Better overall skills: Roy Jones jr or Sugar Ray Leonard

Hearns was awesome v Benitez, an amazingly skilled long armed fighter at those weights.

 

Griffin scored well v Jones on the ropes in their first clash, so Jones took the center of the ring in the rematch, Mayweather was far better than Roy with his back to the ropes, Paz scored well against Roy when he was on the ropes also.

 

I agree with all that you said on a P4P level, but Toney was better than Hearns, Leonard and Duran at 168, and I know that`s not what you meant, but just correcting your wording etc. x

 

Articulated much better than I could. I think clear that Roy was over reliant on his reflexes while Ray was able to take on and overcome to most difficult of styles

 

Leonard used his cross better than Roy did in a lot of his title fights, look how he moves into punching range against Benitez looking to land his right which is constantly cocked, while Jones used to back off and wait to counter with his right, Ray countered with his right brilliantly v Benitez.

 

Leonard was greater against all styles, and the bigger factor was confidence and that means a lot.

 

Leonard is the much more skilled fighter it is not even close but roy was more gifted as athlete

 

Leonard landed a lot of great, short counter uppercuts to Benitez`s body.

 

Just re-watched Woods v Jones and Ray Leonard looked quicker v Kalule at 154 than Jones did v Woods specifically with his counters, I pick the Kalule fight because some may say it`s unfair to compare a welter`s power with a fighter at 168-175 and Ray was older and slower by the time he fought above 154 later in his career, I would say Roy was quicker at 160 above compared to Ray at 160 or above.

 

Leonard showed better accuracy against top defensive fighters like Benitez, while Jones missed a lot of shots against lesser fighters like Glen Kelly.

 

It's tough to compare between eras. Look at Pacquiao for instance. He supposedly became an "ATG" in a time where you can apparently do that without ever learning how to box properly or throw a simple, straight, one-two, or roll your shoulders and create distance without hopping around like a bunny on speed.

 

This....

 

Agreed but i would adjust it slightly to say "even more athletic ability".

 

Roy head to head was very hard to beat and could be ahead of Ray, but against the top guys with names like Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Hagler -Ray proved his skills in ways Roy never did. You need that quality to show what you have.

 

When did Jones display heart? Leonard proved his heart in the first fight v Duran, no way could Jones have gone toe to toe with Duran.