Describe Sugar Ray Leonard in one word

Leonard did fight like a ***** in the Hagler fight by stealing rounds instead of actually winning them

 

And guess which fight ilm Dundee and Leonard sat around watching and analyzing for hours on end in the months leading up to Leonard-Hagler? ...Yep. Hagler-Duran.

Duran provided a blue-print and he did it in a way that Leonard would never dare -when the dragon was breathing fire, in his own cave. The next guy I hear on the street call Duran a coward gets a slap.

 

Leonard was a hell of a fighter, but his weaknesses outshone his achievements and he had a huge part in ruining the greatest sport ever. We are seemingly never going to fully recover from the damage Leonard inflicted on us.

 

Truth be told, I didn't attempt to google it. I'm under no illusion about my knowledge of the history of the sport. Jesus, I'm 20 years of age and have been a fan for no longer than 5 years. That said, for some reason I must have skimmed past it, and assumed your original question was regarding a Lightweight moving up to Middleweight and becoming champion. It's never happened.

Not that it has any relevance to the point I've been making, feel free to indulge me.

Ray Leonard was a fighter first and foremost, and no politician I can think of knocked Thomas Hearns out.

I'm only concerned with Leonard, the fighter.

 

I could use a number of singular words to describe Saccharin Ray, but the example of Hagler-Duran allows me to apply this one:

Follower

 

And now we're even crediting Duran for the Leonard victory? Sure, he watched tapes, but it was Leonard who was strafing Hagler with 3-4 punch combination's - not Roberto "excuses" Duran.

Duran fought bravely in defeat, whereas Leonard fought bravely in victory.

 

You're young, so I'll be patient. You asked me why people resented Leonard and I told you why I think so. If you are only concerned with Leonard the fighter, then there is far less reason to resent him, but few resent fighters while many resent the man who is the fighter. And sometimes, there is good reason for that resentment.

Was Leonard a great fighter? Yep.

Was Leonard greater than Duran? No. And those who say he is are very often neophytes -just like those who claim that Ali was the greatest fighter who ever lived. If you are in fact a neophyte, hide it and get respect from purists in your new field of interest. A good way to hide it is to at least pay lip service to the idea that Duran is the P4P greatest of the Fabulous Four.

 

Ah.... youth.....

DID YOU READ THE PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THOSE TWO HAGLER FIGHTS... or are you oblivious to facts?

Come on, man, show us something here.

 

Spot on. :good:good:good

 

I can understand the resentment, but that still doesn't justify him being called a fake and a con. He achieved to much in a short period of time to be labeled as such.

Leonard was the more complete and better fighter in my estimation, but Duran's longevity and ability to move successfully through the weights rightly see him above Ray in the pantheon of ATG's. I've no problem with that at all, and can understand the placement.

To go off topic, if you could offer a little insight, why is it that Muhammad Ali is often resented by a large portion of purists?

 

Duran provided a blueprint on how to beat Hagler? He was decisively beaten on points. Care to elaborate?

I already know the differences between the two Hagler fights, and I still feel Leonard's winning effort was the greater performance, and greater achievement.

 

I'll grant you that there was the media darling side to Leonard. But to only see that and deny that the guy could actually fight is misguided. Benitez, Duran, Hearns, Hagler. Did he fight courageously in Montreal? Against Hearns? Not too many have a greater list of wins in history. Leonard imitated Ali who imitated Robinson and others to an extent. De La Hoya was far worse than Leonard in the context that you mention because unlike Oscar, Leonard was actually a great fighter. Greed got boxing where it is now. Leonard was just one of the vehicles, he wasn't driving the bus. There's a $40 pay per view fight coming up featuring JuanMa and the Cuban featherweight prospect (can't even remember his name right now which is kind of the point). They should be heading up ESPN cards. That's not Leonard fault. It's the greed of the promoters and the fans fault who buy that crap.
The trouble I have with Duran is the selective memory of his supporters. I rate him higher than Leonard, though not by much. Montreal is the greatest single performance I can think of. But New Orleans is completely dismissed because he quit. If he wouldn't have quit he would've been dominated if not stopped. Leonard - Duran III is completely dismissed but he gets massive credit for beating a very crude Barkley. And sorry, Hagler - Duran really wasn't that close although I do give him a lot of credit for psyching Hagler.

 

I called him Machiavellian... which is more of a complement than you are allowing. A fake and a con? I would call him neither.

Ali is not resented so much as his placement by naive lay persons is resented. He is too often placed too high on greatness lists and it gets wearisome. Most of those guilty of it have never even heard of Mickey Walker.

 

Revisionist history. I guarantee you Leonard would die in the ring before he'd quit in a fight.

 

Duran was the only man to bring Hagler 15 rounds while Hagler was champ. He didn't do it out of luck.

Feel free in believing that Leonard's achievement was the greater performance, most agree with you, but it should be understood why many believe Duran's performance was more impressive.

Tell me this, had Leonard lost that decision by a point or two against Hagler, would you still feel the same about it?