He's known as a technician. He has a reputation as one of the finest technical fighters to ever lace them up. But I think his physical attributes were an underrated source of his success and were the real key ingredient to Leonard's boxing. You look at his biggest fights and that's the conclusion I draw. Against Duran he had all the physical advantages. He was simply the bigger man. He was stronger, longer, faster, bigger. But Duran put on a technical masterpiece. Leonard was jabbed, he was caught with hooks, he reacted to Duran's feints. And on the inside Duran was a much more sophisticated fighter. We saw Duran showing the sweet science at it's finest on the inside. In contrast, Leonard's go to move there against him inside was just a crude flurry to the body with insane speed that got the crowd going crazy. Then in the rematch Leonard was just too fast and long for an out of shape, overfat Duran to do what he did in the first fight. In the Tommy Hearns fight it was Leonard who was being outboxed all night long. Finally in the later rounds Leonard realized that he couldn't outbox Hearns and I guess just didn't have the technical skills to win that way. So he threw caution to wind and went after Hearns and caught Hearns with lightning fast combos and then he finished Hearns. Even in the Hagler fight he didn't really show great technical skills. By that point Hagler was shot and slow as hell. Hagler was just so damn slow and his signature workrate and stamina wasn't really there as well. Leonard won that fight on activity and speed. I guess you could point to the Benitez fight as a fight where Leonard showed his technical abilities. But even in that fight Leonard had serious advantages in physical attributes. Once Leonard's physical gifts left he was badly beaten by Terry Norris.
I disagree with a lot of this but I think I agree with your main point. Leonard was a speed and power athlete, first and foremost. Obviously a highly skilled boxer but he didn't really fight with the kind of precision and timing that I associate with true technicians. So I'm fine with calling him overrated as a technician, but I don't think he's overrated as an overall fighter.
He outboxed Wilfred Benitez for long stretches. So, he wasn't that overrated. Also, he boxed effectively against Duran in the final third of the bout, sweeping the final three rounds on my card to make the fight quite close. He boxed even more effectively in the rematch. He was able to use his technique to shift levels against Hearns, finding a way to get to the body and hurt him badly in rounds six and seven. He was definitely someone who relied on athletic talent, but he had the technical acumen to back it up.
Duran, Hearns and Hagler were great fighters and recognized as supreme technical boxers in their own right. I wouldn't read much into the Norris defeat.
He had fine technique to go with his physical assets, but he wasn't on the level of Benitez and Duran as a technician. However, I can't remember seeing anyone say he was.
Leonard's never been overstated as a technician. He's known as a boxer/puncher blessed with great speed and a superb all round game. If he wasn't so blindingly fast he probably would have further developed the technical nuances but i certainly wouldn't call him lacking.
I cannot stand Leonard, but he's the best fighter I've seen in person since I've started watching the sport. His all around game is the best I've seen. And if anyone wants to state he was overrated as a technician, fine. But I felt he was better technically than Benitez who was a damn good one himself.
I shouldn't have said "true" technicians, but I think of guys like Mayweather, Finito Lopez, Hopkins, JCC, McCallum, Kalambay, Canto, Davila, Toney, Andre Ward, Lomachenko, Pep, etc.
Agreed. I never called him an overrated fighter. He's a pure ATG in the most absolute sense. But I still believe he's an athlete first and technician second.
Some good names listed there. I'd add Duran, Benny Leonard, Harold Johnson and Jose Napoles to that list.