Leonard wasn't interested too much in holding like many others back in the early 20's. He was extremely slick and way ahead of the times. I would not be suprised if Pep looked back at how Leonard went about his business and expanded on what he seen in Leonard's style. His longevity at the weight is right up there on par with Duran, although he probably faced better competition. The vast majority of people have Leonard, Gans and Duran, as their top three lightweights of all-time. Depending in which order you care to place them.
The consensus view of Leonard has always been that he is either the #1 or 2 lightweight of all time, with Duran as his only competition. I have him rated #1. He actually had a better resume than Duran at that weight, and he was a greater all-around talent. He could do it all - fast hands, great footwork, solid punching power, and very tough and resilient. As someone else said, his style/skills were well ahead of his time. It would've been interesting to see how a Duran-Leonard match might've gone. Duran was very good at sucking class boxers into his kind of fight, as he did to DeJesus. Still, Duran's never met anyone at that weight with Leonard's combination of speed, power, and cleverness.
Interesting to see how hight he is on on most P4P rankings around here. I don't have a good firm P4P list of my own yet (getting there) but Benny Leonard does deserve more credit than I have given as a P4P fighter. Let the research begin!
He had a far better resume to be honest. Though I definitely wouldn't say he was the better all around talent.