the best fighter at jnr middle!

The concencus #1 is Hearns, and I think I'll go along with that.

 

Mccallum and Norris accomplished more at that weight class IMO.

 

Well, head-to-head Hearns smashes them.:good

 

He surely don´t "smashes" McCallum at 154 lbs, nobody "smashes" Mike there...

 

I would pick mike to knock hearns out.

 

Right on Pimp!!

a great exhibition between two all time greats. though leonard faced several name opponents, he still had a lot to learn because of the way he was overmatched against Terry and Terry with far less experience than leonard was able to have his way and set the pace which leonard couldn't keep up with.

it was such a masterful exhibition in hit and don't get hit. Hitting Terry was harder than hitting a cloud. Leonard said that benitez gave him problems scoring.

imagine what he was thinking the way he missed Terry's head for all 12 rounds. I'm not trying to rub it in-we all know terry was vastly superior, but leonard couldn't have landed more than 15 punches in that fight.

I think every student of boxing can learn alot from this fight, not just leonard.

 

In what way does it matter that the fans couldn't care? Do you think Norris was sat in a corner 5 minutes before the ring walk sobbing because nobody cared? Did he think "Well, nobodies watching, so **** it, I won't try to win"?

You talk ****.

Regardless of how many people wanted to see the fight, it was the toughest challenge of his career, and hs first World title shot.

It's kinda wierd getting into this argument, because unlike almost every single one on the rest of this whole site, I can only see one side of the argument. Norris wanted to win. It may not have been a huge fight to the fans or media, but that is no reason for Norris not wanting to win.

 

Good pick. I meant only that "smashes" is a total wrong word for beating McCallum at 154 lbs. Mike is one of the best and most underrated fighters at LMW, and Hearns on the other side in matchups heavily overrated...

 

I didn't say terry didn't want to win. of course he did. i just said it wasn't a big time fight loeaded with two superstars. And John who is wrong like 97% of the time, was trying to tell me that it was.

I specifically told him that Terry won every big fight that he was in and as usual, he thought it was wise to contradict me. stupidity never goes out of style with him.

 

Terry Norris beat more than 15 belt holders in his career man, a true atg. He was one of the best boxers of the 90s. He is a much better athlete than leonard, he hits just as hard and he's faster. Leonard would never solve him and i just love watching that great boxing exhibition, it's a pleasure to see leonard totally outclassed.:good

 

comparing Ali with leonard is convenient if you're a leonard fan because it allows for the excuse that he just got old without having to actually explain the contrast in the back to back performances. but there is no in between fight that shows slipping between the Duran fight and the Norris fight.

Duran never even touched him for 12 rounds.

What evidence do you even have that leonard was even slipping going into the Norris fight? ---You have none.

Ali had slipped dramatically in the fight with Jimmy Young. Young was a talent that's true but Muhammud was way off in his timing and forget about getting up on his toes and dancing. He couldn't do that at this late stage of his career while leonard still could.

You saw only glimpses of movement in the Young and Norton fights.

Whereas Ali could only dance for a minute at a time, Leonard was dancing for the entire 12 rounds with the crowd booing. And he never seemed to noticably tire. With Ray it was the same as usual-taunting, shuffling, running, and the same speedy combinations. It's there in the tape and the scores relfect that.

How does that make him comparable with Ali vs. Holmes or Berbick???

I even saw Leonard get off some combinations whenever Norris stayed on the ropes or got lazy but the rest of the time, he didn't stay put for Ray to hit. You have to be stationary for Ray to connect with the combinations (see Leonard-Hearns 1). That proves he could land the combinations whenever Norris became stationary but not when he moved out of range.

I told you, Leonard cannot handle that kind of fighter. Never could.

IMO, Ali had lost a one sided decision to Young and Norton killed him and caused trauma to the head. After that he just got slower and more hittable than ever and should never have been allowed a license to face Holmes, let alone Berbick.

You're mistaken big time comparing leonard with Ali. Now repent of this ignorance.

 

Leonard may have been in his mid 30's but please, he was never 'shot'. Which fighter made him shot? I mean if the fight between him and hearns would have went 15 rounds, leonard could have won the decision cuz he was starting to pick it up in the later rounds. Norris owned him!

 

I like the first four but Julio Cesar Vazquez has to take the last spot, seeing as he KD'd Wright 5 times during their fight. A very, very under-rated fighter. Also, please note that Norris never wanted any part of Vazquez. As a Ring Magazine writer wrote during their respective primes, "If Troy Water puts Norris on the canvas, Vazquez puts him through the canvas."

And just to add to the chagrin of most here, I had him winning over Whitaker in their tilt.