Ray Leonard vs. Henry Armstrong who wins?

Question

Fight is at Welterweight. 15 rounds. In their prime.

michael m - The best ever? Better than the original Sugar Ray?

It's nice to see the the Black Panther hasn't left us, good analysis.

Answer 1

Let me do one return to the Robinson question. You don't have to be at your peak to be the best or to win a bout. Was Ali at his peak win he was beating everyone?

Armstrong - W 151 (KO's 100) TF 182 - W pct 83% - KO pct 55% - wins over L. Jenkins{2}, L.Massey, B. Ross and L. Ambers - KO'ed by F. Zivic - #2 ranked fighter
Held 3 titles simultaneously at 126, 135 and 147.

Leonard - W 36 (KO's 23) TF 40 - W pct 90 - KO pct 58% - wins over Hearns, Duran{2}, Kalule, Benitez and Hagler - KO'ed by Camacho (he was 40 years old) - #9 ranked fighter
Retired because of eye injury (retina)
Won 1976 Olympic Gold medal at Light Welter wt
He made too many comebacks
Held titles at 147, 154, 160 and 168

Armstrong was one of the all-time great fighters at any weight. Armstrong had more KO's than Ray had fights. The only thing that Armstrong's experience will do is stop him from getting KO'ed by Ray. Whomever thinks that a good/great natural Feather wt could beat a good/great natural Welter wt, then they need to leave yahoo boxing to the real experts. Ray in a unanimous 15 rd decision.

Answer 2

Brent ~
In my opinion, I'd have to go with Armstrong. Leonard was good, but Armstrong was better. You don't get 151 wins with 21 loses and 9 draws with an incredible 101 knockouts back when fighters were fighting for their very lives and not multimillion dollar paydays and hold three Championships in three different weight divisions and not be separated from all the best only second to the real Sugar Ray, Ray Robinson.
As you already know the 80's in my opinion, was one of the best eras boxing ever had. Hagler, Herans, Duran, O'Grady and so on Ray is right up there with Hagler and Hearns, I know he beat them both, but Hagler was hardly in his prime and Ray did duck Aaron Pryor.
Henry fought in a era when prejudice was flagrant and very much out in the open and every fight he won believe me he must have won, he didn't have the fanfare of winning a gold medal in the Olympics and hailed as the golden boy of boxing like Ray did. He had to fight every inch of way to becoming a champion in three different weight divisions at the same time, in my opinion a whole lot harder than Ray did when he fought Hagler, Hearns, Duran and so on. Henry didn't have the luxury of handpicking is opponents and avoiding certain ones (Pryor) like Ray did.
This alone separates these two light years apart from each other. The fighters of the Depression Era and soon after were tough as nails and trained with such intensity a vigor todays Champions would be blown away.
I know I might get a lot of thumbs down for this one because everything Leonard has accomplished and who he "Beat" I thought he lost the Hagler fight and I thought he was losing the first Hearns fight and the referee gave him a gift by not letting Hearns continue. But I ask you Sir, look at the facts and records and consider the era in which Armstrong fought and try to imagine everything he must of had to go through just being a Black man holding three titles at the same time in three different weight divisions. I'm not going into a tagant about Black fighters, we'll leave that up to somebody else we know. I'm just writing, he must have been better than any fighter in the past 40 years.
Henry Armstrong 15 round unanimus decision.

Answer 3

Armstrong replaced into an extremely small welterweight! He replaced into quite a organic a hundred and forty fighter who fought at welterweight and insanely moved as much as combat at middleweight! Sugar Ray Leonard would be extra in his convenience zone and he will celebrate with a great top, attain, and weight benefit! he's likewise swifter than Armstrong. Armstrong %. extra effective punching power and function extra effective pot photos. it is going to likely be a reliable combat yet Leonard could win by using UD. Armstrong will constantly be rank bigger than Leonard in the all-time record yet at welterweight the rapid Leonard beats him!

Answer 4

This is a great fight.
The only man to hold three titles simultaneously (at a time when there were eight divisions and only one champ), versus one of a handful of four division titlists. Yes four - you cannot count the LaLonde fight as two titles, although that's what gives Leonard his 'five' - such indulgent idiocy makes no sense. One either fights at 175 or 168, not both.

All being said, I think at their individual peaks Leonard would have found a way to win.
He was that good.

Answer 5

Great question and great matchup sir! Homicide Hank was a lot like Aaron Pryor constantly moving forward and throwing a tremendous amount of punches. This would have been a non stop action fight with a high number of punches thrown. I believe Leonard would do a better job of boxing with Armstrong refusing to take a backward step and throwing punches anywhere and everywhere. I take Armstrong by split decision in this one.

Answer 6

Leonard

Answer 7

henry armstrong was a tremendous, legendary fighter w/a style that many fighters today, even, would find tough to deal with. however, sugarman had the gift that only the greatest of the greats had..the ability to stare into the jaws of defeat and pull out a win, even if it meant shifting gears in the middle of a fight - something very few, if any, fighters active today could pull off. i think his speed and power and ring-smarts would just be too much for ol' henry to deal with. i pick the sugarman by decision or by tko in the late rounds!

..and thx mon, it's good to be back!

Answer 8

in a 5 fight series unheard of today but in hank`s era, i think hank gets the nod in 1 fight, sugar ray wins a close but contrversial decision in 1 fight, a clear cut winner on points in 2 fights and a 13th rd ko in the other fight.

Answer 9

Great matchup! "Hammerin Hank" would try to swarm Ray and out work him but i think Ray would be to quick and clever for him and out manuever him and out box him on his way to 15 rd decision. Good Question!

Answer 10

ray leonard was the best ever