Floyd Mayweather vs. Ray Leonard at 150

[TheGreatA]

Sugar Ray Leonard


Floyd Mayweather

I give the advantage to Leonard in this fight.

Leonard was naturally bigger, I doubt Mayweather would be able to hang with middleweights and super middleweights like Leonard did. Leonard was powerful at 147, that power along with the speed made him very dangerous offensively.

Leonard was flashier, Sugar Ray scored points with his late rounds flurries, flashy moves and power punching. Floyd's style isn't as appreciated by the judges.

Most importantly Leonard could handle defensive fighters like Floyd's father Mayweather Sr. and Wilfred Benitez. Leonard's ring intelligence is almost unmatched, he picked his spots, didn't let anyone make him look bad and won over the judges.
He could adapt during fights like almost no one else could. Floyd is known for this too.

Sugar Ray fought the better competition and beat great fighters like Hearns, Hagler, Benitez and Duran.

Leonard would win by a decision. I wouldn't bet on a stoppage because Floyd's defense is very good, he is well-conditioned and his toughness is underrated.


Here is Leonard's fight with Floyd Sr, very entertaining.
Floyd Sr was a pretty good fighter but he couldn't dedicate himself to the sport like Floyd Jr did. Sr. wasn't as mobile as Jr. but his technique was very good.

[FUMIN 88]

leonard would win at any weight i think he could force a stopage aswell he was bigger stronger and faster than floyd

[Sugar_ITA]

i'd favor mayweather, mayweather is to smart for him.

[pbftxrs316]

Smarter than Ray? Hes one of the smartest fighters of all time. I'd pick Ray by late stoppage or at least a UD.

you damn right floyd is a much smarter fighter than ray and much more complex than ray ever was. i see floyd winning a ud in 12 or 15 rounds. you see, floyd's defense is up there with all time greats like toney, pep, whitaker's, etc, and ray had good defense himself, he just took more risks which would prove ****** against floyd who was more accurate and much more complex. leonard was more dynamic but against a fighter of floyd's calibur he would not have enough smarts to defeat him imo. ray leonard puched with power and amazing speed but floyd mayweather punched with accuracy and from complex angles and this would be his key to vicotry which he could pull off, add to that, floyd was much faster and flexible with his upperbody movement which is crucial in beating ray leonard. if they fought at 150, it would be a great fight imo as i see ray bringing the best out of floyd but when floyd gets aggressive he gets very dangerous but keeps his brilliant mindset which is the secret weaopn and floyd knows how to incorporate it into his arsenal. floyd mayweather is the most methodical fighter of the past 40 years, bar none. he would be too much for ray, and i mean it. i have watched both of their careers extensively, so i have grounds to make this claim.

[LondonRingRules]

i have watched both of their careers extensively, so i have grounds to make this claim.

** Time for fresh grounds.

Ray is traditionally overrated for his career, however, he was one of the absolute best talents ever as a peak and prime welt. Floyd is a natural superfeather/lightweight at best.

Credit Floydy for a good showing against the best jr welt, Hatton, but Cotto, Margarito, Cintron, and Williams are the big threats, not Hatton.

Floydy has had a disciplined career thus far which is out of sorts to his personal problems, but simply put, this is not an era of Benitez, Duran, Hearns. If it were, Floydy wouldn't be fighting those guys. He'd be trying to milk the golden cash cow Oscar for one more payday. Oscar has been a semi-retired fighter and full time promoter, and it's debatable if Floyd ever beat him.

I don't rate Floydy as an all time welt. The alltime lightweight/feather competition is fierce enough to keep him from the top of those rankings. Most agree the top spot of today's welt rankings are split between Floydy, Cotto and Williams.

The much bigger, stronger, more prime Floyd Sr gave 22 yr old Ray a tougher fight than Floyd would be capable. Floyd Jr simply is not an offensive threat to Ray at welt and defense cannot carry the day against a brilliant offensive legend like Ray.

[BennyST]

you damn right floyd is a much smarter fighter than ray and much more complex than ray ever was. i see floyd winning a ud in 12 or 15 rounds. you see, floyd's defense is up there with all time greats like toney, pep, whitaker's, etc, and ray had good defense himself, he just took more risks which would prove ****** against floyd who was more accurate and much more complex. leonard was more dynamic but against a fighter of floyd's calibur he would not have enough smarts to defeat him imo. ray leonard puched with power and amazing speed but floyd mayweather punched with accuracy and from complex angles and this would be his key to vicotry which he could pull off, add to that, floyd was much faster and flexible with his upperbody movement which is crucial in beating ray leonard. if they fought at 150, it would be a great fight imo as i see ray bringing the best out of floyd but when floyd gets aggressive he gets very dangerous but keeps his brilliant mindset which is the secret weaopn and floyd knows how to incorporate it into his arsenal. floyd mayweather is the most methodical fighter of the past 40 years, bar none. he would be too much for ray, and i mean it. i have watched both of their careers extensively, so i have grounds to make this claim.

I actually fell out of my chair after reading this...seriously.

I'm also at a complete loss for words. I just simply don't know what to say to this?

Complex? Who uses the word 'complex' to describe a fighter? Really though, if anyone is more...err... 'complex', it's Leonard. You just cannot say otherwise because up until this point Ray has still beaten the much, much, much larger variety of fighters. Floyds best fights have been against your typical come forward fighters.

