>>52337929>Leon just got so confident that his victory was assuredYes. Confidence that lead to him not fighting at full power.
>That overconfidence was the limit to his full powerThat's a temporary limiter. If Leon didn't get cocky or try to appease the crowd or however we want to explain it, he would have won. But since he did, he temporarily restricted himself, which is another way of saying he chose not to fight at full power.
It's similar to SM's Guzma incident. Golisopod was a canonical ass kicker. He did not fear fire or torracat's, he didn't even fear a charged up Pikachu sending an embodiment of Zeus's wrath his way. We know, at full power, Guzma beats SM Ash's team. But the writers subverted his character to make him self-destruct, just like Leon.
What I really don't get is why the writers even do this. They could just pull more
>Pikachu toughed it out so Ash wouldn't feel sad'sand
>Pikachu is so in sync with Ash's wishes that it landed a critical hit!but instead they decide to character assassinate their own characters. Nobody would have cared much if Pikachu just overpowered Leon, since that's just expected and even already happened to an extent.
