Let’s compare two veteran boxers, Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather and ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard.
Mayweather, 84-9, Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, Olympics lost by decision against Serafirm Todorov of Bulgaria, 96-15, in the semifinals receiving the Bronze medal.
Leonard, 145-5 had 75 wins at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada, winning all six of his fights, winning the gold medal and defeating Andres Aldama of Cuba.
Mayweather, in the professional arena, 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 up to lightweight to defeat WBC Lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo, 46-5-1, in what many feel was a controversial decision in April of 2002 in Las Vegas.
In their rematch, the scores were close, with Mayweather defeating Castillo. After three defenses, he moved up to win over WBC WORLD Light Welterweight champion DeMarcus Corley, 28-2-1 in Atlantic City, NJ.
After defensive matches, he defeated the IBF World Welterweight champion, Zab Judah, 34-3, in Las Vegas. After one defense, he won the WBC Super Welter title, defeating Oscar ‘Golden Boy’ De La Hoya, 38-4, by split decision in Las Vegas in May of 2007. He made five defenses, and defeated the WBA Super World Super Welterweight. champion Miguel Cotto, 37-2, Las Vegas.
Two fights later, Mayweather won a majority decision over WBA/WBC World Super Welterweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 42-0-1, in Las Vegas.
The decision didn’t seem that close, as Mayweather won easily. 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 followed, with Mayweather winning without a doubt. He won the 48th time defeating Manny ‘Pac Man’ Pacquiao, 57-5-2.
He will match Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0 defeating Andre Berto, 30-3, in September of 2015. He gave up his title, did not fight for about 23 months, and for some reason took the MMA champion Conor McGregor, began to play, carried him for nine rounds, it is estimated that he landed three punches before opening the tenth round and stopping McGregor to surpass Marciano’s record of 49 -0 improved to 50-0 with 27 shutouts in August 2017 at age 40.
Leonard, a six-division world champion, won the WBC Welterweight title in November 1979, stopping Wilfredo Benitez, 38-0-1, in the final round and improving to 26-0.
Two fights later, fighting his own fight instead of punching him, he lost to Roberto ‘Hands of Stone’ Duran, 71-1, by unanimous decision, in June of 1980, in Montreal.
In a rematch in November, this time, he returned to his usual boxing form and humiliated Duran in the New Orleans Superdome, stopping him in 8 rounds and then retiring from his corner.
In September of 1981, he faced WBA champion Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns, 32-0. Back, after 13 rounds with no way to win a decision, he stopped Hearns in the fourteenth round for Ring magazine’s ‘Fighter of the Year’! He was 35-1.
While preparing to defend against Roger Stafford, Leonard was diagnosed with a retinal detachment. After defeating Kevin Howard, 20-4-1, he moved up to defeat WBC Middleweight champion ‘Marvellous’ Marvin Hagler, 62-2-2, which led to his retirement and a split decision win in April 1987 in Las Vegas, April 1987.
In November 1988 Leonard defeated WBC World Light Heavyweight champion Donny ‘Golden Boy’ Lalonde, 31-2, stopping him in nine rounds. In the rematch with Hearns, it ended in a tie even though Leonard seemed to pull it out. In his next third fight with Duran, 85-7, he easily defeated Duran.
It would be fourteen months before Leonard returned to the ring, losing to ‘Terry Norris, 26-3, at Madison Square Garden by unanimous decision. He would finish his career six years later, stopped by Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho, 62-3-1, ending with a record of 36-3-1 with 25 stoppages at the age of 41.
Could Mayweather beat Hearns or Hagler? Can Leonard beat Canelo?
Leonard entertains the crowd with his style. Mayweather has defended himself very well but has a record of 50-0.
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