If Leonard was "green" going into Montreal to face Duran then Hearns was certainly "green" against Leonard in Vegas in `81.
Would you rank Ray Leonard over Joe Louis in a P4P sense? You can make the same arguement. Louis defended his title 25 times over 12 years and KOd almost all of them. Yet the upper part of his resume doesnt have the names that Leonard`s has. :think
What the hell. You are not getting it. I try to keep my cool because this is the classics but sometimes I just can't. BUSTER DOUGLAS KNOCKED out Prime Tyson. He beat the **** out of Tyson. Rahman lucky punched a Past Prime Lewis. Sanders dominated Wladimir. Brewster beat Wladimir PURRITY beat Wladimir. THESE THINGS HAPPEN in boxing. Duran took advantage that night and won. Good for him. It's a good win. BUt Leonard MADE HIM QUIT in the rematch. DURAN SAID 'NO MAS' I no fighting no more against this clown' and he quit and than lied about some diarrhea issues. If Prime Duran fought Prime Leonard 100 times. Duran would win 2-3 times and Leonard will either ko him or make him quit 96-97 times.
How the hell did Duran beat him convincely. He won by 1-2 rounds. It was a good fight, but it is vastly over exaggerated in terms of how much Duran 'dominated'. Duran vs Leonard I was just as close as Duran vs Barkley. A case could be made that Duran went 0-2 against them. In fact.. if he had fought on PPV under a Bob Arum card today.. he might have lost both those fights by SD.
@Hands of Iron. Question. Do you see the bolded names under Duran and the non bolded names under Leonard? What is the difference? Nobody know who the hell the guys Duran fought were. Leonard fought Champions. Duran fought Contenters Also didn't Duran lose to Benitez? And Wilfred was like the nerd kid trying to get in the cool group (FAB FOUR) but they won't let him in?
People forget how resumes work. Jesus Christ. Leonard had wins over FOUR ATG'S+ MULTIPLE ELITE FIGHTERS Hagler. Wilfred. Duran . Hearns. A bunch of B Rated fighters are good and all but they still don't = ATG'S. Now 10 B RATED FIGHTERS = One ATG. I admit that. Wladimir Klitschko don't have an ATG on his resume. but he is getting close to having beaten 10 B Rated fighters.
How so? How many defenses of Leonard's title did he have compared to Duran? I think Duran's longevity at the weight is what does it for me. I can understand that. But Leonard admittedly waited for Hagler to get old. Hagler was a part time fighter at that point. If Leonard beat a prime Hagler then there would be no conversation. Also that fight is one of the most controversial fights in boxing history. There was no controversy in the first fight between Duran and Leonard. But Duran beat damn good fighter before he even won a world title. What about Duran beating fighters such as Marcel and Kobayashi? Those were pretty good wins before he won a world title. Was Duran supposed to become a middleweight world champion? Was Duran supposed to come up in weight and beat Leonard? Was Duran supposed to give Hagler a competitive fight? What Duran did regardless of the losses is amazing. When I look at a fighters resume, I look at the depth of the fighters resume. Leonard doesn't have that depth whether it was out of his control or not.