I'm going with Leonard. Both are ridiculous. During his 147 pound peak, at the time he retired, i'd only favor SRR over him. There's not many i like over Monzon either tho.
Monzon imo. I have Monzon as a lock for top 3 middles of all time and on some days I have him as the middleweight GOAT. Leonard is more like a top 5-6 welter for me. I've got Armstrong and Robinson solidly above him, aswell as Napoles and Gavilan. Couldn't really see a case for him being the goat of 147 unlike Monzon at 160. Leonard has the better top wins but lacks the longevity and depth.
Both #2 in all time in these divisions, imo. Monzon has more dominance and longevity at the weight, SRL the best individual wins. If they'd have been an equal option, I'd have voted.
So difficult to separate them, it's as close to a 50/50 as you're going to get. Great question, really. Somebody could probably write a book on it and still not come up with a definitive answer. We're looking at arguably two fighters who both sit within the top 10 P4P of all time. If I had to choose, I'd say Leonard, but by the finest of margins.
Leonard beat four prime or close to it boxers who are considered ATG'S in Duran, Benitez, Hearns, and Hagler, plus he beat a bunch of very goods in there primes like Kalule, and Lalonde among others Monzon's best skilled opponents were past prime former welterweights in Griffith and Napoles. He gets a lot of love for his victories over Briscoe, ( who never won a big fight..... Other than when he fought Monzon in his native Argentina, where even most Argentinan's present thought Briscoe won) And of course Rodrigo Valdes, who was Monzon's best championship opponent, but he gets most of his rep from how well he fought Monzon and his out of the blue Ko of Briscoe. Leonard was the better fighter, and was greater , though he had a much shorter career than Monzon.
