Sugar Ray Leonard vs Muhammad Ali - Who was greater?

[-EX-]

Give Ali an edge based on some his W's coming when he was past his prime...

Shavers, Norton, Frazier, Foreman, Patterson, Liston...

Never followed them much but Lyle, Terrell, and Foster don't sound bad either...Foster was a nautral LHW tho...

Ali has an impressive resume...and all the names are recognizable...cuz Ali fought them...lol

[fabie]

Muhammad Ali, was/is the GREATEST OF THEM ALL.

[esl_4_u]

The general consensus is that Ali had a better resume but all 8 of the fighters mentioned are HOFers.

Liston, Frazier, Norton, and Foreman > Benitez, Duran, Hearns, and Hagler?? That's a tough argument.

Agreed!!! I really wouldn't compare these two because there are too many variable to consider. The obvious is weight class and opposition. There were more than a few fights that Ali had where it seemed that the powers that be were trying to set up to fail, but he overcame those fighters. Thus, he is the GOAT.

[gibo]

How can anyone compare leonard with Muhammad Ali????

[Gordon Gekko]

Bumping this thread because I don't want to high jack the other SRL thread. I simply want to discuss Leonard and Ali. To me Leonard isn't the greatest but I don't understand why he's not higher on people's lists. He's usually in the low teens. I really think he's top 5. Top 10 at the very least.

[turbotime]

They both have top 5 ATG wins against Hagler and Foreman, both are top 10 all time greats. I give it to Ali though, longer career, more underdog wins, more championships, etc.

[bojangles1987]

Ali has so many good or great fighters. Is there any relevant fighter from the 60s-70s that he didn't beat? I'd have to say he's greater than Leonard.

[4Corners]

Ali. Both were GREAT in their primes, maybe 2 of the best we ever saw, but Ali in my opinion.

Both faded quickly after they weren't that good anymore. Ali after the 3rd Frazier fight was a shell of himself, and he still managed to beat Ken Norton and Earnie Shavers, although they were a little controversial.

I think the main difference is that Ali's biggest win, Foreman in 74' or Frazier in 75', were not controversial at all. He KO'd Foreman and the Frazier fight was stopped by Joe's corner. Ray's biggest win, Hagler in 87', was a BIG controversy and manyt hink he didn't even win that fight. I thought he won, but still, it was close.

Ali in his prime was the greatest fighter of all time, in my opinion. Ali also fought in the Golden Era of HW boxing, the 60's and 70's, and beat everyone.

[Mr. Invincible]

P4P Leonard, so I chose him. However, on overall influence and status, obviously Ali wins.

[Forza]

Prime leonard only lost to 1 man which he avenged twice