BoxRec

What a fantastic programme tonight with SRL. I was captivated by the great man.

Yes it was- and well worth watching.

he came cross very well,loved the way he decribed duran

He boxed before my time of getting into the sport - but what a great interview and how open to the questions he was - I am so jealous of the older people who got to see the Ali(heavyweights) and Leonard(middleweights) eras - truly a golden age of boxing.

Great show indeed tonight.

Catch it if you can lads.

Fantastic Interview

Brilliant

is johnny nelson the sweatiest person on tv or what?

Was a brilliant programme last night, wasn't sure I'd enjoy it that much!

Terminator666 wrote:What a fantastic programme tonight with SRL. I was captivated by the great man.

Sugar Ray Leonard, without doubt the greatest fighter of all time, speed, power, skill, heart, stamina, mental strength, toughness, intelligence, chin, tactical expert, movement, charisma and with the fastest feet. The nearest thing to perfection in boxing. If not for the inactivity would have achieved even more, would you believe it. Leonard beat the best fighters of his generation including greats like Duran, Hagler, Hearns and Benitez, plus he won titles at 5 different weight divisions, in the Ams in won a gold medal in the Olympics.

MachoMan09 wrote:

safeerah wrote:Sugar Ray Leonard, without doubt the greatest fighter of all time...

No he isn't.

He is certainly up there and you could easily make a good argument that he is

I'm too young to remember any of his fights but I really enjoyed it. Anyone got his book? Worth a read?

MachoMan09 wrote:

Coco wrote:

MachoMan09 wrote: No he isn't.

He is certainly up there and you could easily make a good argument that he is

Coco, safeerah used the phrase "without doubt". That's what I am dismissing in the first instance.

Fair comment, while he certainly was a great fighter there is definately plenty of doubt he was the greatest!

Bennyblanco wrote:I'm too young to remember any of his fights but I really enjoyed it. Anyone got his book? Worth a read?

hey mate, met him at Canary wharf book signing last week, the book is a great read and now i have it signed its the icing on the cake

If you have any interest in the man, go buy it for sure.

Coco wrote:

MachoMan09 wrote:

Coco wrote: He is certainly up there and you could easily make a good argument that he is

Coco, safeerah used the phrase "without doubt". That's what I am dismissing in the first instance.

Fair comment, while he certainly was a great fighter there is definately plenty of doubt he was the greatest!

Can you imagine what Leonard could have done with the much bigger Hagler if he had not been out of the ring for about 3 years and remember Hagler was considered by many as one of the greatest Middleweights of all time, can you imagine Hearns, Duran, Hagler and Benitez fighting against today's greats, they would wipe the floor with them, only Mayweather could stand out with them, out of the fab five of leonard's generation, Leonard was the only one to beat the rest, amazing. I understand that different people like different style fighters, so not everybody likes fast, skilled boxers. If you examine the great fighters of all time, check out
quality of opponents, am and pro career, how they did against fighters in higher weight divisions, did they raise the profile of boxing, where they role models, how they came back from defeat and on an ability level, speed, power, skill, movement, charisma, punch range, defense, attack, front foot, back foot, tactics, ability to adapt, heart, stamina, fitness, Leonard could do it all, how many fighters can you name that fill this list, Leonard fought and beat Champions from welter to light heavy, When Sugar Ray Robinson moved up to fight a light heavy he got stopped and he also got beat by very ordinary fighters. If Leonard is not the best, name the one who is and why ? If Leonard was around today he would have fought Mayweather, Pacman, Moseley, Dela Hoya, Alvarez, Martinez, cotto, and beat them all. I understand why not everyone will agree, but would be interested in who other people rate as the best and why ?

A truly amazing fighter. Totally agree.

I don’t believe he was as good as Robinson in terms of quality of opposition or achievement. I do agree that he wipes the floor with most around today. Floyd and Pac would be a top fighters in any era. But Pac is too small. And I don’t see what Floyd brings that Benitez didn’t. Maybe a bit more Spartan in the training camp, okay a lot more. But that’s it.

I’m not 100% he’d beat Martinez because of size.

safeerah wrote:

Coco wrote:

MachoMan09 wrote: Coco, safeerah used the phrase "without doubt". That's what I am dismissing in the first instance.

Fair comment, while he certainly was a great fighter there is definately plenty of doubt he was the greatest!

