I'm gonna say Ray for these obvious reasons 1) Even faster hands and feet than Floyd 2) Naturally the bigger man 3) Ray has fought guys like Benitez,Hagler,Hearns and even Duran twice lol do you think Floyd could handle a prime Duran when he's been wobbled early by the likes of Judah and Mosley haha yeah right!
Please post your thoughts,thanks!
SRL all day. Just compare their resumes, its almost a joke. Floyd wouldve possibly lost to duran, definitely to hearns, and got murdered by hagler at a catch
Leonard wins. He's bigger and better. Mayweather is a great fighter too, but he's still relatively unproven at 147 compared to someone like Leonard. Mosley was a good win, but still, that pales in comparison to Leonard's work at WW. Benitez, Hearns, Duran (even if not 100%).
Leonard was probably faster with his hands, hit hard (his left hook is one of the most underrated great weapons in history IMO), took a good shot, adapted well, was a top-notch finisher, effective at different ranges and in different styles. I'd be hard-pressed to pick any WW since then over him.
Not sure who has the best shot. Curry? Whitaker?
The list of guys I'd pick over Mayweather is much, much lower at 130 and 135 (even 140) than it is at 147. Floyd is still skilled, talented, intelligent, and resourceful enough that I think he'd hold his own with most of the guys, but as far as picking him over Leonard? Nah.
Could you imagine if it took him 5 years to fight Pac how people would react? And Pryor went right up in his face and Sugar never wanted any part of him.....Now under your logic that would be him not showing heart.....I don't feel that way but that's what this world on the boxing forums has become today. Sugar Ray Leonard would be killed today if he did those things....
SRL openly stated he waited for Hagler to deteriorate and he did avoid Pryor but if Floyd does something similar hes vilified.
Leonard offered Pryor a fight and a payday for half a million, but Pryor wanted more money. Pryor talks about this in the post-fight interview after his fight with Lennox Blackmoore.
at 147 Ray would beat Floyd imo....Ray would beat EVERY dam present day big name in the division as well imo.....Ray, Tommy and those dudes were BIG WW's.....I saw one interview with Ray and Tommy a while ago...this question came up and before Ray could answer....Tommy jumped in and mentioned the fact that the WW's of their era were BIGGER and stronger than these of today....as much as I appreciate and rate Floyd's skill set....I don't see how he could beat Ray or Tommy...I just can't see it...:boxing:
SRL. you cannot pick a guy with just talent alone and hasnt proved anything inside the ring. SLR fought some of the best ATG's in their prime. SLR actually proved it INSIDE the RING and not in a FANTASY match.
SLR's opponents and his talent and skills makes him superior against Floyd. if SLR was fighting today and fought FLoyd's opponents he would even look better. NO DOUBT he would be UNDEFEATED. you cannot say the same to FLoyd if he fought SLR's opponents.
hard to pick Floyd because of the level of the oppositions he fought. talent alone doesnt mean a guaranteed W. you have to show it inside the ring.
leonard is how mayweather was supposed to be but lacks the balls to take the fights that mattered n didn't have that fighting warrior mentallity like sugar showed when the going got tuff.
Floyd is great. No one can question that, but there are levels of greatness. What you said in bolded in true. That's just how it goes though. Leonard fought what would be the equal and greater of fighting four Pac's.
Floyd has done amazing things and I don't think people are dismissing what he did vs Corrales, Castillo, Oscar, Hatton and Mosley etc. However, all of those guys together don't add up to one Duran or Hearns.
Even fighting and beating Pac now, while great, still wouldn't equal anything that Leonard did. It's just an unfortunate fact of the era both those guys fight in. Leonard's era was full of greats as good and better than Pac and Mayweather and Leonard fought and beat them all.
The point still comes back to this though; At 147, could Mayweather beat
Leonard? No, he couldn't. Floyd has shown great heart in his fights against Corley, Mosley etc and his ability to adjust is brilliant. Nonetheless, the
difference between adjusting against Hatton or coming back after being stunned against Corley and going toe to toe is far removed from doing the same against the monster that was Duran at 147 or Hearns at 147 or coming back and boxing brilliantly against Hagler etc.
While people will always bring up LEonard waiting for Hagler to age, they still somehow manage to overlook, dismiss and forget that Leonard came off what was basically a six year long layoff. Six years! Six years before jumping i
nto a fight with the most dominant fighter in the sport. Six years without a tune up fight going against the P4P number 1 fighter and an ATG middleweight. If Hagler had slightly deteriorated then what had happened to
Leonard not having fought in six years? They more than cancel each other out.
It would be like Mayweather retiring after beating Gatti in 2005, then coming out of retirement and straight into a fight with Pacquiao right now. That's exactly what it would be like and that's what it was considered as doing then. People literally thought he was going to get killed. It's right up there as one
the truly greatest feats in boxing history along with Foreman/Moorer.
