Who was the most complete fighter: Leonard, Duran, or Hagler?

Duran was better defensively than Hearns and had a better chin plus he did better in brawls than Tommy who`s long arms didn`t help him as much up close v Barkley and Hagler, Ray also bullied Hearns before reaching him properly after struggling on the outside, the trick was to get past Tommy`s jab.

 

Minter didn`t move as much as Ray or even Duran when he fought Hagler, Roberto was subtly moving backward v Hagler who preferred what Minter and Hearns did by standing in front of him, when Hearns did try to move his legs were rubbery and hadn`t developed into middleweight yet which is something that might harm Wilder at some stage, those legs!

 

I feel Hagler could have gone the distance with anyone with any body type, his chin was more than sound.

 

Hagler and Ray were more open to right hands than Duran, Leonard always left his hand low after he jabbed and could be countered.

 

not if you look at Hearns vs. Duran. Hearns hit Duran with every right hand he threw,,, and one telling thing is when Hearns knocked out Duran, the last punch Hearns put his jab to Duran's body and landed a right to the head. he tired the same thing with Ray in 1989 and Ray just ducked the right. So Ray was able to not be fooled by the jab to the stomach the way Duran was. Duran took a better punch than Ray I think, but I think Ray was better defensively. He was rarely hit with a clean punch. More in his second part of his career after Hagler.

 

Duran was not as quick at light middle and couldn`t deal with reach as well at the higher weights, Ray said he was shocked how hard Duran was to hit in their first fight. In close like that Duran`s defense was better than Ray`s he couldn`t get close to Hearns because of the reach and power and Duran`s defense vs Moore was better than Ray`s in `89 but that was a good observation about the jab to the body not fooling Ray I feel. Having said all this Duran was amazing vs Moore.

 

He didn't have the reflex to try and duck it at all? He didn't know it was coming, when Ray did. The proof is in the fight. look at Duran round 2 and Leonard in the Hearns rematch as he was knocked down in round 3, he was pulled down because he was ducking the same punching Duran was knocked out by.. With Ray, he was knocked down, but he ducked the punch, same fadeaway left jab to the body Hearns tried and Duran fell for it. And Duran was hit by Barkley clean also. To compare Duran fighting the guys at lightweight to Ray fighting legends,, I think the legends prove who had better defense. Duran did well at higher weights and fought at 154 before Benitez,Hearns or Leonard did. believe it or not. Duran was great on the inside, but not as great as Ray defensively or as a fighter. In my view, regardless of what people say. Ray beat great fighters, when Duran lost to them.. The argument will be well he was past his prime. Hearns fought most of his career past welterweight. And he still won multiple titles and had great wins. Yeah Duran on the inside was hard to hit, but in the rematch Ray got his range and hit him cleaner since Duran is easier to hit from the outside. he has great inside skills. Moore is anything close to Hearns as far as offense and greatness, and you just said Duran was not quick at 154, then you said he had better defense than Ray in 1989, when Ray ducked Hearns punch. I just think Ray was also quicker than Duran. Beat greater fighters in a shorter career.

 

Pep`s footwork was much better than Ali`s.

 

Duran`s defense was awesome check out his head movement against Ray in the brawl and vs Davey Moore it was awesome and Moore had reach on him I think that`s what hurt Duran`s career at the higher weights.

 

You would expect a featherweight to have better all round feet than a heavyweight....

 

It wasn`t that it was the cleverness I saw in film studies, defensively his feet were amazing, Ali wasn`t clever with his feet he was just fast and nimble he practised ballet to aid his movement also so did Loma for 2 years.

 

Hi mate, to me Ali looked pretty clever with his feet in the first Liston fight to give one example.

Ali was actually a VERY clever fighter, much like Roy Jones his cleverness and unorthodoxy were two of his main attributes.

Cheers.

 

Duran as a lightweight was the greatest fighter I have seen and remember Ali was in that generation among others. Durans record going into Montreal was 71-1 and he convincingly beat DeJesus 2x after that loss that he should have never had. Montreal as a welterweight he was a beast. Davey Moore he ruined, Peppino Cuevos,etc.

An older version vs Hagler as a Middleweight & you could still see the brilliance. Supermiddleweight vs Barkley (6punch KD) was brilliant. Duran was not always in good conditiion and fell far from condition and good behavior as the King of Panama but he was a brilliant beast and hard to beat when fit.

 

and the fact he fought better guys when he moved up in weight. None of those guys at lightweight were are sharp and pinpoint as a Hearns punch. He could deal with Moore but not with Hearns, which is that level of competition.

 

Add INSANE speed to that, as per Jones as well.