WHOSE LEGACY WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE IN THE END? ROBERTO DURAN. SUGAR RAY LEONARD. MARVELOUS MARVIN HA

Yeah, Leonard's ending was the worst.
He was actually a pretty big favourite against Norris, and a narrow favourite over Camacho too.
It doesn't taint his ATG ranking, but it does taint his overall legacy. Remember, this was the same guy who walked away at 25 for health reasons, in his prime. The Hagler win would have been the perfect ending for SRL.

 

Good post.
I agree, I think Hagler's spartan "all or nothing" attitude to being a fighter and a champion helped him stay retired.
He didn't ever associate boxing with being relaxed or balancing it with a properly normal life, nevermind a partying lifestyle. His was a life of sacrifice and that mental hunger. Once he was retired, he flicked a switch.
Arguably he stayed one or two fights too long, as mentally he was losing that edge after the Hearns fight, he was mellowing, and was planning to retire after the tough one with Mugabi, but the temptation of the money and acclaim of the Leonard fight stretched it out a bit.

 

Like marciano

 

Again - I agree.

I certainly remember thinking that it was time for Hagler to retire, after the Mugabi bout, and he was virtually there, until another Leonard comeback popped out of the woodwork.

Once Leonard and his publicists had saturated the media with his desire to comeback to fight Hagler (and only Hagler, as Leonard kept claiming at the time) Hagler was caught between a rock and a hard place, in terms of whether or not to take the fight.

Fortunately, the hard place came with a huge lump of cash attached to it. And, ultimately, I don't think it was too damaging a result, as to set his legacy back all that much.

 

Leonard has wins over Duran, Hearns, and Hagler. Plus he was gold in 1976. Who can top that?

 

Hearns, Duran and Hagler.

 

Yup Leonard.

 

Yet he lost to the others on the list.

 

Leonard at the end of the Hagler fight but losses to Hector Camacho and Terry Norris you can leave out - Sadly Duran was the smallest at 5'7 135lbs prime and a strong welter when conditioned but everything after that was just carrying extra luggage but still beat Barkley and gave Hagler a great battle - he had his fights where he could not get into condition in time - like Leonard 2 and Hearns and the first DeJesus fight among others but overall he was 71-1 when he beat Leonard - he had some tremendous wins over Marcel, DeJesus, Leonard and Buchanan among other solid fighters - Had he retired after Leonard 1 - he would have still been rated very high.

Prime Leonard was great _ I watched him since the amateurs

 

He was older, shorter and way out of his natural weight class. If Hagler had been a natural lightweight and Roberto a natural middleweight Marvin wouldn't have seen the 8th round with Duran

 

Great point.

If Ray Leonard were a natural 122lber could he at 30 years old move up to try and dethrone 24 year old Roberto Duran? At Lightweight?

The answer is yes. Ofcourse he could try. Duran would have sonned him in one sided fashion.

 

This.

There is a subtle difference between accomplishments and legacy.

It's why Capablanca is more revered than Alekhine, Jeter is more respected than Rodriguez, and for a century Lee was mythologized while Grant was relegated to the term "butcher". Leonard was the greater fighter, but his wheedling manipulative persona (or was it personality?) suffers in comparison to Hagler's.

The Marvelous One was all substance, a Spartan agoge graduate whose dignity was never for sale.

 

Duran. He was a tad more skilled than either Leonard of Hagler to me, and for longevity is one of the supremest of all fighters.