If Ray Leonard was boxing today....what kind of PPV numbers would he draw?

[BUNGALOWS]

there wouldn't be a mayweather if srl was around today

Exactly. If there's a Sugar Ray in today's boxing world. He's undoubtedly the #1 P4P guy in the hottest divisions. You guys need to understand this.

[bojangles1987]

In an era where a gold medals mean nothing?

Notice The gold medal winner with the great resume-ward- is a smaller star then the guy who didn't win a medal and has far less skills-broner.

Maybe you're wrong on this.

That's due to Ward's style and personality. Leonard doesn't have that problem.

[GeneralZod]

I'd imagine very well, there's not a fighter today in his range that could beat him.

[BUNGALOWS]

No. Social media and scores of new networks make it difficult to focus peoples' attention on one thing. Even because of this TV ratings on all networks have declined since the past. For example if you got a mention on the evening news in the 70s you might be watched by 30 million people. These days you're more likely to be seen by 5 million people in that same slot. So in the past you could put Leonard on the daily news and by the end he'd be introduced to 30 million people, these days if you put Floyd on the news he'd be introduced to far fewer people purely because TV viewerships have fallen substantially.

Boxing PPVs are a completely different entity than your local news. The hype that's built up before hand through said media outlets, make you order those fights on fight night. You can't replicate a boxing/UFC PPV.

If Sugar Ray was facing Oscar, that would be an explosion of PPV buys, because of all the media outlets today.

[croz]

That is silly, look again.

His record is padded to holy hell with cans. Leonard couldn't steam roll ****y Ecklund yet people think he'd steam roll Cotto, Canelo or even the Ghost. This isn't debatable, his record speaks for itself. Trouble is boxing is full of fake fans who get off more on nostalgia than boxing itself.

[BUNGALOWS]

That's due to Ward's style and personality. Leonard doesn't have that problem.

And the fact that all of his big name opponents have a fan base in the UK, so the demand for a PPV in America wouldn't cross over.

[American Dream]

He'd be huge, I highly doubt the 10 mill figure, not even Tyson could pull that but he'd be bigger than Floyd and Manny.

Leonard was made for modern day PPV, fighting once or twice a year and as long as he was assisted with great adversaries, he'd be the biggest star in the sport since Ali.

Now imagine what Ali could do in the modern boxing TV landscape

Youre crazy. Ali isnt made for modern day..he would definitely not be called "the greatest" if he were in this era, with this stable..

[BUNGALOWS]

Youre crazy. Ali isnt made for modern day..he would definitely not be called "the greatest" if he were in this era, with this stable..

He'd be a less hated, 6'2, handsome, trash talking, Broner that would probably be dating the Beyonce's of the world, and be at award shows, reality tv, etc.

Ali was MADE for this era. The "greatest of all time" label might not stick because of his opponent choices, but his PPVs would be insane.

You add in the fact that he'd be more egotistical than Kanye West. The media would eat the guy up.

[croz]

So what? Despite the fact that Leonard's record is right here:
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=269&cat=boxer
We're going to ignore the fact that the vast majority of it is padded with nobodies? You know Floyd Mayweather respects the hands of ****y Ecklund.

19 wins and 10 losses yet Leonard still couldn't knock him out.

[KingTito]

It's hard to say. Olympic boxing isn't what it once was, and that really helped SRL a lot. He was a massive star. He wouldn't have the fighters he had then, but there's plenty enough competition to land him in the limelight if he could get the big fights. I can't speculate on the numbers he would do, but to be honest, it's hard to imagine a scenario where he wouldn't be a massive breakthrough star. He had the looks, the charisma and the talent to whoop everyone. Not to mention, he would be the cash cow. His handlers would do everything possible to make him that huge star.