Why the love for Sugar Ray Leonard but not Floyd Mayweather?

oh its happenin, its most def happenin. and once he schools pacquiao it will seal the deal

 

2 completely different fighters, achievements and personalities. floyd is as fake as they come, nothing about floyd is on the up and up. his skills arent truly comparable when you consider when and against who he tested these skills against. if anyone thinks that beating hernandez, castillo and corrales is in any way equal to beating duran, hearns and hagler, you are an idiot.
the cotto fight is the first fight in nearly a decade where you will actually get an accurate assessment of how good floyd really is. for the first time in a long time he will be competing against someone who he does not have a huge size, age or skill advantage over. the only reason he is taking this risk is because he ran out of pretenders to fool his fans with. i already have a really good idea of the excuses his nuthuggers will be coming up with when cotto makes floyd look like the overprotected hype job he has been the last several years. im not saying floyd isnt a very good boxer or that cotto is going to beat him ( cotto is like a car with 500k miles on it) , im saying he is not nearly as good as his hype loving fans raise him up to be.
if floyd knocks cotto out and looks impressive doing it, i will re-evaluate my stance on his place next to the true greats. as of now, his mouth is greater than his fists.

 

Leonard gave the fans the fights we wanted to see. He made the fans happy, so we put him on a pedastal. Combine that with living in an era in which a fighter's personal life wasn't broadcast 24/7 and you get a hero.

 

Despite the fact that he was by far the biggest earner outside the heavyweight division,Ray wasn't quite as loved as he is now.A lot of the black community disowned him because they felt he had become a sort of Ivy League black man who had forgotten his roots.The idea behind the Duran fight in Montreal was the assumption that the locals would embrace one of the biggest stars from their Olympics.They didn't bank on the locals falling for Duran in a big way,and they had to sell tickets very cheap to get any sort of attendance.They also suffered poor sales in the rematch.
Ray was a huge mainstrean star,but despite his immense skills,he wasn't really "adored" by the hardcore boxing fans.You also have to keep in mind that some of the things you now know about,we didn't know then,e.g cocaine use.He also stayed in his marriage longer than he should've for appearances.
You didn't have the same blanket news coverage you have now.I was only really old enough to catch the late phase of Ray's career.I watched him pre-Hagler but was only really understanding boxing by the time he fought Marvin.
Despite all the flashy skills,Ray proved time and again he had the heart of a lion.He really had the full package.I'm a fan of Floyd but you have to remember Boxing isn't the mainstream sport it was then.Add to that the fact that Floyd hasn't been in the wars Ray was,and whilst that's not really Floyd's fault,it means he will always have an aloofness in the eyes of crossover fans.
Floyd will be celebrated,it may just not be for a while.Unfortunately for him,people like Gatti will always have more appeal.It doesn't pay to be head and shoulders above your opposition it would seem.
I confess;I'm a shameless fanboy when it comes to Ray.
But with very good reason...

 

:deal

 

If you seriously think there's a great deal of "love" for Leonard,you can't have been paying a great deal of attention to what's been said about him on the internet boxing forums over the years.He is the only man that could have one fight in five years,move up two weight classes above his best weight,challenge and beat the best fighter on the planet and be criticized by a fairly sizable number of people for doing so.

Frazier isn't in the same class as the other three fighters mentioned in regards to overall greatness.He's not forgotten and if anything receives far more credit than his overall accomplishments warrant.

 

SRL won a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics.

 

The zero is at risk any time he's stepped into the ring against a world contender opponent (which he's done plenty). You could be caught slipping and thrashed. Underrated aspect of Floyd is that he's always 100% prepared and dedicated to his craft. Clean, too. Wholly admirabe traits, no?

Welter isnt Floyd at his best IMO and 5 throughout history on their best night isnt a very high figure, so at least you acknowledge the skills. I wasnt proclaiming him GOAT but rather presenting a case for his claim as an ATG fighter through facts. Certainly not someone I'd disown my kid about.

 

I have a ton of respect for Floyd's ability,but he will never,ever be greater than Ray.
There's more chance of him fighting a Klitscko.

 

thats not my opinion, im talking about the little casual fans that think Ali and Tyson were the greatest. Mayweather will be mentioned among them in the future.

 

And so he should be.:good

 

I totally agree about Welter. His best weight was 130 for me, where I'd pick him to beat most. Floyd is 100% an all time great, but for me he is at the lower echelons of any list, simply because he hasn't proved his greatness against great fighters, or even borderline world class ones at the higher weights.

Like I said, I can comfortably name 40 fighters with a better resume than his, which makes those who consider him the greatest of all time extremely narrow minded IMO. I'm not for one minute suggesting you think Mayweather is the best ever, or even in the top 10, so this is directly aimed at you.

Out of curiosity, where would you rate him as a p4p great?

 

I honestly havent thought up a list in several months. Last count (and he hasnt fought since): 25-30 range. I also like to factor in special achievements and H2H which gives you some creative freedom to exercise your bias to an extent. And everyone is, in some form or fashion.

Floyd isnt done yet.

 

Nice one. I have him about 45-50 at the last count, so not a great amount in it.

I rank mainly on Resume, followed by prime losses, longevity, and finally head to head ability. For me, he doesn't fair too well in the 1st and 4th category, but obviously scores highly in the middle two

 

along with Robinson.