Ray has faced the absolute best from what amounts to all styles. Hearns: ultra fast, slick huge boxer with one of the greatest P4P punches ever. Benitez: super, super slick defensive genius. Pure counter puncher. Duran: greatest ever aggressive fighter. Also a defensive genius. Hagler: Big, strong middleweight who could do it all, brawl, box, fight inside or out.

Despite your creepy man-love even you cannot be so ****** as to think Mayweather has faced even one quarter of the comparative level and different styles of fighters Ray did.

Seriously man, I've read some of your stuff on here but this out-does it all. You should see someone about that obsession..... ****in' freakin' me out.

[BennyST]

leonard was more dynamic but against a fighter of floyd's calibur he would not have enough smarts to defeat him imo.

I just had to read it again to make sure I wasn't seeing things...and I obviously missed this after I fell off my chair. I thought that I just had to highlight this.

Am I missing something here? Is that really written?

So, let me get this right....just give me a second to make sure I'm registering these thoughts correctly...You're saying that even though Leonard fought and defeated arguably the greatest ever lightweight, greatest ever middleweight, greatest ever lightmiddleweight and one of the greatest ever welterweights (Hearns for both of the previous) plus one of the best counter punchers in history.....are you actually saying what I think you're saying? Really? No, no, no...seriously?






























C,mon.....seriously?

[wmute]

** Time for fresh grounds.

Ray is traditionally overrated for his career, however, he was one of the absolute best talents ever as a peak and prime welt. Floyd is a natural superfeather/lightweight at best.

Credit Floydy for a good showing against the best jr welt, Hatton, but Cotto, Margarito, Cintron, and Williams are the big threats, not Hatton.

Floydy has had a disciplined career thus far which is out of sorts to his personal problems, but simply put, this is not an era of Benitez, Duran, Hearns. If it were, Floydy wouldn't be fighting those guys. He'd be trying to milk the golden cash cow Oscar for one more payday. Oscar has been a semi-retired fighter and full time promoter, and it's debatable if Floyd ever beat him.

I don't rate Floydy as an all time welt. The alltime lightweight/feather competition is fierce enough to keep him from the top of those rankings. Most agree the top spot of today's welt rankings are split between Floydy, Cotto and Williams.

The much bigger, stronger, more prime Floyd Sr gave 22 yr old Ray a tougher fight than Floyd would be capable. Floyd Jr simply is not an offensive threat to Ray at welt and defense cannot carry the day against a brilliant offensive legend like Ray.

I thought you actually knew something about boxing, until I read the statement in bold.

[wmute]

I just had to read it again to make sure I wasn't seeing things...and I obviously missed this after I fell off my chair. I thought that I just had to highlight this.

Am I missing something here? Is that really written?

So, let me get this right....just give me a second to make sure I'm registering these thoughts correctly...You're saying that even though Leonard fought and defeated arguably the greatest ever lightweight, greatest ever middleweight, greatest ever lightmiddleweight and one of the greatest ever welterweights (Hearns for both of the previous) plus one of the best counter punchers in history.....are you actually saying what I think you're saying? Really? No, no, no...seriously?






























C,mon.....seriously?

Look I think it is pretty cloes to impossible that MAyweather beats Leonard at a weight which would favor Leonard as 150 would, it would have to be below 147, to make sense, and I would still be picking Leonard at any weight he is not dehydrated at. The great bigger man, beats the great smaller man.

But, let's not blow this out of proportion, especially when mentioning Leonard wins. I am sure you do know that there was never a rematch after any of those wins. That Hearns is not even close to being one of the best ever at 147 (he left the division at 23, so he was far from his mental prime, he was killing himself to make weight, so he was not in physical prime, and never beat anyone relevant at the weight, except Cuevas). That Hagler was past it, and the fight is still debated today (I had Leonard winning, btw). That Duran was the greatest lightweight, and the fight took place at welter, after Duran was the greatest lightweight. That the negotiatiing power of Leonard mattered in two of those fights almost as much as his fistic abilities.
Those are great names, much better than those on Mayweather's record, but with a lot more "but"s.

And yes as the other guy mentioned, Mayweather is "complex". I think a lot of people missed the main thing of the Hatton fight, not the check hook, or the combos from midrange, everyone already knew that. Mayweather's inside game and "dirty" skills are simply great, much closer to his outside boxing skills than anyone imagined. I am sorry, but I never saw Leonard fighting that type of fight (Duran 1 is not that type of fight), Leonard is surely smart and adapted to anything, but it is NOT CLEAR AT ALL, that he would be the more "complex" of the two fighters.

Finally, all of this is something to be discussed at the end of Mayweather's career, but moreso the next point (not the relevant to the matchup maybe, but surely relevant to discuss who is the smartest fighter). Duran suckered Leonard into a war as we know. Does anyone seriously imagine Mayweather being taken out of his gameplan by anything happening outside a boxing ring?

Anyway that being said, a prime Leonard fighting at a weight of 150 could come in the ring at 155 pounds of muscle, speed and smarts. Mayweather is not getting past that.

[RL_GMA]

i'd favor mayweather, mayweather is to smart for him.

LOL...that literally made me laugh