The Best of the Rest: 160lbs Tier II Tournie - Round 1 - Fight 14: Rodrigo Valdez UD15 Ray Leonard

Valdez stops the MW version of Leonard IMO

 

Leonard had the perfect gameplan against Hagler. As he said at the time, 'this is one fight' and he had the perfect plan worked out for that one fight. As meticulous as he was in his preparation for Hagler, I don't see Leonard as a real middleweight - he could still make 154 at 40 years of age - and I don't see him being able to apply that same focus to anyone else.

Valdez on the other hand was a fully-fledged middleweight who fought there his whole career and I think he would have the edge in every department except speed and heart. But Leonard would need to show heart to survive the trouble that was coming his way. He would, because he was a tough SOB despite his manicured image. But Valdez has too much of everything else and would win by clear decision.

 

Tough one to call. Valdez was a rough customer and as we all know 160 was not Ray's best weight. With that said, he got the decision over Hagler although I personally had it for Marvin and he beat a significantly bigger Donnie Lalonde north of 160. I could totally see Valdez roughing Ray up along the way but then again, Ray was a special fighter that was able to find a way to win more times than not.

I'm going to take Ray by UD but I could totally see Vakdez winning with his physicality.

 

I think Ray Leonard wins a close and controversial decision.

 

I see it as close too. I'd take Leonard over 10 and very likely 12 but over 15 i'm not as confident.

 

Very good point. He was on fumes against Haglar by the end of the 12th. Fight really is a toss up. It's hard to pick against a guy like Leonard but 15 rounds makes a huge difference at that weight for him.

 

Leonard loses a decision for me.

 

I've gone for Ray on points. I rate Valdez highly too, but the gap on the poll in his favour has arched my eyebrows if I'm honest. I feel like Leonard would suss very quickly what Valdez's strengths and weaknesses were and be able to both respect the former and exploit the latter enough with the right tactical approach, which is similar to the one that got him by Hagler. Move, move, turn Valdez, find the angle, sharpshoot with one or two, or shoeshine with a flurry when Valdez is only half-set and not in the traps ready to let fly. Rinse, repeat.

Even at middle if Leonard focused on not getting hit and drawing misses from an opponent, he was excellent at it. Reflexively quick and natural and well versed in the technical basics. On that basis alone I'd have Valdez struggling even if he won. However sophisticated and powerful a slip/counter offensive machine he was, them slow feet man. Slow feet and reactive approach to lateral or sidestepping movement. Even a Rudy Robles with the most basic stick and move approach was able to make Valdez tread water.

Obviously Leonard would have to be really careful, far easier said than done. Valdez had impeccable timing and delivery and wasn't easy to hit cleanly, and I don't know that Ray would keep instantly exploiting any misses or overextension from Valdez with an immediate counter or interrupting Valdez mid punch with sneak shots. It wasn't really his game in comparison to beating opponents to the draw, even ones like Benitez. Whereas Valdez was excellent at that sort of thing and deadly with it. That said, if you can beat Benitez to the draw, you can beat Valdez to it imo. The battle of timing I could see being proper cat and mouse stuff.

I thought Griffith lost to Tiger, but that fight for me is comparable to this one in a sense if not exactly a duplicate situation.

 

Rodrigo Valdes was troubled by a plodding fighter, Gratien Tonna on Nov 30 1974 in a WBC Title defense in Paris, France, Valdes stopped him in round 11 of a 15 round bout. His right hand knocked out Bad Bennie Briscoe in round 7, in Monte Carlo, Monaco to win the vacant WBC title on May 25 1974. He put the great Carlos Monzon down in round 2 of their July 30 1977 rematch in Monte Carlo, only to lose on points to the retiring Monzon. Here is where I see a weakness in Rodrigo, Hugo Corro out sped him, used lateral movement and angles to take the World Middleweight Title from Rocky Valdes( Rodrigo's nickname) over 15 rounds in San Remo, Italy, on April 22 1978, on points. Sugar Ray Leonard used his very quick combos on defending World Middleweight Champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler, used his bicycle in their 12 rounder on April 6 1987, to win the title. i feel that Leonard would do the same with Valdes who has lost important matches to combination throwing boxers. Leonard on points.

 

Never in a million years.