What was Leonards best skill as a fighter?

His finishing skills, if he got got you hurt you where in trouble, also his ring generalship( outside duran 1) and flurries where exceptional

 

Those have about the same effect as Larry Holmes TKO 10 Muhammed Ali or Trevor Berbick UD 10 Muhammed Ali. i.e. Very little effect.

So his Leonard SD 12 Hagler was better.

You would have been better of mentioning the Duran loss, except for the fact he over-turned that straight away by making Duran say "no mas"

 

EVERYTHING!

His hand speed was off the chart. His flurries were amazing. there are so many its hard to get them all. :deal

AWESOME FIGHTER!

 

I thought the same thing. SRL could steal rounds like no other fighter that I can remember. He was the total package, but his ability to steal rounds is unsurpassed.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard had it all, from Olympic Gold to World Titles in different weights, he also fought the best. Leonard came back to beat the unstoppable Marvin Hagler after that I thought he should have permanently retired. The only thing I would have said was wrong with Leonard was he didn't retire from Boxing, Boxing retired him.

 

The "shuffle dance, swing his arm around" move!

 

I didnt realize Ali was favored 3-1 over Larry Holmes. :think

I know it's embarrassing but dont try to play it down.

Besides, since when is a split decision better than unanimous? Norris kicked butt-leonard's butt to be exact so his win exceeds Leonard's accomplishment any day of the week.

 

Wrong! Norris and Camacho retired him

 

Hagler never lost as badly as Leonard and Hearns did.

 

Well said! :good

 

Don't bother debating with Rooster. When it comes to Leonard he's even more biased than Jack is with De La Hoya. Someone who has to bring up losses when a fighter is completely shot just to form some kind of argument against said fighter...well, they should be treated as a jester more than as a serious poster. And Rooster certainly is entertaining if you take his Leonard rants for what they are -- amusing.

 

This is how I see it!

 

Leonard was a well rounded fighter.

I happen to think that his boxing skills are a tad overrated, but thats not to diminish Leonard as his boxing skills were still great.

For me, his speed and determination were his best assets.

Leonard as America's sweetheart coming out of the Olympics, was able to manipulate the system in order to make things easier on himself when he was actually fighting in the ring.......but in any regards, he was one of those special fighters that was good at smelling the winning line.
A fighter that was great at knowing what he was up against, and not just from an opponent standpoint, but also sensed what it would take to please the crowd so that the judges would be influenced by it and he could come out the winner.

Leonard was a fan and judge entertainer. He knew that he did'nt always have to actually win through boxing or through fighting.
......Leonard was an illusion creator, who could fool the masses into believing he was mastering an opponent through boxing in instances when he was boxing very little......(Am I sounding Roosterish? )

Dont worry, I'm not in total agreeance with Redrooster, although there is some truth to what he speaks about when it comes to Leonard, just Rooster lays it out to thickly, and never gives Leonard any of the credit.

Unlike Rooster, I do believe Leonard was a great fighter.

As I said, Speed, determination were his best assets, but one other thing I have to give Leonard great credit for......in the ring fighting, he had a special talent to hide when he was hurt or was in pain.
There were times during his fights with Hearns, Hagler, and the first Duran fight, that I thought Leonard was hurt by shots......
Leonard imo may have been the best of all-time in hiding from his opponent that fact that he was hurt.
Thats something that you just cant teach, Leonard was tough. He sucked it up when he was in pain or at the point of fatigue.

Leonard was the master of manipulating the boxing scene, but I cant take away that indeed, he was still a great fighter!

 

Divac make some very good points as usual. However, I have to question the need for him to return to boxing so late with all these bouts when his eye is supposedly in jeopardy of being permanently damaged.

I believe it was a complete farce as were his many comebacks with Hagler, Lalonde etc. These excuses I see covering up his embarrassment at the hands of Norris can't hide his incompetence against a skilled youthful opponent like Norris who I personally handpicked to harpoon the overrated media star.

I happned to be around in those days and not once did I recall any of the experts hollering that ray should not take the fight or anything about being shot.

 

Thats because he was one of the very few that got out before he deteriorated so badly that he became a complete shell of himself.

Every human being has their limits & if Hagler stayed in long enough, someone would have likely KOd or TKOd him - more than likely a man that wouldnt stand much chance prime v prime, a bit like Leonard v Norris or Camacho.

:thumbsup