Was Sugar Ray Leonard overrated ?

I was all this when i met him:smh

 

Don't make it a nationality thing,Duranimal.I'm a New Yorker that hates Leonard,and I know many people that do,too.You have a ton of David Haye supporters in your country,and he's proven to be an ******* of mountainous proportions who's extremely greedy and done practically nothing at heavyweight.As far as Leonard is concerned,you're right about his having to upstage every live event.In his eyes,everything was always about him.I don't know if you remember, but the 1st time he "retired",he had an "event" at an arena in his home state of Maryland which was,in actuality,a "will he or won't he retire" party-to which he actually CHARGED ADMISSION TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.Leonard,who is the king of the drama queens himself,even invited Marvin Hagler-whom actually accepted the invite-simply to announce that he was "retiring".Leonard was a great fighter,but was a greedy **** that was(is) pathetically insecure and to this day is offended when anyone has the temerity to compare any other fighter to him-recent case in point,Floyd Mayweather(not that I like him either).

 

SRL was one of the best ever. Beating Duran, Hearns, Hagler and Benitez are some of the best wins a fighter can have. That **** is ledendary.

 

Nope, and not even close. Leonard could do it all...Box, punch, brawl, ect, ect...

Leonard would mop the floor with every single WW today, and is greater, and will always be greater than any fighter alive today.

 

For sure he beats Floyd, Manny, Cotto, Sergio. Only one to survive a KO is Sergio.

 

I guess this was boxing's 1980s version of Lebron's "The Decision".

Leonard took his talents to the vodka bottle and a mirror filled with coke.

 

Arguably the most complete fighter of the the last 50 years, with wins over primed versions of Wilfred Benitez, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran. (comment on his performance by all means, but Duran was only months removed from his greatest showing)

Leonard would make a mockery of today's 147lbs division...and he'd most likely beat everyone at 154lbs and 160lbs.

Overrated? Not sure. One of the greatest fighters that have ever lived? No question.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Jefm2s81Q[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tivNM_wADzA[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHM7zrmm4_U[/ame]

 

Agree with most of this , exept to the Kalue stopage.

Leonard was a great boxer, beating Benitez , Hearns and a great showing against Duran (1) prove this, I think that without his fake retirements he would have lost a couple along the way, a candle that would have burned very bright and very fast, would of been a bit like Curry, best fighter in the world, then out of now where he is not the fighter he once was.

I would say he is overrated, which I can understand, because he was one of the most complete boxers ever, boxers like Leonard, Floyd and RJJ can tend to be overrated cause in their prime they look unbeatable when on song, and are rated as monster H2H guys, but a boxer like Pacman losses most of his H2H match ups but is rated higher P4P then all of these guys?, maybe it's their slicker style (in and out of the ring)?

 

Free Boo ?

Where is he and why does he need freeing ?


Basically agree with the OP, who give him considerable esteem, but wonders if he isn't just a tad overrated on here.

Great as he was (and he was great), I believe he gets just a little more props than he may have warranted.


He is often cited as the best of the Fabulous four as he beat the other three.


With Duran, he went 1-1 in fights that mattered, same with Hearns (poor judging in their rematch notwithstanding) and a good few would argue he should have been 0-1 with Hagler in a fight where he was in a position to dictate many important conditions. At a minimum, a rematch was warranted.

In the multiple weight championships, he is generally credited with five titles. The SMW and LHW titles must carry a huge asterisk as he forced Lalonde to weight-drain to 168 to artificially count the bout in two divisions at the same time.

Combine this with his controversial title win over Hagler, and Leonard becomes a clear champ in only two weights, 147 and 154.

He had only six bouts North of 154.

Leaving aside the final two that he lost, he had a rather meaningless win over an aged Duran, a draw that most consider a loss, and two questionable wins.

Thus he was really only distinguished in two divisions.


That said, he had some very good wins where he fought best.

Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Kalule. And his performance against Hagler was great regardless of who you thought won.

He had no serious weaknesses in his game and was a vey exciting fighter to watch.

He was clearly one of the very best welterweights of alltime, and I rank him very highly overall.


But, like the OP, I think some of the foregoing concerns tend to get overlooked.