What logic has Floyd likely winning peak vs. peak? And in dates or style, how "old time" is Leonard? Some do come to these conclusions on auto-pilot& some reactionaries do the exact opposite.
Athletes from nfl NBA 30 yrs ago (Payton Lawrence Taylor sanders jordan bird magic Kareem Hakeem etc) would still dominate today, and professional boxing has been around 50+ years earlier than those sports, so the disparity in talent definitely plateaud a long time ago Training and nutrition advances don't mean today's guys are better. Earl manigault 1960s - 6-1 and could touch the top of the backboard (13'). There is no nba player today near that height that can come close. So yes, old time boxers like old time nba or nfl players would dominate newer ones. Boxing is not one dimensional like sprinting.
I'm 48. It's partially true, but mostly INCREDIBLY untrue. Dr. J was a better athlete than Manigault, but if you watch him play on film, he could barely shoot from outside the foul line, or dribble, comparing Dr. J to Le Bron James is like comparing a Formula one racecar to Richard Petty's old Chevy stock car, it's just not a possibility, watch 1970's NBA All star games on you tube sometimes. ditto in other sports, Jack Lambert was the most fearsome lb in the NFL in the 70's the guy weiged 211 lbs., the would be on injured reserve in 3 games nowadsays. Boxing is a little different because in the 40's - 70's boxing was more popular than football or basketaball or even arguably baseball, Sugar Ray Robinson made 10x more money than Ted Williams for instance, so the best athletes went into boxing, training was also better, simply because boxing was more prominent and drew a higher class of trainer, and guys fought more often. Sugar Ray Robinson would beat GGG or Martinez, in my opinion, fairly easily. Two caveats: Heavyweights, because they are 50 lbs. heavier than they used to be (Klistchko would knock any Pre Sonny Liston heavyweight out in 3 rounds.) and Steroids, because they actually change one's body chemistry to be stronger faster, and give better stamina.
Floyd was best at the lighter weights. As a welterweight he is still special, but not good enough to be in the company of the best few head-to-head to grace the sport. Some find this sacriligious. I think it's rather normal since it's not his natural weightclass, but hey.
i like Floyd becuz he's the more proven fighter plus the fact that he did not fare well against fighters similar to Floyd ie; Ray was only a runner There's no way Ray stops him, it just isnt going to happen.. If he couldnt faxe a fighter with Norris' chin, forget about a stoppage what's likely to happen is Floyd sets a groove Ray falls into, breaks out of monetarily in the middle rounds with a renewed purpose, the Floyd adjusts his game plan and takes Ray out of it, and pulls ahead with the final scores of 117-112, 116-113, & 117 - 114. Floyd by UD
Kareem is quoted as saying Manigualt was the best player he ever played against, NBA or not, but without film we don't know for sure if he was or wasn't a greater athlete than guys like Dr J. The early 1970s of the NBA was still in development but starting to get a lot better. A good example is how Wilt Chamberlain who dominated the early 60s against nobodies and an 8 team league started having a rapid decline by the late 60s and early 70s in his performance especially in the playoffs. The late 70s is when it got to a high level like today. Dr J didn't have great midrange game, but there are a lot of modern guys with great midrange/jumpshooting game (T Parker, Steve Nash) that are not as great. Every NBA players has weaknesses unless your Michael Jordan so Dr J is not a good example. Magic Johnson wasn't a great shooter. Lebron has a good but not great midrange game and no post up game. Steph Curry can't play defense. and so on Look at Kareem, Hakeem, Moses Malone, David Thompson, George Gervin, Clyde Drexler, Shawn Kemp, Domonique Wilkins, Isiah Thomas, even unathletic guys like Larry Bird or Kevin Mchale all of whom would dominate with todays rules of no hand checking and no physical play Kobe says the same thing - "I like the contact," Bryant said. "As a defensive player, if you enjoy playing defense, that's what you want. You want to be able to put your hands on a guy. You want to be able to hand check a little bit. The truth is, it makes the game [where] players have to be more skillful. Nowadays, literally anybody can get out there and get to the basket and you can't touch anybody. Back then, if guys put their hands on you, you had to have the skill to be able to go both ways, change direction, post up, you had to have a mid-range game because you didn't want to go all the way to the basket because you would get knocked ass over tea kettle. So I think playing the game back then required much more skill." so its not anything new or shocking to say men from older sports could dominate the newer guys. Especially an ancient sport like professional boxing when its existed since the late 19th century
