if g man can catch ray early on he can stop him, but if he doesnt he would just get pot shoted all night from every angle you can think off
The Leonard that outboxed Hagler was a great fighter still, he would outbox McClellan too & stop him around the 10th, the only reason he never stopped Hagler is because, well, its Hagler, nobody stops MMH. Some like to make out that any decent MWT would have beat Ray that night but that version of Hagler takes some beating & only a special fighter like Leonard could have pulled it off. The G-Man, once he realises he`s gonna lose the decision will go for broke, Leonard will find that chin, stun him, then finish him in the same brutal, clinical way he finished guys like Price & the bigger Lalonde. McClellan aint on Leonards level, he`s very good, Leonard`s great. :good
McClellan had real good speed. He could knockout Ray if he caught him. On paper Ray outboxes him, with the chance of the G-Man landing.
Leonard is a class and a bit above McClellan. Sure Ray would have to give Gerald respect because of the power; but by the middle rounds, McClellan would be blowing, and by the later rounds, hopefully a referee or cornerman would pull the badly battered McClellan out. Leonard TKO11
These kinds of match-ups are just so hard to gauge. I found this on youtube some time ago: This content is protected [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQVMb8zkC8&feature=related[/ame] I realize that McClellan was inexperienced, and this was only an exhibition. What I want to point out is McClellan's size. Hearns was competing at 168/175 at this stage, and McClellan looks around the same size. This exhibition was 4 years before McClellan would face Jackon in a rematch. I've read rumors that McClellan would cut from 180+ to make the middleweight limit. I don't know how true that is, but that would make him a cruiserweight by fight time. Can Leonard really deal with McClellan's size and power? Even if Leonard is able to land more punches, will it matter? Will McClellan shake Leonard's body even with off the mark punches to the point it isn't even noticeable what Leonard does? Will Leonards's ability to beat McClellan to the punch tame his giant foe, and resemble Pacquiao vs De la Hoya? Or maybe a faster paced Hopkins vs Pavlik type encounter? Marvin Hagler may be a better middleweight on the night he fought Leonard than McClellan ever once dreamed of being. Hagler didn't have the advantages over Leonard that McClellan would. It is a totally different fight. In fact, I would pick the Hagler that lost to Leonard to defeat McClellan with no hesitation. I just have a hard time giving a confident pick when it comes to Leonard and the G-Man. I'm leaning towards McClellan, but not enough to cast a vote yet.
Please. I hate to be the one to break the bad news to you but Leonard would fold in this one too. He had his chance to defend his title and in the same way he passed up Hagler in 82, he passed up his chance to defend his title. It had nothing to do with his eye not his lack of interest in titles. It's just that he wasnt good enough Fighting leonard can be tricky for 2 or 3 rounds until you connect with something solid, but once in survival mode is no better than anyone else. Ask Terry Norris. McClellen by tko by round 12
McClellan definitely. Leonard at middleweight and above has that close disputed win over Hagler - who in reality is barely bigger than Leonard - and what else ? As great as Hagler was, and not even dwelling on him being slow and past prime and that Leonard didn't beat him convincingly at all, he wasn't as big nor as powerful as G-Man. Light-middle Kevin Howard had Leonard on the deck. Donny Lalonde knocked him down too. An over-the-hill Hearns too. Seriously, there's nothing to suggest to me that at 160 pounds he can survived against a young prime McClellan. Leonard is given far too much credit on this forum, even credited with being able to do things he certainly would never have taken the risk on.
