:rofl :rofl "Whether or not they actually fought at lightweight.... they were lightweight.":rofl Even though some of them were even directly at the Jr. Welterweight limit... those were lightweight fights. I like this logic... let's pretend like Evander Holyfield still fights at Cruiserweight.... this is fun. Whether or not he weighed over the cruiserweight limit... they were cruiserweight. Man... this changes everything in the history of boxing.
to suit your personal bias you conveniently leave out facts. yes the eight fights pre leonard were above the 135 limit. you fail to mention, that those eight fights were the ones that followed the 3rd dejesus fight, after which he vacated the lw titles. and oficially began to campaign at jww. remember this was still the era where fighters actually had to earn their rankings, and title shots. so there is nothing wrong with him acclamating himself to a higher weight, and earning his ranking.
You're being foolish. When Corrales and Castillo fought, Castillo weighed in slightly over the 135 pound limit, did it then become a Light Welterweight bout? I think not. It simply became a non-title bout. And in case you didn't realize, the bouts that Duran weighed in over the limit were, in fact, non-title bouts. Also, saying Duran was natural at higher weights when he clearly was always the smallest man in the ring, with nowhere near the overall skills or physical ability he showed at LW, shows ignorance. He lost to the best at higher weights because he was not as good at those weights, and because he was always the smaller man. This is obvious. You're almost as biased against Duran as you are for De La Hoya, which you've been exposed for already by KG.
How so? Pryor called him out when he was a no-name fighter at a lower weight. Why would Leonard fight a no-namer at a lower weight when he had super-fight opportunities with more dangerous, known fighters at the time like Duran, Hearns, Benitez, and Hagler? This myth of him ducking Pryor came afterwards, after Pryor beat a past his prime Arguello, and people started to realize he was a very good fighter, but by that time, Leonard had already retired due to his detached retina. When Pryor called him out, it was no big deal, and people just thought Pryor was a bit off, nobody blamed Leonard, and rightfully so.
I say Leonard but its closer than many think because he did lose the second fight to Hearns and he should have gave Hagler a rematch. Duran was more of a risk taker and was less protected
No hard evidence to suggest Leonard ducked Pryor. Agreed. If one fighter doesn't fight another, its ducking to some people. Politics; money, managers, and promoters influencing fighters also has a lot to do with fights not being made.
The only fighter who was remotley on Leonard's mind around 1982 before he suffered the detached retina was Hagler. They were in talks about a possible fight, but Leonard felt 154lbs was his maximum weight, and Hagler couldn't get himself down to that weight as he felt he'd be weakening himself too much. Hagler was pretty much at the peak of his powers then. IMO a Hagler fight for Leonard was a bigger risk as well as more money on the table than a Pryor fight.
Yeah Pryor called Leonard out every chance he got http://www.zippyvideos.com/4911464123484996/pryor-sugarrayleonard/
He was a no namer yet he was in the p4p rankings. Call arguello past it as much as you want, he was also top 5 p4p at the time. Pryor fought what was there. There was also always a strong rumour that leonard moved up a weight class in the amatuers to avoid pryor.