Is Sugar Ray Leonard the complete boxer?

An expansion would be interesting mate.

 

He's probably never really seen a full Leonard fight

 

What he did do was beat Duran 2-3, Hagler 1-1 and Hearns 1-2 as well as Benitez. Not to shoddy.

Blue collar grittiness is exactly what Leonard possessed underneath the glamorous exterior and flashy ability. Jesus Christ mate

He took his lumps fantastically vs Duran and came back pretty well late in a gutsy effort to find a way to win. He got hammered and busted up vs Hearns (a frightening proposition at 147 mind) yet hung in there for an eternity before finding and gutting his way to a great victory. When push came to shove Leonard had what it took. Only a blind man would fail to see and recognise this.

As for hanging with the monsters of middleweight, well he did pretty well vs the only one he fought :yep

But realistically i don't think he would have ever been as suited at the weight as SRR. Robinson adapted to the class better than Leonard ever would have IMO. Leonard was a born 147, whilst retaining greatness at 154 and being damn good at 160 i think. It would have been interesting if he didn't have the years off and attempted to grow into 160 in his prime years.

 

..............Well, the big reason so many dislike him sort of feeds into the comment about lack of a pure tough-guy attitude; Leonard was of course a businessman, and projected himself that way. He even turned himself into a corporation.

This makes many hardline old timers blanche, with their view that a fighter is a fighter, period. Leonard, on the other hand, was a conglomerate.

Between the ropes though, you're right; when it was just him and the other guy squaring off, he was everything the old timers would ever want to see in a boxer. It's the rest of the scheming and plotting and marketing they can't get past.

 

Indeed, but Tony said/insinuated he lacked these qualities in the ring. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Agreed.

 

No.

 

:blood

 

A basic strategy?? I don't recall anyone at the time predicting that Hagler was going to fight that way. I also don't believe he had to - steady pressure would have eventually won the day for him. But the plan he executed was highly effective and largely unexpected.

As I said, Leonard only came back to stop Hearns after his trainer had to convince him to make a change. It wasn't Leonard's brilliant tactics - his own tactics brought him to the brink of defeat.

Also it doens't matter that Duran was "hell on wheels" against Leonard. The reason SRL lost that fight, the ONLY reason, was bad tactics. Plain and simple.

 

Leonard had already changed tactics and been stalking Hearns since the mid-rounds for a good period remember.That was a fight where they both changed tactics a few times, part of what made it so interesting.

leonard's tactics against Duran weren't necessarily bad at the time.Remember he was the much bigger man, a viscious puncher and supposed to be a complete boxer-puncher...a sugar ray no less.

He just happened to get bested in the fundamentals area by Duran.slipping\countering etc..that's the main reason he lost.

 

im not saying pryor is better in any way i just think he is more rounded than leonard

leonard does the stuff he does well excellant

whereas

pryor does abit of everything well

im not saying Pryores better i would say leonard is alot better

 

Pryor was more one-dimensional than Leonard, though admittedly he's underrated in his versatility. He was primarily a swarming attacker with a very high workrate who liked to throw caution to the wind and overwhelm his opponents with his two-fisted attack. He could box and move well when the feeling took him, but it was typically used more as a way of getting into his groove and throwing his opponent's rhythm off before resorting back to his swarming attack, which was his bread and butter.

Leonard, on the other hand, was top notch in pretty much every area as a technician.

 

:goodAgreed. Duran was the more skilled fighter in the ring that night.

 

John, I hope you didn't take any of that as a knock on Leonard, because it wasn't meant to be. Just an honest opinion, and I am aware of the things he did accomplish. ****, I grew up idolizing SRL.

I know about Duran, Hearns and Benitez, but I was speaking more in terms of dealing with bigger, badass MW's, specifically a younger Hagler.

 

Complete as possable.