Ray Leonard,finest welterweight in post war boxing?

Question

Ray Leonard,for me was the greatest welter Ive ever seen ,an absolute Marvel to watch!I belieive he was the complete fighter and if faced with Floyd Myweather would have done what Dela hoya failed to do(an ageing De la Hoya at that)if he was in his prime today I cannot think of a welter or Middle who would beat him,but I still believe Hagler did beat him,after watching the fight ad nauseum!!what do you reckon??

Answer 1

i would say he is i seen alot of his fights

Answer 2

I have the Leonard/Hagler fight on dvd- courtesy of boxingcraze.com- you can buy almost all of the great fights off this website....................................

And I have to say that Sugar Ray just out-boxed, landed more, had better legs and just flat out won the fight against Hagler- was it a dominating victory?-..................................

h**l NO!- ALTHOUGH NOT BUY MUCH- RAY BEAT HAGLER!

Answer 3

Sugar Ray Robinson, I think he only lost one fight at welter against LaMotta. Leonard was great but not as great as Robinson.

Answer 4

Ray Leonard was one of those rare fighters who would rise to the occasion for big fights.  Thomas Hearns was methodically taking Ray apart round after round. Angelo Dundee said to him in these now, famous words" you blowing kid you blowing it." Ray goe's out in the very next round and knocks Hearns out.  Ray's record 36wins 3 losses with 25ko's was something special. What set's Ray apart is there was much better competition, when he was fighting. Any one of those guys could be Champion today. Ray's road to the top was much harder than Mayweathers. Mayweather hasn't fought those type of relentless assaults that the fighters of old would do. I  have seen Ray under this pressure and rise to the challenge.  I think some of Ray's opponents, Hearns for example would have dismantled Floyd in his prime. He couldn't have withstood that jab, that could knock you out.   Thks for posting about Ray one of my all time favs. lol

Answer 5

robinson is the best post war welter, with leonard second and maybe kid gavilan third.......unless you mean a fighter who actually started his pro career post war, in which case leonard is no.1.

sideline....i believe leonard won the hagler fight.

Answer 6

I say you right.  I remember that fight.

Answer 7

I would agree. Although Jose Napoles would've given him a h**l of a fight.

Answer 8

It's got to go to Sugar Ray Robinson, who held the belt from 46 to 51.  I whole heartedly believe Ray Leonard is a close #2 with Thomas Hearns a close #3.

When I think about Leonard's best fights, he came close to losing all of them, including Benitez.  The judges had Ray ahead, but that was biased judging.  The real world scoring had it even or Leonard ahead a round.  Then Leonard sealed the deal with a TKO which may have been a little early, but even without the TKO, the 10-8 or 10-7 round would have cinched up the win in people's minds.  Duran?  Only the arrogance of Ray Leonard would think he could beat Duran at Duran's fight, but oddly enough that fight earned him "cred" in the toughness department.  Then when things were right and the lesson was learned, Ray showed Duran who the better man was.  The Hearns fight, he did everything but lose.  If that fight had been allowed to continue, the 10-8 in the 13th and 10-7 in the 14th would have evened it on the scorecards.  His win over Hagler is disputed by some as well.  The point I'm making is just how close Ray Leonard was to never winning a big fight and being an over-rated piece of hype like Oscar De La Hoya.  But that's what makes him the second greatest welter ever, he found the "difference maker" in a fight, and exploited it.  Oscar never could, and that's why he's going to come up short in the history books.

What do I reckon?  Marvin Hagler was a better middleweight than Ray Leonard, but on that one night, Ray Leonard fought a better fight.  The Patriots were better than the Giants, but they played the game only to find out that the Giants played better.  Same with Leonard Hagler.  Hagler was a better fighter, but Ray fought better.  Maybe another day we'd have a different outcome, but on the day it mattered, SRL was superiour.  I sometimes see the Hagler fans go on about the decision.  I'd like to know the psychology behind it, because I think many folks still feel bitter about it for reasons other than the performances in the ring.

What no-one can dispute is:

A) No other fighter performed better against Hagler than Sugar Ray

B) Hagler gave away the first 4 rounds while Ray competed for every round

C) Leonard crossed the finish line with zero gas left in the tank, while Hagler left some fight in the ring.

I think Leonard's taunting of Hagler has permanently ticked off some big-time Marvin fans.  MH, one of the most ferocious guys ever, and Ray drops his hands and sticks out his chin.  Hagler swings away and looks like someone's angry little brother flailing away in vain.

Round 9 must bother Hagler fans as well.  Ray gave Hagler what Hagler wanted: a slugfest.  What Ray did next was unforgivable.  He took Hagler's best, and when Hagler paused for some air, Ray gave it right back, and, shame of all shames, made Hagler step backwards.  That had to  have been unthinkable...imagine De La Hoya trading with Kelly Pavlik.   A lot more than just a fight happened in the right that night.  Some fans were upset, some were elated.  Leonard didn't go blind.  Both guys turned in masterpieces.  Everyone was entertained.  Split decision that went to the underdog, which is a Vegas tradition in big fights.  Politics, passion, people, performance all came together for an hour.  Everyone had a stake in this fight, personally, financially.  We've not had a fight like that ever since.

Hagler was a great fighter that had one bad night, and Ray Leonard took advantage of it.

Leonard won.  10-9, 10-9, 10-9, 10-9, 9-10, 10-9, 9-10, 9-10, 9-10,10-9, 10-9, 9-10   115-113