Who Would Beat A Prime Leonard At Welterweight?

Very good point buddy.

 

Duran never completely outclassed Ray Leonard ever.

Leonard decided to fight him toe-to-toe, because Duran had called Leonard's wife a *****, and Leonard lost by ONE point on all cards. Just a kid who just turned 24 who let a veteran get in his head, because it was the veteran's only chance to win, and still every round was about dead even.

Their next two fights were mismatches.

They could've fought 10 times, and Duran's only win would've been by a single point in Montreal.

 

fair enough

BTW, where do you place Donald Curry?

He had a fairly impressive run for a while as though he could do no wrong. The press even ranked him over more established names such as Hearns after Tommy's second loss, and even ranked him over Hagler himself months before he lost to Leonard.

I thought this was a premature move on their part and it wasnt long before we found out his true worth

How quickly the boxing press changed their tune

 

You took that well, props to you mate, yea so Curry, bit of a enigma for me, your correct in your assertion that he was very highly ranked and thought of up to and during his reign, his style was appealing, stand in the pocket and avoid then offload, looked to be heading for a long and impressive tenure as champ.
Maybe the sudden and surprising loss to Honeygan ( FYI not very well liked here in the UK ) robbed him of his allure and somewhat cloak of invincibility, and the slide was imminent, shame but he is rarely mentioned or thought of these days, I care so little that I cant be bothered to appraise his career and rate him in the ranks of the WW history. stay safe buddy.

 

Robinson was Robinson and if anyone beats Leonard it's Ray but don't think for a moment it wouldn't be Robinson's toughest fight .. Hearns was an exceptionally tough matchup for any welter but his chin and stamina had chinks in them .. I see no basis for saying he was far better than Ray .. Duran did not completely outclass Ray in Montreal. It is an incorrect statement .. Ray was goaded by ego to fight a strategy that played into Duran's hands and still fought an extremely competitive fight against the best Duran ever. It was very close and Ray closed strong winning the last two rounds. The rematch, which was also more competitive than many claim, was a different fight ..Mayweather was a great fighter but I see Leonard as bigger, stronger, faster, much harder hitting with a longer reach was a decision over a more defensive minded Floyd at welter ... Floyd barely edged an older De La Hoya at 147 and feasted on extremely well selected name opponents who were small, old or before or past their best .. cannot compare that to Hearns, Benitez and Duran ..

 

Leonard was really quick and dangerous specifically for a lightweight however Duran was far more skilled offensive wise than Leonard and a better inside fighter.

 

They were both exceptionally skilled, all time great , P4P fighters .. how they match up with other all time greats as always depends on styles .. just my two cents ...

 

For me, Robinson is only a slight favourite over Leonard. The proposed difference between the two is largely overestimated IMO; Leonard was very much his equal.

Duran could beat any Leonard.

Jose Napoles has more of a chance than most at taking a win; Leonard's size probably prevails, though.

Hearns would always beat Leonard over twelve and always lose over fifteen.

 

I see Robinson prevailing over Leonard comfortably in a unanimous points, and possibly late tko

Same with Napoles who in my opinion is just the better fighter

I felt Duran was just a bit better, a bit smarter than same year Leonard

COULD Leonard beat Duran 10/10 after learning his lesson not to stand flat footed and brawl with him?

against a naturally smaller, progressively aging Duran he could

Switch roles and let's have a young up and coming Duran with a natural 12 pound edge vs a declining, struggling to keep his weight down Ray Leonard and you can expect the same results

 

Donald is an odd situation. At his beat head to head he could give Ray and Tommy all they could handle. The problem with Donald seems to be could he do what Ray and Tommy and Duran did when getting deep into a superfight.. But head to head I thought he was great, and his decline surprised me. I do remember how Honeyghan had a great record, and what he did to Gene Hatcher showed Lloyd had some power. He was a pretty good puncher and had good handspeed.

 

He fought Duran six months after in the rematch in New Orleans. The question is who was the better at welter ...

 

I wouldn't dismiss Emile Griffith or Kid Gavilan's chances. They both fought and beat alot of top notch Welterweights. Gavilan's two performances vs Robinson suggested he would be just fine matching his talents at that elite level.

 

Robinson, as great as he was, couldn’t stop Tommy Bell or Gavilan and he fought both twice. I don’t see him stopping Leonard.

 

Perfect analysis.

 

15 round and same day weigh in rules?
Not many?
SRR and Duran are the only ones I would pick
I would call Napoles and FMJ 50/50

12 rounds modern rules?
Still not many…just the above 4 but I think Hearns might have beat him over 12 rounds too