Is Mayweather More Skilled Then Sugar Ray Leonard?

Alright, fair enough, but is that was has been asked here?

You...don't think "skilled" and "physically gifted" mean the same thing, do you?

 

This is tough, both are limited fighters with under 50 fights.

Floyd: ducked the opponents who could beat him or make him look bad.

SRL: Lost to the opponents who could beat him or make him look bad, but never looked that bad when losing.

I'd have to give the edge to leonard because unlike floyd he actually fought live fighters. Floyd just fights big muscle head mexicans who lift weights and have poor endurance and slow hands. Floyd has never fought anyone on Roberto Duran or tommy hearns or even iran barkley level.

Head to head is different but I think Leonard was more fit and a better fighter, he fought in 15 round fights and beat benetiez and prime hearns. Which is better than any of floyd's opponents.

When you think about it, Floyd hasn't beaten the best fighters of his time
-lara
-bradley
-pacquiao
-gamboa
and any good moving boxer. Sure we know floyd can bat heavy handed mxicans but can he beat a guy who can punch without planting his feet like pacman or lara or bradley.... i highly doubt it.

 

Floyd is undefeated because he fights gutter opponents. I can never rank a fighter like that. Its not because he fought in a poor era, he fought in one of the most crowded welter eras and has the thinnest resume of all. He hasn't really fought a live opponent since Hatton. Its not that floyd isn't good, its that he ducks any fighter than could prove he is great.

Floyd has never fought the toughest fighters around, he doesn't move up in weight like leonard did to take on bigger or better opponents, we can't even say he is the top 5 of his time because he ducks all the top rank fighters.

Sure floyd can dominate any big banger. But can floyd beat a swarmer-boxer like pacman, or a great boxer like bradley, or a quick man like gamboa, or a slick fighter like lara or rigo. His resume looks good on the surface but when you see that all of his fights in the last 10 years have been either all slow flat footed fighters he is effectively beating the same opponent over and over.

I'm sure Leonard could go 100-0 if his resume was made up of guys like guerrero, ortiz, canelo, old shane mosley, old ODLH, washed up cotto etc. These are not the resume of a great fighter.

You show me two fighters. One who lost to duran, hearns and hagler in close fights vs one who beat 10 mexican nobodies and the the first guy will always be better.

Its like saying Deontay wilder is better than joe frazier because deontay is 31-0 and joe frazier had a few losses.

 

100-0? LEONARD?

the same guy that called Hagler out on account of his loss of skills & talents after 5 yrs? the same guy that ducked Nunn, Pryor, and had his ass handed by Norris N Camacho?

floored by Howard, nearly quit after his second pro bout cuz he got hurt and issued an ultimatum to Duran for a rematch after a reported 40+ pounds were added?

the same guy who gave up his WBC middleweight title cuz he feared the young lions?

Leonard who went looking for the biggest sap he could pick a fight with while being gifted two titles on the same night?

must be a different Leonard youre talking about

People just resent Floyd's achievements cuz they're resentful of his spectacular success

 

I believe that their measurements are actually quite similar. Mayweather is 5'8" 72" reach, Leonard is 5'10" 74" reach. Leonard was a little bigger, but his fighting weight is almost exclusively welterweight the same as Floyd's. I figure the difference that let Floyd compete at lower weight classes would be the difference in weigh in policies between their eras. Leonard weighed in the night of the fight and Mayweather weighed in the night before, so he could cut weight and bulk back up for the fight. If Leonard could cut weight like Floyd, he'd probably have started his career as a lightweight. Nowadays, Floyd fights at welter or light-middle but I hear that he walks around in the 160 area. In the time of Ray Leonard Floyd would have fought in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions.

As far as Floyd having more longevity than Leonard, I'd chalk that up to PEDs being better for you than booze and cocaine.

