Jones was a beast, he was one of the most naturally gifted boxers ever and is underated. jones in his prime beats any light heavyweight in any era. whitaker and leonard were excellent boxers as well but based on speed, power, reflexes, natural ability and what he achieved in boxing i would have jones number 1. leonard number 2 and whitaker 3
Jones was a physical freak as Henry Armstrong and few others who could fight and sustain a frenetic pace in their prime. But I think both Leonard and Whitaker were smarter fighters than Jones. Leonard in particular I think was better than both Jones and Whitaker speaking of ring record accomplishments and quality of opposition. Leonard fought and mostly beat the likes of fellow ATGs Wilfred Benitez, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Leonard also won five world titles in as many weight classes, the first to accomplish such, while reigning undisputed in two--welterweight and middleweight, two of the traditional loaded and most competitive divisions in boxing.
On the other hand, Jones only got a still up and coming Bernard Hopkins and the already fast growing up but slowing down James Toney as his two opponents with a clear shot at getting a place in the ATG list. Whitaker only had Julio cesar Chavez. He lost both to Oscar de la Hoya and Tito Trinidad among his few ATG rivals.
My ranking thus, follows:
1. Leonard
2. Jones
3.Whitaker
Research the International Boxing Research Organization. Several historians vote for ranking of greats. They don't rank Jones very highly because he tested positive in drug tests, he was on ped's. Anyone can beat allot of people if they're on peds, myself included.
Whitaker was great but he didn't win very impressively in some of his biggest fights. He got a draw against Chavez which was arguably his biggest fight. He had other great victories but none as great as beating Duran, undefeated Wilfredo Benitez, undefeated Hearns and a strong Hagler.
Both Benitez & Leonard lost later on in their careers but that may have had to do with age, which is excusable.
I'd rank;
1. Leonard
2. Whitaker
3. Jones, who in his [roids] prime beat greats like Hopkins, but then lost in the rematch, he also lost to an old Calzaghe.
The IBRO would also rank them in this order.
I put Jones ahead of both the other guys, he was faster, and certainly stronger.
His speed would let him dominate a fight and neither had the power to hurt him at their weight.
How would you rank these 3 against each other pound for pound and why?
