Of the three in your opinion, Who was the most entertaining? In their prime fighting years, who was most successful? Which one was the more famous in mainstream, media, household etc?
I'd probably have SRL pipping all three questions. Beating Benitez, Duran and Hearns in a pretty short space of time is hard to match. Roy was crazy dominant but Leonard has the names. ODLH is in a tough group here.
I'd probably go for Leonard in all three categories. Jones second in the first two, but third in the last. Jones was the most spectacular and probably the most talented, but he wasn't in many exciting fights. Leonard took part in some all time classics while at the same also being a quite spectacular fighter. I'd also say he was the most succesful since he took on and beat great fighters. Oscar also made most of the possible big fights, but came out a loser about as often as he did a winner. Jones may have been the most superior fighter ever in his prime, but Toney was his only big time opponent (Hopkins was just another contender when he and RJJ faced off). There were plenty of great potential match-ups out there - McClellan, Eubank, Benn, Collins and Hopkins rematch - but they never happened, leaving Jones's potential legacy a bit unfulfilled. In part because of this, he never became the famous figure Leonard, or even ODHL, did.
Leonard was the most entertaining, and he also beat the best competition. I actually think Leonard has the best resume of wins since the 1980's! Jones dominated for a long time, but he was also boxing best pound for pound business man, very risk adverse in terms of taking fights when he could have been upset and he was busted for substance abuse. De La Hoya does not belong in this conversation unless we are talking PPV numbers. Most famous depends. If your over 50, Leonard. If your under 35, Jones. If your a female, De La Hoya.
Whilst I personally put la hoya at the bottom of the list, he was definitely involved in some of the biggest lighter weight fights of the 90 s /00s. He brought a lot of new fans in to the sport, and not just female s I'm sure. He was charismatic and probably along the same lines as ali and leonard. I don't feel bad that I've included in this list. I wanted to capture the 3 most talented successful and famous lighter weight boxers of the last few years and I believe Oscar could fit that criteria. I could have put Floyd in there but he's neither exciting or popular!
Leonard/Leonard/Leonard Leonard fought at a time when boxing was very popular and fought on free national tv, which reached a much higher audience. The guy was on commercials that reached a huge audience. He also had better opposition to choose from. Jones was too picky and conservative in his matchmaking, which is too bad because he was probably the most gifted of the three. The other two fought more significant superfights. Jones milked it especially at 175 lbs. De La Hoya's popularity was not commiserate with his talent. Jones was the opposite.
Good summary. I think Roy's SMW reign was perhaps even more disappointing, short as it was. There really were some mouthwatering fights to be made there.