 

and never believe the sort of garbage "Floyd is 45-0 becuz he fights trash"

not when he gets paychecks for one fight that amount to nearly one half of what leonard got thruout his whole career

 

Pound for pound, Floyd is definitely the better businessman.

 

After this post I cant help but think you are trolling.

 

Regarding your point on JCC and Mayweather. Did you watch Castillo vs Mayweather 1 and 2? If it was the far superior JCC in the ring with Floyd on those nights do you honestly believe Petty boy would leave the ring with that 0? No chance in hell.

 

The size diffence alone gives Leonard a huge advantage. If we are talking in a pound for pound sense then you need to look at Floyd as a fighter in his prime in the lower weight classes. Back then he was a combination power puncher with speed and reflexes very similar to Leonard.

At welterweight he is a completely different fighter, he doesn't have the pop anymore so he has had to change his style.

As a fan I prefer Leonard,in and out the ring. But when comparing you have to be objective. You can't just say Floyd is a 12 round fighter therefore Leonard knocks him out. He was not a 12 round fighter in his prime, fighting out of his optimum weight class.

We have never seen the best version of Floyd, but we have seen Leonard outbox Hagler yet we have also seen him completely dominated by Duran. Leonard by his own admission has admitted to fighting fighters at the right time.

 

JCC made a career of feasting on name fighters after piling up several losses and never beat a top US fighter while on top. NEVER

look at the Taylor fight. Had Steele, not stolen the win from Mel, Julio wouldve had his untarnished record erased and lets not forget what Pernell did to him

in short, Pernell was slick, quick, and made Julio sick right in front of his own countrymen

Floyd would easily do the same cuz Floyd is on even MORE successful than Pernell

again, look at Julio's record against our best fighters on the way up and see how Julio did. he never actually beat any of them

Randal whipped him, & decked him and in the rematch Julio was again handed a loss but given a way out (a technical win)

Franky was just too tough for him and JCC took the easy way out. he knew he couldnt win

then Oscar (USA) butchered him, that's another loss

I gave JC the benefit of the doubt cuz he'd been cut in sparring but still, he'd been overcome by Oscar's hand speed which I found delightful

the rematch only proved my suspicisions about Julio as he quit in the corner and so I conclude that King Floyd, the premier fighter p4p worldwide for the past 10 yrs would kick that dog's ass no sweat, no problemo

 

let's not forget he was decked by the much smaller Howard who had little in the way of power (look how small he was in the shoulders & upper body)

Duran beat him, and came from two full weight classes below to do it

and Hector, who came from FOUR weight classes below and having none of his former speed, knocked Ray out

Ray always had problems with movers (look at the limited Larry Bonds) and Norris who completely dominated Ray. Ray had no clue how to deal with slick boxers. With Floyd, Ray would experience similar problems and fall behind

Norris was the architect, the pioneer who made the blueprint on how to beat Leonard and paved the way for others to follow. Like Terry, Floyd would score first, make Ray miss, then tie him up. as the aggressor, Ray thought too much and this would cost him becuz as Ray poses, Floyd would pitch N paint him up N down, ala Terry Norris

just like Terry Norris

 

yet u dont have the temerity to tell me which part of my post u dissagree with

it's not that u dont agree with it, it's that u dont like what I have to say which is the truth

Floyd, 38, is still unbeaten and Ray at 34 with far less fights than Floyd (or most other fighters of similar age) was completely dominated by a similar boxer of Floyd's caliber

therefore, Floyd is the better fighter with the better career no matter how anyone tries to rationalze it

so anytime u see something like "what difference does the 0 make" just take it with a grain of salt

that's resentment that u see. Floyd's success, people cant stand it

 

Both were exceptionally skilled but Leonard had all the same plus a bigger P4P punch ... either way, were talking pretty rare air ..

 

Idk

Floyd beating canelo at 36

Or bhop getting whipped by jermaine Taylor at 41

Bhop beating Trinidad was only impressive on paper

Floyd beating rigo is about the same deal
Trinidad had no business at middle