Let’s compare two all-time great boxers, Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather and ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard.
Mayweather, 84-9, in the 1996 Atlanta, Georgia, Olympics lost a disputed decision to Bulgaria’s Serafirm Todorov, 96-15, in the semi-finals receiving a Bronze Medal.
Leonard, 145-5 with 75 knockouts at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada, won all six of his bouts, winning the Gold Medal and defeating Cuba’s Andres Aldama.
Mayweather, in the professional ranks, was a five-division world champion, stopping WBC Super Featherweight champion Genaro Hernandez, 38-1-1, in 8 rounds in Las Vegas.
After 8 title defenses, he moved to lightweight to defeat WBC Lightweight champ Jose Luis Castillo, 46-5-1, which many felt was a disputed decision in April of 2002 in Las Vegas.
In their rematch, the scores were closer, with Mayweather defeating Castillo. After three defenses, he moved up to defeat WBC WORLD Light Welterweight champ DeMarcus Corley, 28-2-1 in Atlantic City, NJ.
After a pair of defenses, he defeated IBF World Welter champ Zab Judah, 34-3, in Las Vegas. After one defense, he won the WBC Super Welter title, defeating by split decision Oscar ‘Golden Boy’ De La Hoya, 38-4, in Las Vegas in May of 2007. He made five defenses, and he defeated WBA Super World Super Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, 37-2, in Las Vegas.
Two fights later, Mayweather won a majority decision over WBA/WBC World Super Welter champ Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 42-0-1, in Las Vegas.
The decision didn’t seem to be that close, with Mayweather being an easy winner. In his next fight, he won a majority decision over Marcos Maidana, 35-3, in Las Vegas.
A draw would have been a fair decision, and a rematch was next, Mayweather winning without a doubt. Winning his 48th straight he defeated Manny ‘Pac Man’ Pacquiao, 57-5-2.
He would equal Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record defeating Andre Berto, 30-3, in September of 2015. He gave up his title, not fighting for some 23 months, and for some reason took on MMA champ Conor McGregor, making his debut, carrying him for nine rounds, averaging about landing three punches around before opening up in the tenth round and stopping McGregor to pass Marciano’s 49-0 record improving to 50-0 with 27 stoppages in August of 2017 at age 40.
Leonard, a six-division world champion, won the WBC Welter title in November 1979, stopping Wilfredo Benitez, 38-0-1, in the last round and improving to 26-0.
Two fights later, fighting his fight instead of boxing him head to head, he lost to Roberto ‘Hands of Stone’ Duran, 71-1, by close decision, in June of 1980, in Montreal.
In the rematch in November, this time, he returned to his usual boxing style and humiliated Duran in the New Orleans Superdome, stopping him in 8 rounds and quitting in his corner.
In September of 1981, he faced WBA champ Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns, 32-0. Behind, after 13 rounds with no way to win a decision, he stopped Hearns in the fourteenth round in Ring Magazines ‘Fighter of the Year’! He was 35-1.
Preparing to defend against Roger Stafford it was discovered Leonard had a detached retina. After defeating Kevin Howard, 20-4-1, he moved up to defeat WBC Middle champ ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler, 62-2-2, putting him into retirement winning a split decision in April of 1987 in Las Vegas, in April of 1987.
In November of 1988 Leonard defeated WBC World Light Heavy champ Donny ‘Golden Boy’ Lalonde, 31-2, stopping him in nine rounds. In a rematch with Hearns it ended in a draw though Leonard seemed to pull it out. In his next fight a third one with Duran, 85-7, he easily defeated Duran.
It would be fourteen months when Leonard returned to the ring, losing to ‘Terrible’ Terry Norris, 26-3, at Madison Square Garden in a lopsided decision. He would end his career six years later, being stopped by Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho, 62-3-1, ending with a 36-3-1 record with 25 stoppages at age 41.
Would Mayweather defeat Hearns or Hagler? Would Leonard defeat Canelo?
Leonard a more of a crowd pleaser with his style. Mayweather more defensive but holding a record 50-0.
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