Sugar Ray Leonard vs Nigel Benn At MW

I cannot believe this is so close. I was as a big fan of Benn as anyone, particularly early on in his career he was brilliant fun. But the only thing that was world class about an unbeaten Benn was the power. If Watson made him look a fool, so would Leonard.

Ray by late round stoppage.

 

Don't you think Benn improved after the Watson loss ?

(Watson was possibly a better middleweight than Leonard anyway, imo. And certainly more of a middleweight.)

 

Hagler was a fighter who had shown himself to be ordinary when having to deal with an opponent who forces him out of his counter-punching comfort zone; who had never been adept at cutting the ring off, and who had demonstrated himself to be a rather limited thinker in the ring.



But hey, don't let any of those facts get in the way of your pitiful attempts at justifying him losing to a washed up, coke addicted, inactive, blown up welterweight.

 

:huh

What. I'm not making any excuses for Hagler.
I'm not even going to disagree with anything you said as none of it contradicts what I said. I had Hagler winning by a point or two, so I can't be "justifying his loss" ?

My actual point - in case you didn't get is - is that Nigel Benn would be a tougher fight for Sugar Ray Leonard. And that Hagler was the only middleweight of any worth that SRL beat, and not really similar in any regard to a prime Benn. That SRL is not at all proven against good young world class middles, nevermind ones with sickening power. He was great as a welter, not as a middle.

Not sure why you jumped in and tried to open up the tired old Hagler-SRL feud thing here. There are other threads for you people. :good

 

Absolutely, Benn became a very good cute boxer by 93/94 at 168lbs, but Ray (Camacho aside) had called it a day by then. They could of only really met in 88 and Leonard had forgot more about the sport than Benn knew back then.

 

Well, I'm thinking we can have it prime-for-prime. Or 1987 version of Leonard.

I think Benn was good enough in 1990 at middleweight to beat any version of Sugar Ray Leonard.
The power of Benn (with adequate hand speed) combined with natural size and strength is on another level to what SRL dealt with.

SRL was no middleweight in his prime.

 

Leonard would have to be on his bike and win an ugly, potshot points decision to have a chance. Sadly I think Benn would catch him at some point on the ropes and would be able to force a stoppage.

 

I don't like SRL. Benn by vicious KO, SRL was no middleweight.

 

If Leonard can keep it as a BOXING match for 12 rounds he wins. If it turns into a fight the muppet is asleep inside a minute.

World class my bollox, anyone who wants to try to tell me Camacho could TKO even a 50 year old Benn DKSAB.

 

Hard to say; Leonard doesn't give us much to go on at 160, and what is available is that of an aged fighter. Still he had fast hands, good movement and most importantly, he still had the smarts.

Benn is the naturally larger man and against certain styles he could look devastating. On the other hand, I don't really rate his technical skills and a smart boxer would always give him problems. Malinga for instance really beat him both times (despite the gift decision in their first fight in favour of Benn) so it's not out of the question that even an older Leonard could do the same.

 

Nigel tended to be a bit too gung ho at 160 lbs. This would play into the sharp shooting Leonard's hands.

Sugar by tko around seven or eight. Nigel would land some hurtful shots early on.

 

In a way, if you choose to, you can consider the worst of Nigel Benn, and the best of Ray Leonard and easily come to the conclusion that Ray wins this, the Ray who beat Hagler against the Nigel who laboured against say Robbie Sims...
but i feel this is a little to convenient if you are looking for reason to plumb for Ray, Hagler was like a Rusty Nail that night, if we do not assume the best of Nigel we still see a very dangerous Hombre...against Sims one shot in the seventh i belive was all it took to wipe out what had gone before, Anthony Logan had Nigel on the precipice...yet it was he who was bombed into the canyon....the Watson defeat...i have my doubtsRay woulds have been able to keep out of the way of Nigels Kamikaze attack...and this is not the Best Nigel we assume will be coming at Ray....If NIgel came at Ray like he did Iran Barkley...then i can accept that Ray's Legs would keep him out of early trouble..but i think it would be a temporary stay of execution...Nigel was a fast puncher...and once a fight had settled down he was prepared to be patient until the proper opening presented itself..and the strike with full venom...lets just say if he caught Ray with the Left hook he caught Doug Dewitt with ...Ray will not recover...Nigel as ever is never more dangerous than when Hurt, in this fight the same can not be said of Ray...
Nigel ..allowing for the Hunt...circa 8th for me...

 

Sugar Ray beats Benn, he would probably stop Benn late in a great fight. Benn was a brilliant fighter and had great power but no way he Ko's Leonard. Prime Leonard had a proven Iron beard and will to win to match his skill. Prime Benn on the other hand could be hurt and stopped. Duran, Hagler and the ATG puncher Hearn couldn't KO prime Leonard so Benn has no chance.
Leonard was totally shot when he fought Camacho. Anybody who think that fight has any relevance is a spastic.

 

The Leonard of 1988, at 168 the version that KOD Lalonde , would have gave Benn a boxing lesson, and whipped his ass, Benn wasn't in Leonards league.

Don't pee down my leg and tell me it's raining, you can't tell me a guy who was beaten and outboxed by a creampuff named sugar boy malinga, is gonna beat an ATG In Ray Leonard, sorry..:verysad

 

The Leonard who fought Lalaonde only fought him on condition Lalaonde weighed 168 even though he wanted the 175 title on the line. So that is ****.

The Leonard who fought Duran was always the one who backed off when the going got tough.

Leonard was dropped twice by Tommy Hearns in the rematch but was gifted the draw.

I don't care less how old he was, when Camacho had him hanging on the ropes defenseless, Comacho hit nothing like as hard as Benn.

Hearns couldn't move Barkley, Benn fvcked him. Benn was also the only man to KO Simms. So only dickheads would think Benn couldn't KTFO Leonard.