There was a rumor Sugar wanted to fight Benn after he beat Barkley, Benn had blasted Barkley out in a round. Leonard fought for Lalonde`s light heavy world title but cheated at the weigh-in by wearing sand bags in his pants so he could make the weight but he was still slow enough for D.Lalonde to knock him down once so could Benn have knocked him out at this stage of Ray`s career 2 years later? Nigel`s hand speed was quicker than Lalonde`s and he might have threw more punches but that means he would have been countered a lot by Ray, could Nigel give Ray the problems Lalonde gave him or was that mainly because DL had such a reach advantage? Ray is arguably P4P a top 5 boxer of all time, but by 90 he was quite washed, and Nigel was one of the greatest brawlers EVER of his time, and a potential future HOFer himself.
Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Nigel Benn in 1990
- Thread starter Memorial Stadium Piru
- Start date
Amare's Right Hook
Southeast World Champion
Ray finds a way
by 90..i feel that benn would have beaten sugar ray down..especially at middleweight..ray had too many years of inactivity...similar to what terry norris did except i think been would have ko'ed him
Amare's Right Hook
Southeast World Champion
Love Benn too, not to many people mention him which is a shame. I was being hopeful but cards on the table at this point Benn probably wins.
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
Benn then may have been too much for Ray that time. Ray was fading and very inactive. Lord knows why he went on to fight Camacho in 97
Kunty McPhuck
Scust Szn has Returned
A lot of that is to do with McClellan as quite a lot of people blame Benn for what happened to G Man.
Kunty McPhuck
Scust Szn has Returned
Nigel Benn is my guy, but I think SRL beats him.
Benn was out boxed by Watson before it was finally stopped and I'm sure SRL would of used similar tactics as Watson did to frustrate Benn, as Benn was so use to KO'ing everyone back then and getting his own way, the one thing you could do was break him mentally, which both Watson and Eubank did in their fights with Benn.
Benn was out boxed by Watson before it was finally stopped and I'm sure SRL would of used similar tactics as Watson did to frustrate Benn, as Benn was so use to KO'ing everyone back then and getting his own way, the one thing you could do was break him mentally, which both Watson and Eubank did in their fights with Benn.
Amare's Right Hook
Southeast World Champion
As mentioned,( didn't see it ) at this stage SRL lost to Camacho as well
Leonard lost to Camacho in 97, a full six years after his loss to Terry Norris
Benn destroys Ray in 90. Norris beat him up too and seemed to be carrying Leonard later in the fight. I don't see Benn having the same kind of restraint. A big reason why Eubank and Michael Watson beat Benn was because they were big enough to wear Nigel down into the later rounds
If you notice the only true middleweight Ray ever fought in his comeback fights was Hagler. Even then Leonard only agreed to fight Marvin after he had seen him deteriorate severely after years of defending his title. Donny Lalonde was an ok fighter that Leonard forced to fight at 168 instead of his natural 175.
Not trying to take credit away from Ray, but there was a reason he picked these guys (and blown up lightweights and welterweights) and not guys like Michael Nunn, Sumbu Kalambay, Iran Barkley, etc. When he did try Norris gave him that reality check real quick.
Btw unrelated but Benn should've been DQ'd against Barkley for hitting him twice when he was down.
The only time Benn gets mentioned is because of the McClellan fight