Sugar Ray Leonard; worthy of being a top 20 ATG

I won't rank him even in the top 100. Even Marquez, Antuofermo, even Mayweather (also a scared boxer) get more respect from me.
Leonard was a protected, and utterly sad cope of Muhammad Ali when Ali was fading. He got his wishes fulfilled by promoters and conmissions. Duran could live his own life, eh? Leonard had Duran out of ****in' shape in the No Mas fight. He bribed King and cried for a ref who had problems with rough in fighting, a big ring, 5 months later date, etc. Duran was set up and Duran knew it. He should have kept his cool and continued to fight, but I understand Duran. As far as I'm concerned about the American media (no racist), Duran did more good things. But one mistake and they will talk about it forever! Hearns struggled to make the weight. What Leonard did to Roberto he did the exact same thing against Marvelous Marvin. 12 Rounds!
Leonard was carefully managed. I HATE THAT!
(I have to admit, Sugar Gay was smart. But that what he did all his career? Was chickensh*t.) IMO he is not even an ATG fighter!

 

Top 15 easily. Only his inactivity during his prime years stops him from being rated a lot higher.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard with a win over:

Tommy Hearns (Top 5-10 Welterweight all-time)
Roberto Duran (Top 5 Lightweight all-time)
Marvelous Marvin Hagler (Top 5 Middleweight all-time)
Wilfredo Benitez (Top 20 Welterweight all-time)

These four men would be ranked in everyone's top 50 greatest fighters of all-time.
Take away Benitez and it would be Top 30
Take away Hearns and we are talking 20
Take way Hagler and we are talking top 15. For some top 5.

I think this puts Leonard's resume up there with Greb, Robinson, Charles, and Ali. Here is my list as of today.

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Yeah, he is top 20 ATG worthy, he's far from a top 5, but I'd say somewhere close to, or even in top 10, would be his rightful spot. Talented boxer, no doubt, has an impressive resume to go along with it, but he resembles Ali a little bit too much to be one of my favorites fighters.

 

Andrei00.

Who do you have in your top ten if you do not mind sharing? I am curious because of the Ali reference. I am not sure why what Leonard resembles is held against. Is Ali top ten worthy? Ali resembles Robinson...etc. See what I mean?

 

Well, okay, even if I haven't spent much time doing rankings all-time, I'll do a quick top 10 basically of the top of my head.

1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Ezzard Charles
3. Henry Amrstrong
4. Sam Langford
5. Willie Pep
6. Harry Greb
7. Joe Louis
8. Roberto Duran
9. Muhammad Ali
10. Joe Gans

 

Nice list. Thank you.

Looking at your I see that I need to fix mine. I see some mistakes.

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Why are Arguello, Olivares, Hearns, Hagler, and Monzon above Moore?

Greb is cool in 2nd.

Ali is a bit high at 5.

Leonard above Duran I don't personally agree but not the worst thing I've ever seen

 

Thanks, yours is not bad at all, although I don't agree with some of your choices. On a second note, I incline to drop Duran out of my top 10, will still work on a more accurate list, probably something like top 30. I'll even post it, if this topic is still hot by the time I'm finished.

 

After seeing so many have him in it, it's a bit refreshing to see a differing opinion(even though I think he deserves the ranking).

What's your reasoning for leaving him out?

 

Thank you for the question.

I think those fighters are right there with him in terms of resume. I consider Hagler and Monzon more dominant champions than Moore, although I place a high premium on moving up and success at higher weights which tips it to Moore slightly. Olivares and Arguello, I personally admired thier skills in the ring on top of there remarkable resumes which they were champions at multiples weights.

But, I am not sure that fighters they beat or condended with rank with Moore's opponents. Hearns is the same case but with a slightly different twist. I consider the 154 Hearns great enough to beat the middleweight verision on Archie Moore. I cannot prove it but that is my sense.

Muhhamad is fine at 5. His resume and dominance at Heavyweight speaks for itself. On top of that I think that no Heavyweight in history could beat him including Joe Louis who is my favorite.

Duran is not ranked as high as Leonard because other than Leonard his resume contains no other all-time great win. His resume at lightweight is fanstatic but I take Leonard wins over Hearns, Benitez, Hagler and Duran himself over Duran entire body of work. That is how impressive Leonard's resume is to me.

Admitedly you have me thinking about the Moore ranking. Thank you for the feedback. It is helpful. I may need to go over my list and revise it.

 

I think Leonard should be around top 15-20 depending on your criteria. Talent wise he's easy top 15, but resume wise, as good as it is, it's not the 100's of fights others have had. I also don't rate Jeffries as high as most for the same reason. Activity matters.

 

Thank you for reviewing my list. It is always a work in progress.

I look forward to reviewing your updated list when you post it. Peace.

 

A suggestion further the discussion...

I am just going to ask for general purpose that if someone is going to post a critique it should be followed with at least thier own top 15-20. Let make the conversation interesting. A top 15-20 does not take much time to do. Take a risk and put your personal list under public strutiny. If you do not have one, think up one.

Thanks for considering it.

 

As much as I like Benny Leonard I don't think he deserves the 7th AND 9th rankings.