Floyd Mayweather vs. Ray Leonard at 150

[BennyST]

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.

Complex Mayweather might be, but, up until this point, management genius or not, Leonard has beaten a calibur of fighters that Mayweathers simply does not bear comparison to at all.

Don't get me wrong here though. I'm as big a fan of Mayweather as I am of Leonard. The simple fact of it is though that Leonard has proven that he can fight and beat all styles of fighters. Not only all styles but some of the best fighters ever at those particular styles.

Duran was not fit in the second fight and very unprepared: Check. Hearns beat Leonard in the rematch and would have beaten him at any weight above 147 where his stamina was better: Check. Hagler was past his best and slowing down: Check. Nonetheless, they were all still incredible fighters at those stages that Leonard beat them and would have given every one of Mayweathers opponents a big fat ugly whipping!

See, you guys are going on what Mayweather looks like against decent opponents. Any great fighter can look like the most skilled, freakish thing ever against ****e, but, until he has proven that he can beat guys who are unbeaten, in their physical primes and are as talented athletically, mentally, and technically as him I can't see how he could beat Leonard at any weight because Leonard has shown that he can do just that.

[wmute]

Complex Mayweather might be, but, up until this point, management genius or not, Leonard has beaten a calibur of fighters that Mayweathers simply does not bear comparison to at all.

Don't get me wrong here though. I'm as big a fan of Mayweather as I am of Leonard. The simple fact of it is though that Leonard has proven that he can fight and beat all styles of fighters. Not only all styles but some of the best fighters ever at those particular styles.

Duran was not fit in the second fight and very unprepared: Check. Hearns beat Leonard in the rematch and would have beaten him at any weight above 147 where his stamina was better: Check. Hagler was past his best and slowing down: Check. Nonetheless, they were all still incredible fighters at those stages that Leonard beat them and would have given every one of Mayweathers opponents a big fat ugly whipping!

See, you guys are going on what Mayweather looks like against decent opponents. Any great fighter can look like the most skilled, freakish thing ever against ****e, but, until he has proven that he can beat guys who are unbeaten, in their physical primes and are as talented athletically, mentally, and technically as him I can't see how he could beat Leonard at any weight because Leonard has shown that he can do just that.

Seems like we wrote the same story from two different angles.

May I say that what you write in paragraph 3 does not work well with what you write in paragraph 4 about phyical primes?

As I said Leonard is the bigger man, he wins. You would not see me putting any money on Mayweather here.

[Hester65]

I think that the tools that both Mayweather and Leonard have are on the same skill level, but they have different tools. Leonard came up in a great time and fought many great fighters, while Mayweather hasn't had that kind of experience. I would go with Leonard in a UD.

Mayweathers speed could give him problems and Mayweather seems to have a good gas tank. So, I don't think Mayweather would fade unless he is really pressured. Leonard could possibly out work him mid to late and earn his win there. I think if Leonard picked his spots early and then lets loose, he'd win.