Can you imagine what Leonard could have done with the much bigger Hagler if he had not been out of the ring for about 3 years and remember Hagler was considered by many as one of the greatest Middleweights of all time, can you imagine Hearns, Duran, Hagler and Benitez fighting against today's greats, they would wipe the floor with them, only Mayweather could stand out with them, out of the fab five of leonard's generation, Leonard was the only one to beat the rest, amazing. I understand that different people like different style fighters, so not everybody likes fast, skilled boxers. If you examine the great fighters of all time, check out
quality of opponents, am and pro career, how they did against fighters in higher weight divisions, did they raise the profile of boxing, where they role models, how they came back from defeat and on an ability level, speed, power, skill, movement, charisma, punch range, defense, attack, front foot, back foot, tactics, ability to adapt, heart, stamina, fitness, Leonard could do it all, how many fighters can you name that fill this list, Leonard fought and beat Champions from welter to light heavy, When Sugar Ray Robinson moved up to fight a light heavy he got stopped and he also got beat by very ordinary fighters. If Leonard is not the best, name the one who is and why ? If Leonard was around today he would have fought Mayweather, Pacman, Moseley, Dela Hoya, Alvarez, Martinez, cotto, and beat them all. I understand why not everyone will agree, but would be interested in who other people rate as the best and why ?

This is a great post on why i love the man, i'm not saying 'without a doubt' he is the best ever but he could be, who is to say?

Machoman09 is very good with words and good at English that makes him great on forums.

Ezzard wrote:A truly amazing fighter. Totally agree.

I don’t believe he was as good as Robinson in terms of quality of opposition or achievement. I do agree that he wipes the floor with most around today. Floyd and Pac would be a top fighters in any era. But Pac is too small. And I don’t see what Floyd brings that Benitez didn’t. Maybe a bit more Spartan in the training camp, okay a lot more. But that’s it.

I’m not 100% he’d beat Martinez because of size.

I understand where you are coming from Ezzard, but Hagler was a beast of a middleweight and Donny Lalond was a big Light Heavy and Leonard beat both of them, don't forget Martinez was not a natural Middleweight, he moved up to fight pavlik, the fact that Martinez is dominating at such an old age, shows he is not fighting great fighters, I mean where is his Hagler or Hearns ?. You are dead right about Pacman and Mayweather, Dela Hoya pushed Mayweather really close, just based on hand speed, but Dela Hoya is not the same level as Leonard. On the ringside program, how could you not be inspired by listening to the man, what an honest, Interesting, motivational man.

LaLonde would not have been champ in Robinson’s day. He was a belt holder who came in at some phony catchweight.

But still it's a decent win considering the size difference. But Donny was in the right place at the right time for Leonard.

I’d say with the same day weigh-ins that Martinez would have been a fully-fledged 160 fighter back in the day. And it’s hard to judge Ray at those higher weights because he was older when he got there, more vulnerable than he used to be.

But let’s be honest Leonard could have beaten anyone. You could never right him off.

What’s so great about Leonard is that in 95% of his fights he won in an entertaining aggressive, go for the KO, kind of way. Mayweather, Hopkins, Ward, are very skilful guys but they are all about being effective, getting their win with minimum risk. The top Americans back then… Hearns, Hagler, Leonard, Spinks they were very exciting fighters.

Crazyboy wrote:

Bennyblanco wrote:I'm too young to remember any of his fights but I really enjoyed it. Anyone got his book? Worth a read?

hey mate, met him at Canary wharf book signing last week, the book is a great read and now i have it signed its the icing on the cake

If you have any interest in the man, go buy it for sure.

Nice one, I'll defiantly invest in that

safeerah wrote:Can you imagine what Leonard could have done with the much bigger Hagler if he had not been out of the ring for about 3 years and remember Hagler was considered by many as one of the greatest Middleweights of all time, can you imagine Hearns, Duran, Hagler and Benitez fighting against today's greats, they would wipe the floor with them, only Mayweather could stand out with them, out of the fab five of leonard's generation, Leonard was the only one to beat the rest, amazing. I understand that different people like different style fighters, so not everybody likes fast, skilled boxers. If you examine the great fighters of all time, check out
quality of opponents, am and pro career, how they did against fighters in higher weight divisions, did they raise the profile of boxing, where they role models, how they came back from defeat and on an ability level, speed, power, skill, movement, charisma, punch range, defense, attack, front foot, back foot, tactics, ability to adapt, heart, stamina, fitness, Leonard could do it all, how many fighters can you name that fill this list, Leonard fought and beat Champions from welter to light heavy, When Sugar Ray Robinson moved up to fight a light heavy he got stopped and he also got beat by very ordinary fighters. If Leonard is not the best, name the one who is and why ? If Leonard was around today he would have fought Mayweather, Pacman, Moseley, Dela Hoya, Alvarez, Martinez, cotto, and beat them all. I understand why not everyone will agree, but would be interested in who other people rate as the best and why ?

