Which performance was more remarkable? Mancini against Camacho or Leonard against Hagler.

The middleweight fight and by some margin.

Camacho while still very good was already battling his addictions and out of the ring issues.
Hagler was still a p4p er and undefeated champ against a former welterweight with 1 eye.

 

Win or lose, what SRL did was completely crazy. He'd looked awful against Kevin Howard, while Marv was widely considered the P4P best in boxing. Even with Ray getting every concession, he should've gotten killed.

 

And Duran, after Camacho II was going to continue, saying, "If he can't knock me out, then I don't think anybody can." He was finally forced into retirement by a car crash, not because of anything that happened in the ring. Even more insane, he still has all his marbles. As a trainer, he has to be a gold mine. That he did so much better against Hector 2X than Ray did (even with that injured lag) is superhuman.

 

If we’re going to say Ray won because of “concessions,” then don’t we also have to say that Marvin could only win during his career when he got his way with all the conditions? Wasn’t the deck stacked in his favor most of the time? Yet no one mentions that.

As far as “concessions” …

15 rounds vs 12 rounds: Marvin hadn’t fought a scheduled 15-rounder in 2 1/2 years. For it to suddenly be a factor when he lost is bogus.

Glove size: Middleweights had long been in the, well, middle when it came to glove size — either 8-ounce or 10-ounce were acceptable for title and non-title fights alike. Does anyone know the glove sizes for all of Marvin’s previous defenses? Is it possible he also won with 10s? And if not, did he have to have that particular deck stacked in his favor to win?

Ring size: 24 feet was at the top end of normal and many, many title fights had taken place in that size ring. Yet I’ve seen accounts that this ring was 22x22 and also 24x24? Do we know for sure which? Either way, again, do we know the ring size for all of Marvin’s previous title fights? Was he only able to win in rings of 20 feet or less?

If Marvin has to have every “concession” to win throughout his career, why isn’t this an issue in assessing those wins?

To me, the only “concessions” that came into play for Leonard’s career were the ones that Roberto Duran consumed between the first and second fights. I think all those funnel cakes and chilli cheese dogs were less than ideal for peak performance.

 

As for the topic, I’d have to go with Leonard as his victory was considered near-impossible going into the bout.

But I’m glad to see Mancini’s performance get recognized as it does from time to time. I thought he won and more than that, for all the time off he came with tremendous energy and determination and was clearly in fantastic shape and form. You’d have never known he’d taken so much time off, nor been in the funk he was after killing Kim in their fight. Bravo to Mancini no matter how the judges saw it.