Sugar Ray Leonard offensive and defensive skills

His offensive skills higher than his defensive skills. When it came to defense, he was very dependent on his reflexes. But he was good at both. Offensively he was really top notch, though. Extremely sharp finisher.

 

I would rate his offense above his defense. When he focused on doing either he was great at it, but wasn't necessarily able to "mix" both his offense and defense to near perfection (who ever did?).

Either he would box and move like a master, or slug it out with the best of them. I guess the Hearns fight best shows how he could turn from one to the other, first letting Hearns stalk, until turning into a tiger himself. In the Kalule fight he forces a war, gets hit but overwhelms the opponent with pressure in the end. Obviously the second Duran fight is one of his better defensive performances.

 

His offence was incredible, he had a great jab and could throw any punch behind it. He could throw top notch combos and is possibly the greatest finisher of all time. All that backed up by good power and great hand speed and speed of foot.

His defense was largely down to his speed of foot and reflexes but aside from that he had good head movement and his side stepping to avoid punches was very smart/.

 

I agree. That's what separates him from the truly great technicians.

 

His offence was better than his defense usually. He was great at both, but his offense is what made his defense more effective. Most guys did not just run in on Leonard or they would get countered. Hearns, Duran and Hagler all held back a little.

 

Prime Duran.

 

Duran did run at him at points in Montreal. And Hagler didn't run at him because that's his style, not because he was all that concerned with Leonard's offense. Leonard certainly wasn't going to hurt Hagler when Hearns and Mugabe and Briscoe couldn't.

 

amazing offense. solid defense.

 

I think his Ring IQ and ability to overcome adversity are the most undervalued aspects to his game.

 

With amazing handspeed, good power, and excellent accuracy, along with a well varied punch variety, Leonard's offensive abilities tended to over shadow his defensive abilities, and rightfully so. Leonard had a fast, sharp jab, solid hooks and uppercuts, and a quick, hard straight right.

His defensive skills were good, but a lot of it relied on his offensive abilities. He realied on those quick hands and counters to keep people from getting on him. When they did manage his good head movement and reaction time allowed for him to dodge most punches.

Out of 10, I'd give his offensive skills about a 8/10 and his defensive skills a 7/10. Leonard was a very complete fighter in his prime.

 

Ray had great offensive skills, and you could say that his best defense was his offense.But he had great reflexes, but I don't say he was a great defensive fighter, but very, very good.

 

Offensively he was a monster. Defensively he was a bit inconsistent. He looked sublime against Benitez, but then other times I think he allowed himself to get hit more than he needed to. Take one to give a better one type of deal. He definitely had the ability to show exceptional defensive skills, though. Mostly reflexive, though, as has already been mentioned.

 

I agree with the sentiments above, though, if you have a chin forged on the anvil of Zeus, why balk at every punch thrown your way?

 

One important part of Leonard's offense was his physical strength. That's perhaps not how many think of him, but he was very good at physically bullying opponents (Mayweather, Hearns, Kalule to name some).