Why?Phony Leonard wouldn't be able to brag that he's a 5 time champion even though he never mentions they fought for LaLonde's 175 title at a catchweight of 168 that Leonard demanded and got.
You have to throw in the wins against Ranzany, Munoz, Viruet, Price and Green as well. Not elite fighters per se, but all extremely dominant wins against very very good contenders. He beat Munoz far easier than Palomino and Napoles, Viruet easier than Duran, Price who beat Palomino and Cuevas was sparked in a round, and Green was outstanding and gave Palomino a fair tilt. Quality.
I think it's the opposite of the intended angle of the OP. Leonard actually had a pretty decent number of big wins in a relatively sparse overall record (less than 40 fights).
He did beat the best contenders on the way up, so hate him or love him, give him his due. And the bout with Benetiz was a great 'mongoose-n-snake' match-up. With Leonard, just a shade better than El Radar. Now that would have been a great re-match at 154 lbs. 2-years later, when Benetiz was a little bigger/stronger and older. Got to honest though, Leonard would have never gone anywhere near Mike McCallum.
Wins over Duran, Hearns, Hagler, Benitez...but thats it. Yeah, i see where you're coming from. Totally man.
That McCallum fight is the one I would like to have seen .The problem was that there wasn't enough money to be made .High risk low reward for Ray. Excellent resume in terms of great fighters and the most complete fighter I have had the pleasure of watching In terms of past great champions he was quite inactive but I think in the future this will be regarded as the norm and Leonard will rate higher in the ATG lists.
skidd1 and lora, He was super smart too. Sent stablemate Steve Gregory to fight the "Great Ugandan" Ayub Kalule first, as a 'spy'. Steve Gregory came back, and said Kalule was fading fast, and had no power punch anymore! Take that fight quick, before someone beats you to him.
Il Duce I hadn't heard that before but it makes sense .Smart guy outside as well as inside the ring. I just had the feeling that he could have had a greater legacy if he had fought more That's easy to say sitting at a keyboard I know but I just thought he was that good
skidd1, Yep, Steve was trained by Angelo Dundee, and was Leonard' stablemate in 1979/1980. Went over to Denmark to test the 'southpaw' Kalule's counter-punching skills. Came back unimpressed, after the WBA Jr. Middleweight Title fight. Ray Leonard no dummy, may have been smarter outside the ring in disecting a fighter than inside the ring.
Where did you read or hear that?. I've long suspected that a jr middle title fight was made as insurance for ray in case he lost to Hearns(so he would still have a belt)and they picked kalule because he wasn't a puncher, so the worst that could happen would be a lost decision. However i would have expected the idea came from others in Leonard's camp rather than Ray himself initially.Quite a lot of miami and east coast based fighters fought Kalule actually.He and his style would have been well known to Dundee. btw, Kalule could never punch.it was his weakness, so Gregory took an ugly one-sided beating to come back and state the obvious really.