Is Sugar Ray Leonard overrated?

I have not scored the bout in a while. Here however are those who did:


Judge: Harry Gibbs 144-145. Duran
Judge: Angelo Poletti 147-148. Duran
Judge: Raymond Baldeyrou 144-146. Duran
AP scorecard: 144-141 Duran
UPI scorecard: 145-141 Duran
NY Daily News: 144-141 Duran
Chicago Tribune: 145-140 Duran
NY times gave it to Leonard by two points.

Aside from the Times I have not found anyone else who scored the bout for Leonard.

 

Duran was dominant over Leonard. He landed a great deal more punches than Ray.

Continually pounding the body. Perpetual motion. While many punches that looked like they landed by Leonard were actually blocked.

Duran won, Leonard lost. They both agree with the decision.

Only the most hopeless fanboy would disagree with the fighter himself. Its is almost ludicrous.

 

I don't think Ray is overrated, though he did telegraph a lot of his punches (which Randy Shields and Roberto Duran attested to). Also his defense, though good, wasn't great, but that was because of his style of fighting.

 

^agree. I don't think his technical skills and instincts were as good as those of Jones, Mauweather, Pea or Hopkins. It's one of the reasons why he couldn't adapt his style as he aged. He was sort of like De La Hoya: he could do everything but rarely looked totally at ease in the ring.


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Leonards career falls short when one looks at the number of fights he had. BUT, one can have a 100 win career against unraked or club fighters and not come close to his career achievements. Who outside of Ray Robinson beat Hearns at welter?. How about Duran at welter out side of Hearns and Robinson? How about Benintez? Robinson,yes, Hearns? Yes,Duran?. Probably not, but wouldn't bet my life on it.Then he goes up to jr middleweight defeats the undefeated Kalule.Giving him his 1st loss. Then after a almost 5 yr layoff comes out of retirement to defeat possibly the best Middle of all times!!! He didnt worry about a catch weight with Hagler. Then he went up to light heavy to defeat Lalonde. ( yes I know nothing was special about Lalonde, but he was the champ. Can u or I say that?. Leonards career was like a comet. That shined brightly but was gone to soon. Reasons being injury (the eye injury) and his own crazy lifestyle (cocaine) But to deny his greatness and what he was able to achieve in a limited career is like looking at the tree,and not the forest. Id say 2nd best welter of all time, and I'm only basing that on what old timers say. Not any real proof of how great Robinson was at welter, but watching his middleweight fights I can just imagine how special he was at welter. But other then Robinson and Hearns, no one else is close at welter.

 

How does one know if he's over rated if you don't know what his rating is?

If by over rated you mean top 10 p4p I would probably say yes, mostly because of his lack of longevity and number of fights. But if you said he was in the top 20, I'd be fine with that. I think of the fab 4 I'd rate him 2nd, after Duran. But they're all pretty close.

If someone said he was the 2nd best welterweight ever, I wouldn't have a problem with that.

So no I don't think he's over rated.

But the thing that always ****ed me off about him, is how he always used his economic clout to dictate whatever terms he wanted.

 

Yes he is over rated, but thankfully only by the fan boy types who try to elevate him to the likes of Robinson, or indeed Duran in ATG status.

The post above is a perfect example where the gentleman concerned gives Leonard kudos for fighting Hagler without demanding a catchweight. Then in the very next sentence he talks about Leonard beating Lalonde but conveniently omits the fact that Leonard DID demand a catchweight in that fight so he could win a title he had less than no intention of ever defending.

There is no doubting his skill and ability, but his antics with catchweights, and other demands should be held against him.

 

Yea going on cocaine didn't help.

 

Being Canadian, that catchweight fight with Lalonde ****ed me off to no end. I don't even count it. He basically bought himself a belt.

 

A lot of fighters have used cocaine and not fallen off like he did, nor is it an excuse that can protect his all time ranking.




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Sugar Ray Leonard is not overrated. He's arguably the BEST ever. It's a title fight between himself, Ali and Roy Jones Jr.

The way we know the mark of the true, unquestionable TBE's is through their bouts against the VERY best.

SRL beat the very best fighters ever in their differing styles. He can distinguishably box and outpoint masterfully, whilst also brawling and in-fighting amazingly. He was the most complete boxer this sport has ever seen.

He beat Thomas Hearns at welterweight, prime Hearns outpoints anyone in history and is a monster puncher and the best tall, rangey fighter ever.

He beat Duran who is the best pressure fighter ever in a rematch. The way he beat Duran was remarkable. He kept on the outside and pot-shotted, but because it requires more than that to win rounds from Duran, he fused that style with moments of great in-fighting and winning trades (this is a major reason why I don't believe a Floyd Mayweather could beat Duran) - and it's through this that he touched on greatness the way Ali would fighting his opponents.

He beat Wilfried Benitez who is one of the very best defensive fighters ever. It was a great chess match and SRL just had many levels to him.

He beat one of the toughest SOB's and arguably middleweight TBE's ever, in Hagler - a fight that was led by grit, heart, determination, ring intelligence and experience.

The fact that SRL continued to rack up wins against good opposition after the Hagler fight, 3 years after his retirement + 1 war after, that is testament to SRL's greatness.

His 'draw' (should be a loss) to Hearns doesn't take away from his career at all.

Ayub Kalule is the one who's underrated.

 

Great record and looks great on film. His one real blemish is a close loss to a fighter regularly seen in top 10 or even top 5 p4p lists. Wins over Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Hagler. Skill, speed, power, chin and tons of heart and winner's instinct.

There really isn't much room for any overrating.

 

Amen.

 

He looked more fluid than De La Hoya.

He had better movement, too.

And better handspeed

 

I personally can't stand Leonard. He's the fighter that I dislike the most. But he's probably the best fighter I've seen in my lifetime. I personally can't see him as being overrated.