed in all its glory between '77 and '81, I think a good deal less of his return in '87 and the four bouts he had up to and including '89.

Sure, he managed to get the appropriate names and initials in the column but, if you're going to criticize Camacho's opposition for being faded and him getting by on razor thin decisions, then Leonard's trudge through 30-somethings (save Lalonde), from '87 to '89, needs to be held up in the same light - regardless of the names involved.