Where do you rank Ray Leonard?

[New England]

I would pick him over Armstrong too but I reckon it would be a great fight.

Leonard's speed will be the difference but Ray isn't backing down from a fight and Armstrong's going to give him that.

he's also got much longer arms and several inches of height. naturally heavier by a lot as well. i have a hard time pinning down armstrong's natural weight. i think he's naturally a lightweight, but he made FW on a same day weigh in, and did his best work at WW. i'm led to believe that he was a small welterweight all the way to the end of his career.

such a unique fighter, armstrong. hard to handicap him against a big, strong WW with skills and power like leonard.

that said, i think the speed and size would be way too much. i don't think leonard tees off on him with clean punches and combinations, but eventually he's going to start to land hard gas, and i can't see him taking a ton of punishment in return.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I always thought that jose napoles would outpoint SRL,,, Its one of the few h2h matchups were i can see a guy beating SRL..

Napoles non-stop motion and punch selection would cause SRL alot of problems...

[Daddy T]

he's one of my favorites so I'm a bit biased but top ten atg (of fighters that we have a decent number and quality of film of) Pound for pound - as in number of fights v quality of opposition I'm not sure anybody is better.

[young_robbed]

I always thought that jose napoles would outpoint SRL,,, Its one of the few h2h matchups were i can see a guy beating SRL..

Napoles non-stop motion and punch selection would cause SRL alot of problems...

see this isn't SO crazy to me. Napoles, at his best, was a great fighter and one of the best welterweights of all time. His performances vs Curtis Cokes are great, same with the Emile Griffith fight. Stylistically he would give Ray fits. I'm not sure he ever faced anybody like Ray though, and he sure didn't face Ray's level of opposition. To me, Napoles is awkward enough to maybe snatch a decision. It's not far fetched.

[rightsideup]

see this isn't SO crazy to me. Napoles, at his best, was a great fighter and one of the best welterweights of all time. His performances vs Curtis Cokes are great, same with the Emile Griffith fight. Stylistically he would give Ray fits. I'm not sure he ever faced anybody like Ray though, and he sure didn't face Ray's level of opposition. To me, Napoles is awkward enough to maybe snatch a decision. It's not far fetched.

If only angie Dundee was still with us to chime in on Napoles leonard

[soul_survivor]

This All time great fighter, I am interested to see where you rank him overall as a pound for pound ATG as well as in his own weight classes respectively.

top 10 for me, no arguments, some of the best quality in any resume ever! add to that sublime skill and real finishing power, thats a rare combination.

[GOD-FR33]

No way.....

JN was a great fighter and HOF'mer but he wasn't on Leonard's level. JN went up to middleweight and lost to Monzon. Leonard went up to middleweight and beat Hagler, who I think is the greatest middleweight ever. I always wanted to see Monzon/Hagler. They just missed each other, era wise. JN held his hands too low and would've been too slow for Leonard. Ray was the superior athelete and had excellent footwork and punching technique. Ray by either KO or decision.

[mann187]

id place him in the top 5 for sure

[Anthony342]

Wow, so top 5 or top 10. Before this thread, I've only heard him ranked top 20 or 50.

[BKM-2010]

Wow, so top 5 or top 10. Before this thread, I've only heard him ranked top 20 or 50.

I think a lot of people tend to have a negative reaction to Leonard and his legacy, but when you put things into perspective and realise his resume it's not hard to get passed that stuff and see how great he is.