My issue with Floyd is that he dodged too many. He would have avoided the HELL out of Leonard. Good lord. As far as his ACTUAL ability, yeah, he's an ATG, and he would certainly be competitive with Leonard in a fight.
I got at least 35-40 fighters easily greater than Floyd .. cant say the same about Leonard .. this one goes down the same as it would in the Ring ... its a mismatch
Floyd. He has cat-like reflexes, one of the best ring IQs there ever was, incredibly accurate at landing flush hits and obviously superbly good defense. Not to mention work ethic and ability to analyze his opponents for weaknesses. SRR was quite inventive for his time and a master at switching up styles to get the advantage over his opponent, but I don't think he is quite as good as Floyd who is comes to who is better skilled. Frankly I'd rate very few boxers above Floyd when it comes to who is the best boxer.
they are Both Great Fighters. PBF would be no cakewalk, but I believe SRL would beat him more often than not... that also means very little and takes nothing away from the fact that they are Both Greats. I personally don't like either of them, I used to like Ray for his 1st Class Boxing ability, but he really turned into a smuck vain put off. Floyd, well he and Roy and wannabe Floyd, Broner, are all cut from the same arrogant very dislikable stupidity.
I dont know how this could even go up or become a debate. Leonard beat an unbeaten Benitez. An unbeaten Hearns. An unbeaten Kalue. Beat Duran. Beat Hagler. And most of these fighters were in the prime years with the possible exception of Hagler.
SRL beat the best fighters of the 2. Mayweather beat more very good/world ranked fighters and had better longevity. For me, it's close, but I voted SRL as edging it.
Another vote for the Sugarman. Both men were clearly the number one of their era and were sublimely gifted but Ray gets my vote for two main reasons - He fought and beat a higher calibre of fighter on the whole and he was effective as the aggressor as well as a counter attacker. Mayweather was mainly the latter,imo.
Some of the people Ray beat, I do not think Floyd would beat. Hell, a couple of Ray's wins, I think would've stopped Floyd. Disclaimer: I'm a Floyd fan so this is objective without any hate intended.