Floyd is great, but against Leonard at 147 he just doesn't win.
if Floyd had prime Stevie as a young buck, casa, tszyu, cotto and PAC on his resume he would be a very close level or greatness and would be, by far the best fighter of this generation (especially if there were only 1-2 l's). Add in margs and an undefeated spaddy or most of them and you are looking at atg status
most Guys just don't fight to prove greatness like they did in srl's, sweet pea, and titos era nowadays. And they don't fight enough.
Leonard, obviously.
If Leonard was a Welterweight today, guys like Floyd, Pacquiao and Cotto would be fighting at 140 pounds.
Pac will surely fight him if he is the superstar of the sport. and surely Cotto too..
and Floyd maybe if he's not earning enough.
I'm gonna say Ray for these obvious reasons 1) Even faster hands and feet than Floyd 2) Naturally the bigger man 3) Ray has fought guys like Benitez,Hagler,Hearns and even Duran twice lol do you think Floyd could handle a prime Duran when he's been wobbled early by the likes of Judah and Mosley haha yeah right!
Please post your thoughts,thanks!
Bold is the main reason for me.
they are equal in talent and skills but the 5'10 Leonard is naturally the bigger man.
Travdog you speak the truth. The hate some of these posters have for Floyd has blinded them. If Floyd beat Margarito, Margarito wouldve definitely got the Baldo treatment. They would bring up Margs losses and his handwrap scandal in order to discredit Floyd. If FLoyd decisioned Cotto they would say he couldnt knock Cotto out the way PAc or Margarito did.
I agree Floyd hasnt fought anyone of a hearns or duran level but what fighter today is on a Hearns or Duran level? None. I think Pacquiao is the closest thing we have to a modern era atg and even if Floyd were to beat him people would say his resume doesnt match up to SRL. SRL openly stated he waited for Hagler to deteriorate and he did avoid Pryor but if Floyd does something similar hes vilified.
I believe some of the criticism Floyd gets is deserved but most of it is just blind hate. When it comes down this fight I believe it is about skills and who was the better pound for pound. To me this fight is a toss up since both fighters primes were at different weight classes.
Floyd is great. No one can question that, but there are levels of greatness. What you said in bolded in true. That's just how it goes though. Leonard fought what would be the equal and greater of fighting four Pac's.
Floyd has done amazing things and I don't think people are dismissing what he did vs Corrales, Castillo, Oscar, Hatton and Mosley etc. However, all of those guys together don't add up to one Duran or Hearns.
Even fighting and beating Pac now, while great, still wouldn't equal anything that Leonard did. It's just an unfortunate fact of the era both those guys fight in. Leonard's era was full of greats as good and better than Pac and Mayweather and Leonard fought and beat them all.
The point still comes back to this though; At 147, could Mayweather beat Leonard? No, he couldn't. Floyd has shown great heart in his fights against Corley, Mosley etc and his ability to adjust is brilliant. Nonetheless, the difference between adjusting against Hatton or coming back after being stunned against Corley and going toe to toe is far removed from doing the same against the monster that was Duran at 147 or Hearns at 147 or coming back and boxing brilliantly against Hagler etc.
While people will always bring up LEonard waiting for Hagler to age, they still somehow manage to overlook, dismiss and forget that Leonard came off what was basically a six year long layoff. Six years! Six years before jumping into a fight with the most dominant fighter in the sport. Six years without a tune up fight going against the P4P number 1 fighter and an ATG middleweight. If Hagler had slightly deteriorated then what had happened to Leonard not having fought in six years? They more than cancel each other out.
It would be like Mayweather retiring after beating Gatti in 2005, then coming out of retirement and straight into a fight with Pacquiao right now. That's exactly what it would be like and that's what it was considered as doing then. People literally thought he was going to get killed. It's right up there as one the truly greatest feats in boxing history along with Foreman/Moorer.
Floyd is great, but against Leonard at 147 he just doesn't win.
I'm gonna say Ray for these obvious reasons 1) Even faster hands and feet than Floyd 2) Naturally the bigger man 3) Ray has fought guys like Benitez,Hagler,Hearns and even Duran twice lol do you think Floyd could handle a prime Duran when he's been wobbled early by the likes of Judah and Mosley haha yeah right!
Please post your thoughts,thanks![/QUOTE
leonard hands down
Thats how Floyd would fight him like Hearns did
Benitez offensive game isn't even comparable. Benitez didnt jab and wouldnt counter punch. SRL was lunging in off-balance and didnt pay for it
IN fact the fighters aren't even comparable so I have no idea where his name came from
Oh my dear god.....did you just say that Floyd would fight Leonard like Hearns did?
