What if? Floyd Mayweather vs 1981 Ray Leonard

[ImRipped]

I honestly can't think of a more skilled fighter than Mayweather, not saying Ray Leonard wasn't as skilled, but certainly disagree with the opinions stating Floyd would be stopped by Ray. I don't see why people still haven't realized that Floyd is as tough as they come. Much like Ali who was known for his finesse, he was underappreciated as being a tough S.O.B., and Floyd is the same way. He's not just some feather fisted priss who's afraid to get hit, or even moreso, who can't take a hit. He's simply too good to be hit most of the time, and when he is, he's rarely hurt, and certainly never close to being stopped. Floyd definately isn't nearly as powerful as Hearns but he's tougher and a better boxer(and most importantly, supremely conditioned and NEVER fades toward the end of a fight), and I feel that would be more than enough for him to outpoint Leonard.

To say Floyd is underappreciated like Ali in terms of toughness is way off. Ali took the best fighters like Frazier, Foreman, and Shavers could offer. Ali's toughness is well acknowledged. Floyd hasnt come close to establishing the toughness of Ali.

No doubt, Floyd is the best technical boxer out there today. No one even touches him in that respect. But at 147, he is outgunned by both Leonard and Hearns. I'd be interested to hear how Floyd gets inside of Hearns looooooong punishing jab, or how he outboxes Leonard.

Floyd would be forced to fight in these contests. No clinic would be put on with these guys. Floyd hasnt even come close to sniffing the level of competition Leonard and Hearns bring into the ring.

This is just my opinion, but Floyd would have to fight in these contests and hes outgunned by both fighters. He wont out speed Leonard, and Hearns power would be his death march.

BS The biggest misconception about Hearns is that he was this excellent boxer who simply chose to brawl most of the time, but could shut people out whenever he felt like it Please. It's funny how people forget that Hearns basically went into survival mode against Leonard in their first fight by the midrounds and was on the run, reduced to using his long reach advantage as a last means to making it to the end of the fight. He was a skilled fighter, don't get me wrong, but thinking that a supreme technician would be befuddled and confused by simply someone with a long reach advantage is totally naive. And you'll be hardpressed to name a fighter in history with more ringsmarts than Mayweather as well, and a fighter with a boxing IQ like that isn't going get complacent and get caught by Hearns' right hand. Duran got caught because he's a pressure fighter and a brawler, not a thinker. Hagler got caught for the same reason, but survived. And you'd be interested in hearing how he'd outbox Leonard? Easy as this, HE'D OUTBOX HIM. It's as simple as that. Sugar Ray Leonard does NOT have faster hands than Floyd Mayweather and anyone arguing the contrary is kidding themselves. The guy's a former featherweight for the love of God. And the power advantage is negligible for the simple fact that Leonard does not have one punch KO power, and when a fighter does not possess that, arguing who has more power is futile. Mayweather beats Hearns 10 times out of 10 and Leonard at least 5 out of 10 (I'm giving Leonard the respect of his huge heart that allowed him to dig deep and find ways to win).

Leonard may not have had one punch power, but boy could he crack at Welter, ALOT more then Mayweather can thats for sure. Leonard definitely had faster combinations then Mayweather for my money no doubt about it. You seem to forget that Mayweather has only faught Baldomir, Judah and Mitchell at welter, when Leonard faught at welter for years and beat some of the best competition ever, all this along with the fact that Mayweather would be disadvantaged size wise from the start leads me to think Leonard stops him.

I think it's weird that people feel the need to see someone fight at a certain weight 20 times before they realize they can stand their own ground there. People also need to realize that Mayweather is no longer ever disadvantaged sizewise, as he has grown into 147. Next May will truly be the first time you can say that. It's like when everyone (myself included) thought Oscar would steamroll Mosely their first fight because Mosley didn't have any fights at that weight and was going up against a guy who had many. It had absolutely nothing to do with who was the better of the two.