Sugar Ray Leonard; worthy of being a top 20 ATG

If men such as McLarnin, Canzoneri, Ross, and McFarland can be considered, Ray Leonard is a secure contender for top-20 status.

To say he "might" make a top-35 sounds disconcerting, to say the least.

 

I'd rate them all ahead of him.
(though I admit maybe I need to do more research on McFarland).

Top 35 all-time means he's really really really ****ing great.

 

To be fair to SRL, I don't think Duran (who he went 2-1 against) would make the top 20 either.
He'd be above SRL though, in the top 30.

 

I think the last time I actually sat down and did a ranking, I put him at 23.

I can see an argument for top 20. He has some of the best wins anybody has had ever.

He's just in such amazing company.

I start to think we split hairs with ranking. I'm content with just saying he's one of the very best to ever do this, bar none.

 

I see Duran routinely ranked among the top 20 of all time, and I can understand why. Top tier longevity. Top tier ability. Wins against Sugar Ray Leonard, Esteban De Jesus, Ken Buchanan, Carlos Palomino, Davey Moore, and Iran Barkley. The last two wins I just listed can't be understated, notably the Barkley victory. It's fairly close to the Leonard win in terms of quality, in my opinion. The man has names on his resume in addition to an impressive title reign at Lightweight.

 

..

 

In response to the thread title.... Easily, on fighters beat & overall ability alone I think its criminal to have him outside a top 20 list.

 

Watch Rose-Harada, Bill.

 

No

 

This is interesting, if Leonard had fought a rematch with Hearns at 154, if he fought a younger Hagler, Mike Mccallum, Donald Curry, Michael Nunn could Leonard have won these fights? If he lost to one or more of these guys how would it affect his legacy?

For what it's worth, I'm a huge Leonard fanboy, just playing devil's advocate and asking questions

 

He does.

 

Those are the fights he missed out on. Had he won them, he'd might have near equalled the greatest Sugar. That would be an unparalleled resume.

 

True! Though I don't think even the great Sugar Ray Robinson himself could have moved through the weights and beaten all of those guys over a few years

 

It's sickening (in a good way) how rich of an era SRL had to build a legacy in, isn't it?

 

That, in addition to the actual challenges Sugar did face, is possibly the worst Murderer's Row a champion could possibly face. That would have been remarkable. I don't think any guy in that weight range ever could have navigated it undefeated.