Ok....
Ummmm.....
Right......
I see.....
So......
Well, I'll start here. Is Floyd 6'1" with an 80" reach? No.
Does he have the jab of Hearns? No.
Does he have the power to hurt Leonard like Hearns with every left hook, right hand and even a jab to bust up Leonard's face? No.
When Leonard attacks would he have the necessary strength and power to throw back and hurt Leonard and stop him from coming in? No.
Does Floyd have the height, power, reach to not only outbox Leonard but outfight him for the most of the fight? No.
Does he have a similar ability to actually outbox Leonard at all because of his speed, jab and height? No.
Could he fight Leonard by outboxing him or power punching with him when needed? No.
Does he have the ability to fight out of his comfort zone when his defensive posture isn't working? No.
Does he do anything even remotely similar to Hearns or have anything remotely resembling Hearns gifts of power, skill, speed, height, and reach? No.
If you really just compared Hearns to Floyd and the way they would fight the same you seriously need a major ****ing brain overhaul.
Also, did you just say that Benitez doesn't or wouldn't counter punch and that his offensive game is comparable? Argh.....Who is this guy?
Mayweather always finds a way to win.
May UD.
Errr, yeah ok. He always finds a way to win against Gatti, Judah, Corley, Mosley.....
Ray Leonard always found a way to win against prime top ten ATG Duran, prime undefeated Benitez, prime top twenty ATG undefeated Hearns and Undisputed middleweight great Hagler after a six year layoff when Hagler hadn't been beaten in a decade of dominance (and after a one and a half year lay off people thought Marquez was a good tune up).
The win over an unbeaten Kalule is better than most of Floyd's wins.
Leonard has always found the way to win against opposition that makes what Floyd did genuinely laughable.
Leonard wins a UD. Too fast, too big, too strong, too quick, too determined.
and that's where there's no comparison.
when did anyone (specifically me) not give credit for corrales???????
everyone fights some that are considered stiffs. duh, but floyd doesn't sprinkle the real challenges among those stiffs. I can't believe you seem intelligent but you are arguing that floyd has fought competition even close to leonard's level.
there's nothing special about floyd's level of comp, he has many contemporaries that fought MUCH tougher comp than he did.
ps, a faded hagler at 160>anyone floyd ever faced, yes even corrales, ans especially > anyone floyd ever faced over 135.
you are grasping for someone to kiss floyd's ass. it's not gonna happen, he's a hall of famer and an incredibly gifted boxer but he will never capture people's imagination the way people like chavez, sweet pea, hearns, hagler, oscar, tito, etc did because fighters like floyd don't fight like that anymore.
the floyd/roy jones school of challenge avoidance has a select few members. and you follow that school. i don't. i'd rather my favorite fighters not need excuses for their resumes. and if SRL has a disputed duck or two, i'd gladly exchange that for the fights he did have. same with a shane mosley or miguel cotto
and your first paragraph goes without saying, but what makes a fighter's heart extroadinary is going through real wars, like morales-barrera 1-3, srl v hearns, pac-barrera, jmm in jmm-pac 1- defining moments. floyd doesn't want that defininng moment, so it has to be corrales or, maybe a judah win? or maybe...oh well. it's such a freakin letdown trying to find his defnining moment. if it's corrales, that's pretty sad considering it was almost a decade ago.
Okay so you're not making sense...so what are you saying a victory over Margarito would have been equivalent to any of Sugar Ray's big wins? NO!!! So like I said there is nothing Floyd could have done to compare to Sugar Ray in your book. That's essentially my point.
You speak about the wars that fighters must go through, however what happens to the boxer that is so good that he doesn't get into a war.
Surely you've seen Floyd go toe to toe with Augustus, Chavez, N'Dou etc...But of course those fights don't matter because they were not all time greats
HUH? I know i said before that just becuz i don't like Floyds persona or attitude i don't discredit his skills and hardwork as a prize-fighter.I would say though that Manny has also let me down as a fan by not making this fight happen,it's not just Floyds fault about this mega-fight not happening!
But THIS was about Sugar Ray VS Mayweather Jr @ WW in a 15 round championship fight,i realise they primed at different weights but they have both fought at this class and since this is a fantasy fight,it's all wut ifs aint it? I wanted peoples opinions on who would win and to see if there were actually people who would favor Mayweather in this fight? You can call me wutever u want,i been a fan of boxing since when it came on t.v. in the 80's and i sat in amazement as a kid.I'm not biased,sure i have guys whose personalities i like more and fighters i root for,but this isn't to do with that. I just feel at this weight Ray is superior and i guess i was secretly hoping aswell that i could put the fantasy undefeated record of Money May down for the count! LOL :)