Leonard claimed a very close and disputed decision against a very faded Marvin Hagler. Ray admitted on Ringside he waited till Marvin was on the slide until he fought him.

dr_devious wrote:

safeerah wrote:Can you imagine what Leonard could have done with the much bigger Hagler if he had not been out of the ring for about 3 years and remember Hagler was considered by many as one of the greatest Middleweights of all time, can you imagine Hearns, Duran, Hagler and Benitez fighting against today's greats, they would wipe the floor with them, only Mayweather could stand out with them, out of the fab five of leonard's generation, Leonard was the only one to beat the rest, amazing. I understand that different people like different style fighters, so not everybody likes fast, skilled boxers. If you examine the great fighters of all time, check out
quality of opponents, am and pro career, how they did against fighters in higher weight divisions, did they raise the profile of boxing, where they role models, how they came back from defeat and on an ability level, speed, power, skill, movement, charisma, punch range, defense, attack, front foot, back foot, tactics, ability to adapt, heart, stamina, fitness, Leonard could do it all, how many fighters can you name that fill this list, Leonard fought and beat Champions from welter to light heavy, When Sugar Ray Robinson moved up to fight a light heavy he got stopped and he also got beat by very ordinary fighters. If Leonard is not the best, name the one who is and why ? If Leonard was around today he would have fought Mayweather, Pacman, Moseley, Dela Hoya, Alvarez, Martinez, cotto, and beat them all. I understand why not everyone will agree, but would be interested in who other people rate as the best and why ?

Leonard claimed a very close and disputed decision against a very faded Marvin Hagler. Ray admitted on Ringside he waited till Marvin was on the slide until he fought him.

Would anyone else have beaten Hagler at that point ?, No, plus Leonard had been retired for about 3 years and he was much the smaller man. Part of being a great fighter is intelligence, knowing when is the right time to take a fight, trying to even up the disadvantages, many fighters have been badly beaten through too much bravery and not enough intelligence, remember Dela Hoya and Trinidad both getting beaten by the much bigger Bernard Hopkins, who ended up at Light welter, both of them had more talent then Hopkins, but the size difference was too much.

safeerah wrote:

dr_devious wrote:

safeerah wrote:Can you imagine what Leonard could have done with the much bigger Hagler if he had not been out of the ring for about 3 years and remember Hagler was considered by many as one of the greatest Middleweights of all time, can you imagine Hearns, Duran, Hagler and Benitez fighting against today's greats, they would wipe the floor with them, only Mayweather could stand out with them, out of the fab five of leonard's generation, Leonard was the only one to beat the rest, amazing. I understand that different people like different style fighters, so not everybody likes fast, skilled boxers. If you examine the great fighters of all time, check out
quality of opponents, am and pro career, how they did against fighters in higher weight divisions, did they raise the profile of boxing, where they role models, how they came back from defeat and on an ability level, speed, power, skill, movement, charisma, punch range, defense, attack, front foot, back foot, tactics, ability to adapt, heart, stamina, fitness, Leonard could do it all, how many fighters can you name that fill this list, Leonard fought and beat Champions from welter to light heavy, When Sugar Ray Robinson moved up to fight a light heavy he got stopped and he also got beat by very ordinary fighters. If Leonard is not the best, name the one who is and why ? If Leonard was around today he would have fought Mayweather, Pacman, Moseley, Dela Hoya, Alvarez, Martinez, cotto, and beat them all. I understand why not everyone will agree, but would be interested in who other people rate as the best and why ?

Leonard claimed a very close and disputed decision against a very faded Marvin Hagler. Ray admitted on Ringside he waited till Marvin was on the slide until he fought him.

Would anyone else have beaten Hagler at that point ?, No, plus Leonard had been retired for about 3 years and he was much the smaller man. Part of being a great fighter is intelligence, knowing when is the right time to take a fight, trying to even up the disadvantages, many fighters have been badly beaten through too much bravery and not enough intelligence, remember Dela Hoya and Trinidad both getting beaten by the much bigger Bernard Hopkins, who ended up at Light welter, both of them had more talent then Hopkins, but the size difference was too much.

Sorry light heavy.

Ezzard wrote:LaLonde would not have been champ in Robinson’s day. He was a belt holder who came in at some phony catchweight.

But still it's a decent win considering the size difference. But Donny was in the right place at the right time for Leonard.

I’d say with the same day weigh-ins that Martinez would have been a fully-fledged 160 fighter back in the day. And it’s hard to judge Ray at those higher weights because he was older when he got there, more vulnerable than he used to be.

But let’s be honest Leonard could have beaten anyone. You could never right him off.

What’s so great about Leonard is that in 95% of his fights he won in an entertaining aggressive, go for the KO, kind of way. Mayweather, Hopkins, Ward, are very skilful guys but they are all about being effective, getting their win with minimum risk. The top Americans back then… Hearns, Hagler, Leonard, Spinks they were very exciting fighters.

True

Just watched this. Leonard is so honest, charming and intelligent. What a pleasure. Great show.