Greater fighter Sugar Ray Leonard or Roberto Duran

My P4P Top 20, it's been tweeked a wee bit recently, but mostly has been the same for a good while now:


1. Henry Armstrong
2. Sugar Ray Robinson
3. Harry Greb
4. Sam Langford
5. Ezzard Charles
6. Mickey Walker
7. Archie Moore
8. Barney Ross
9. Sugar Ray Leonard
10. Pernell Whitaker
11. Benny Leonard
12. Roberto Duran
13. Willie Pep
14. Joe Louis
15. Bob Fitzsimmons
16. Muhammad Ali
17. Gene Tunney
18. Barbados Joe Walcott
19. Wilfredo Gomez
20. Alexis Arguello

 

Wilfredo Gomez in the top twenty:huh

 

Ali and Leonard are too close together.There is no way Duran should be ahead of Ali.

 

Both are multiple weight champions, both also have their share of memorable and forgetable fights..hard pick but Duran was the only fighter to beat a prime Leonard.. so I go with Duran.

 

Thats a bit unfair as Leonard never had the chance to try beat a prime Leonard.

 

atsch

 

I remember a while ago that I voted`too close to call`even tho I have Duran just one spot ahead of Leonard in my top 10 list at 4 & 5 respectively.

Ray beat the better fighters, was a multi-weight champ & one of the top 2 WWTs ever.
Roberto beat some good fighters too, was a multi-weight champ & was THEE best ever LWT.

The only reason I give the edge to Duran is because he had over 100 victories & fought in 5 separate decades where as Ray had a small number of fights (40 I think) with too many retirements for a man of undisputed ATG ability.

If Leonard had more fights (wins) & never retired in his prime yrs then he would rank slightly higher than Duran IMO, still close tho, maybe SRL would be my number 4 & Duran my number 5..... its always a close call between these 2 phenomenal fighters, anyone who says different should be banned for a year.


Botswana.

 

Relax, I was joking.

 

You know I always wondered what if Leonard never retired from 1981-84 and 1984- till the hagler fight? we might have seen other super fights!:happy

 

Wow @ poll results...

Have people actually watched Duran & Leonard fights? atsch

 

The sentimental favourite is an inevitable winner here, but Leonard was the most complete fighter that I've ever witnessed.

Leonard. :good

 

Leonard.

 

Yes, we saw the smaller Duran beat up Leonard in the first fight when both were at their best, and Leonard make an out of shape and unmotivated Duran quit using primarily clowning tactics in the rematch. The third matchup was basically useless.

The first matchup means a lot more than either of the others when judging the two at their best, especially in a P4P sense when considering Duran was the smaller man and had already done the majority of his best work at LW.

 

Leonard was significantly better and more versatile. Duran did not beat that many great fighters for a guy who is thought so highly. Duran lost to Hagler,Hearns,Benitez,Leonard-Leonard beat all the cream of the crop guys. I think Duran is a bit overrated. He was great, but there is a little bit of overrating him. His lightweight competition does not warrant him being that great, so why is he regarded so high? Because he beat Ray the first fight only to lose the next two easily?

 

Tough one for me.