Why Isn't Benny Leonard the GOAT?

[GrandpaBernard]

sounds like the most skilled boxer of all time based on how people describe him

[DJ Enerate]

He's considered one of them. The top 3 is solid. No one outside Robinson, Greb and Armstrong belong there imo. Outside the top 3 Benny ranks amongst Pep, Ali, Louis, Duran, etc. Putting them in order is the hard bit.

[DJ Enerate]

Robinson, B Leonard, SRL and Duran are probably the most complete boxers ever. Montreal Duran is probably the best all round fighter we have on film. We don't have footage of prime welterweight Robinson or prime Benny Leonard I don't think but the reputation is there. The most athletically talented of all time is hands down RJJ.

[yngwie]

Too many great resumes, i have him in my top 10 though.

[IronDanHamza]

Considered to be one of them.

Has a really good resume and a really good "Ahead of his time" defensive style and skills.

[Weltschmerz]

You can rank him anywhere, matter of personal taste.

[ShoulderRoll]

The Ghetto Wizard. Some historians do consider him the GOAT.

[GrandpaBernard]

Robinson, B Leonard, SRL and Duran are probably the most complete boxers ever. Montreal Duran is probably the best all round fighter we have on film. We don't have footage of prime welterweight Robinson or prime Benny Leonard I don't think but the reputation is there. The most athletically talented of all time is hands down RJJ.

Aside from their lack of knockouts Are Floyd and Whitaker apart of the most complete boxers ever club?

[DJ Enerate]

Aside from their lack of knockouts Are Floyd and Whitaker apart of the most complete boxers ever club?

Certainly not Floyd Mayweather.

[The Old LefHook]

Aside from their lack of knockouts Are Floyd and Whitaker apart of the most complete boxers ever club?

I call them pure boxers myself. They must have a deep medicine bag of traditional skills at their disposal. High athleticism helps. Floyd fits right in with guys like Mike Gibbons, Benny Leonard, Gene Tunney, Sweetpea Whitaker, Willie Pep, Wilfred Benitez and a few others.

Notably Ali, Leonard and Jones, three of the greatest fighters ever, are absent from this list. They relied mostly on supreme natural athleticism, and did not have a deep bag of traditional boxing skills. Once their reflexes were gone they were easy meat.

Mayweather is not one of the greatest fighters ever, in my view, because of the way he consistently conducted his career, but he is definitely one of the greatest pure boxers--he showed me enough to deserve that. The only key to being a great fighter is taking the monster challenges and winning them. Sometimes even being in them elevates your status. Mayweather lacks precisely those monster matches in his career where people thought he might get killed and he emerges victorious. People in their day actually thought SRL and Holyfield could lose their lives. Mayweather does not have that, but he could have. He avoided the thing that makes great boxers into great all time fighters. That is my view on it.