Pretend none of them ever fought: How would the Fab 4 rank?

My impression is that Duran is the net winner in a "what if" scenary where there wasn't Fab 4

What he misses:
-A great win against a young SRL

However he also misses:
-An embarrasing defeat against the same SRL; the "No Mas" Episode
-Another loss by UD to Marvin Hagler
-A brutal loss by KO to Hearns
-One final embarrasing defeat past his prime against SRL

For me it is clear that Duran is the one who benefits more in an universe without the Fab 4

 

this is a tremendous post :thumbsup

 

It is, but the titles were already unified when Hagler beat Minter.

I don't think Duran suffers from not having the WBC 135 strap up until the unification bout with DeJesus (III). He'd already taken the lineal (and WBA) title from Buchanon and was recognized by the Ring as LW Champion from 1972-78, it wasn't vacant.

 

Has to. It's the best win out of any of the nine fights between them. Leonard/Hearns I a clear second as it was Leonard's career defining performance, and as an underdog to a 32-0 (30) WBA titlist Hearns to unify the titles. It was huge.

The rest come after, and there's a myriad of cases and reasons to rate them wherever they fall.

 

Duran and Leonard would be top of the tree. Especially as Leonard would n't have got beaten at welterweight in this scenario.

 

I don't think so. Duran regardless of the losses is linked to these men as they are to him. Without the fab 4 fighting each other they would have less losses but all of them would be remembered less. Sad as it is , the fab 4 thing helps all their legacy more than anything else I think. They would be like Roy Jones a little. More wins but no big fights to remember as much. I think fighting the best and losing is better than never fighting them at all, but it is true Leonard benefits the most from the fab 4.
Hearns,Duran and Hagler had many fights other than the fab4 and Benitez being fab 5. Everything for Leonard is his fights with Hearns,Benitez,Duran and Hagler. Take those away and sadly Ray doesn't have much. Duran had Dejesus and Buchanan and Palomino, and Hearns had Cuevas and Hill and Roldan and others, and Hagler had Antuofermo,Minter and his philly fights. The other guys do have legacies without the fab 4, but they would not be remembered as much. Ray really needs the fab 4 the most as some have said.