Who ranks higher at 147 lbs: Jose Napoles or Sugar Ray Leonard?

[greeh]

Jose Napoles has victories at the weight over Curtis Cokes, Emile Griffith, Ernie Lopez, Billy Backus, Hedgemon Lewis, Clyde Gray and Armando Muniz. A very solid resume in my opinion.

Ray Leonard’s resume includes wins over names such as Randy Shields, Armando Muniz, Pete Ranzany, Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns.

His wins over the three fighters that are mentioned last is a superb feat!

Both of them had ability in abundance and were two fantastic fighters.

My question is, as the topic says - who ranks higher in your opinion?

[IronDanHamza]

Napoles is a great fighter and a great WW but he's not close to Leonard, IMO.

Leonard is top 3. I have him #3.

I have Napoles #9.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Leonard by far.. wins over benitez duran and hearns tops anything napoles did..

[New England]

Napoles is a great fighter and a great WW but he's not close to Leonard, IMO.

Leonard is top 3. I have him #3.

I have Napoles #9.

behind robinson and armstrong?

[IronDanHamza]

behind robinson and armstrong?

Exactly that. In that order.

[New England]

i'd have to hash out beyond the top three to figure out where napoles is ranked. i don't have to do that with ray leonard.

[IronDanHamza]

Leonard by far.. wins over benitez duran and hearns tops anything napoles did..

Napoles has a great win over Griffith.

Certainly passed his best but still very good and an ATG.

Napoles beat a lot of good fighters and the best of his time. And to the eye, he's simply an awesome fighter with tremendous skill. One of the fighters of my teenage years.

But he lacks depth IMO to the other WW greats. No knock on him because the WW division is ridiculous.

I mean, you said it best. Leonard has Duran, Hearns and Benitez, in their prime(!). That's simply ridiculous. All under his WW resume.

[U_TALKING_2_ME?]

The Cuban Mexican, one of the smoothest fighters ever to dawn boxing gloves.

Simply beautiful to watch, he made it seem effortless as all the great ones do.

But Sugar easily ranks higher, I did not like Ray when I was a kid because I was a "hater" and man enough to admit it.

"That pretty boy can't be that good" was my mentality back then but he proved me wrong.

[soul_survivor]

Jose Napoles has victories at the weight over Curtis Cokes, Emile Griffith, Ernie Lopez, Billy Backus, Hedgemon Lewis, Clyde Gray and Armando Muniz. A very solid resume in my opinion.

Ray Leonard’s resume includes wins over names such as Randy Shields, Armando Muniz, Pete Ranzany, Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns.

His wins over the three fighters that are mentioned last is a superb feat!

Both of them had ability in abundance and were two fantastic fighters.

My question is, as the topic says - who ranks higher in your opinion?

Leonard and it's not even debatable. Napoles was great for sure but Leonard was better, not just the names he beat but the level of skill, speed and power that he had at 147.

A 147 Leonard is close to being the perfect fighter.

[greeh]

Some time ago, I saw someone on the net describe Napoles as a “virtual boxing program stuck on ultra advanced.”

If there has ever been a perfect summation of Napoles – it may well be the one. He really was a marvelous fighter. Smoothness personified with a ridiculous amount of ability, just as Ray Leonard.

But when speaking of resumes, Leonard is a couple of notches above Napoles, no doubt about that. His wins over Benitez, Duran and Hearns are victories of the absolute highest magnitude.

I agree with what everyone has said so far, because I also rank Leonard higher.

With that said, if I see some moron that doesn’t consider Mantequilla to be a great fighter, I will strangle him slowly to death.