LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND, Pernell Whitaker vs Benny Leonard

Leonard has the better lightweight resume for sure, but that's not really at issue in a head-to-head tournament (especially when he didn't face anyone on Whitaker's level at lightweight, and the best boxer type that he did face there, probably Freddie Welsh, gave him quite a bit of trouble. Also was getting outboxed by Jack Britton, though that was a welterweight bout, and again, not all that relevant). What do you think Leonard would do to Whitaker to beat him?

 

as fast as whitaker was i think leonard woud win by out thinking whitaker he would fient a lot and counter leonard had a great habit of finding a way to win ,but no one can be sure in these sort of match ups but i would pick leonard
but not with any great confidence next week i may pick whitaker

 

I wouldn't read too much into the last Leonard/ Britton fight,I think it was a fix,and served as the basis for HEMINGWAY'S nove l" Fifty Grand".

Leonard had beaten Britton twice before, and also drawn with Ted Kid Lewis, who was a welter at the time.

 

From what I've seen of Benny, Pea would beat him to the punch and totally outland him.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt; Pea wins a decision.

 

Wasn't 'Fifty Grand' based on the Britton-Walker fight?

I've never heard anything before about the last Britton-Leonard fight being a fix....I could be wrong though...

About Leonard's previous bouts with Britton, fair enough, but we should note that one was a 6 rounder, the other a ten rounder, and both times Britton dropped down to 140, whereas most of his other bouts around the time were welterweight affairs, so the drop in weight might have adversely effected him.

 

From what I've seen of Leonard, Whitaker looks the far more talented fighter, jab, speed, footwork, defensively, crazy reactions, punch technique, he has Leonard beat on all those. Leonard himself is a master boxer, Whitaker too though and is a freak of nature to boot. Whitaker UD say 10-5 because Leonard will keep it competitive but won't have enough

 

The story goes that Leonard knocked Britton down,then hit him while he was on the floor losing the bout by a foul.Lewis was at welterweight when Leonard fought him,he also beat other good welters.
ps Box rec has some ideas on the Leonard Britton fight.

 

I'd heard about the conclusion of the fight, but I had never heard about if possibly being a fix though... interesting. As of now, I'm inclined to go with the thoughts on boxrec though, and take the fight on face value.

 

I would like to know how the random selection for this tournament works with the best two meeting in the first round? The Winner should win this tournmaent
Benny Leonard and Pernell Whitaker are pretty much mirror images of each other. They are about the same size. Whitaker is a southpaw while Leonard fights in the orthodox stance. Both are highly skilled boxers, and each has knockout power. With out much film of Leonard avaible for us to watch I think reading about Leonard gives us a more acurate picture of his abillities. The film most of have sean of Leonard is from one of his bouts against Lew Tendler. Who like Whitaker was a southpaw. While Tendler may not be as good as Whitaker he was very good. if you are going to trust the written reports on Hary Greb than you should also trust them on Benny Leonard.
Perhaps Leonard's greatest skill was his ability to impose his will. Both boxers would perfer to fight off the back foot and counter. Leonard would have Whitaker coming to him. Don't underestamate Whitaker he has a high work rate and even though he will be out of his comfort zone. His work rate will score him points. Coming forward may also impress the judges.
Leonard will score with countering shots and sliping away from Whitaker. The judges will give points to Leonard for his counter punches and his slight advantage in ring generalship.
The difrence in the fight will come in the last rounds. By than Leonard will be landing more than Whitaker.
This can go either way but most of the time Leonard wins 8-10 rounds. There would be no knockdowns.
My pick: Benny Leonard by decision over Pernell Whitaker in a compitive fight that would be more enteraining than most would expect.
This should be the tournmaent final.

 

I think Pernell would take it.

If they both look for the counter Pernells the quicker fighter and 90% of times if boxers fight a similar fight the faster guy wins.