Floyd Mayweather Jr upset at Sugar Ray Leonard ranked #1 at 147

By Boxing News - 06/26/2020 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr is bent out of shape because of someone sending him a list of the best welterweights of all time, and they had the audacity to list boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard at #1.

The 1976 Olympic gold medalist Leonard was a shining star with the way he steered his career after he turned pro in 1977. Unlike Mayweather, Leonard took a lot of risks with his career, and he wasn’t afraid.

Mayweather, who retired with a superior record that Sugar Ray at 50-0, feels that his loss to Roberto Duran in their first fight in June 1980 keeps him from taking the top spot.

Mayweather says the so-called “experts” need to do their “homework before you speak on certain subjects in boxing.” Floyd doesn’t like that many people rate the former five-division world champion, Sugar Ray, as a better fighter than him.

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Sugar Ray Leonard took on the best

The fans feel that Leonard consistently fought the best until the end of his 20-year pro career. You didn’t see Leonard padding his record fighting the likes of a faded Andre Berto, and weak opponents like Robert Guerrero, Marcos Maidana, Victor Ortiz, and Carlos Baldomir.

One of the reasons that Mayweather lost a lot of fans is because he was too calculated with the way he selected his opponents. For example, Mayweather chose to fight the UFC fighter Conor McGregor to break Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record in 2017 rather than a boxer.

It was a real shame. McGregor had a 0-0 record going into that fight, and the Nevada Commission sanctioned the contest as counting as a professional match. McGregor wasn’t a boxer, and it’s disappointing that Mayweather picked him to break Marciano’s 62-year-old record in 2017. Things like that Mayweather’s ability to call himself #1.

Leonard took risky fights against elite opposition

  • Roberto Duran x 2
  • Marvin Hagler
  • Tommy Hearns x 2
  • Hector Camacho
  • Terry Norris
  • Donny Lalonde
  • Wilfred Benitez

Leonards’ wins over Duran, Hagler, and Hearns are quickly enough for boxing fans to rate him as the #1 fighter in the history over the 147-pound division. Unfortunately, Mayweather doesn’t have anything to compare.

Mayweather’s best wins at 147 came against old guys that were faded and or injured.

These are Mayweather’s best wins at welterweight:

  • Manny Pacquiao – old and injured
  • Marcos Maidana – crude slugger
  • Juan Manuel Marquez – fighting three divisions above his best weight
  • Shane Mosley – old
  • Ricky Hatton – 140-pounder fighting above his natural weight
  • Zab Judah – shot
  • Oscar De La Hoya – old and inactive

A lot of boxing fans believe that Duran would have beaten Mayeweather Jr if the two had fought in the same era.

Mayweather points out Sugar Ray lost to Duran

“It was crazy, someone sent me something about ‘The Best Welterweights’. They had Sugar Ray Leonard #1. He was the guy that paved the way for myself, but how can you have a guy ranked #1 when his first loss was to a lightweight, Roberto Duran?” said Mayweather to Fighthype.

“Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I fought Canelo and he was how many years younger than me, ” said Mayweather. “They say he was inexperienced, but we had the same amount of fights that we fought. I was deep in my 30s, and he was in his youthful years in his early 20s,” said Mayweather.

What Mayweather Jr isn’t saying is Sugar Ray Leonard intentionally fought Duran’s fight on the inside in their first match in 1980, and that factored into the defeat.

Image: Floyd Mayweather Jr upset at Sugar Ray Leonard ranked #1 at 147

Leonard didn’t have to do that, but he wanted to try and prove a point, and it cost him. Duran proved to be a better fighter than Leonard on the inside, and he ended up winning a narrow 15 round unanimous decision. The scores were 146-144, 145-144, and 148-147.

In the Leonard-Duran rematch in November 1980, Leonard completely outclassed Duran in forcing him to quit in the eighth round. That victory for Leonard showed what he could do against Duran when he was fighting with his usual style.

It’s common knowledge that Shane Mosley was over-the-hill by the time that Mayweather fought in 2010. Mosley was 39-years-old when he fought Floyd in 2010, and he’s already been beaten by Miguel Cotto, Vernon Forrest x 2, and Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright x 2.

Mayweather conveniently leaves out the age of Mosley when he fought him, and the fact that he’s been beaten five times.

Floyd Jr continues to complain

“It’s crazy how these people speak about boxing,” said Floyd Jr. “When I fought Shane [Mosley], I think we were both in our 30s. When I fought Shane, he was coming off of his biggest win over Antonio Margarito.  And when I fought Shane right after that, they said, ‘You know what? He’s washed up.

“Didn’t Canelo fight him after me? It’s crazy what people say. When I fought Oscar [De La Hoya], you look at the gloves I had on. He chose everything. He chose the gloves, and he chose the weight class. Even when I faced Canelo. It was Canelo’s team that said they wanted to fight me at a catchweight because they believed they could beat me.

“They thought I was older and over the hill. I’m not knocking these fighters. I’m just saying what goes on in the sport of boxing about people knowing the sport and not knowing the sport. When I fought Cotto, they said he’s washed up, but I’m a lot older than Cotto,” said Mayweather.

When Mayweather fought Miguel Cotto in 2012, the talented Puerto Rican fighter had already lost to Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao. This wasn’t the same Cotto had that had looked sensational earlier in his career. When Cotto fought Mayweather, he was 32 and wasn’t the same guy he’d been earlier.

That was far from an easy fight for Mayweather, as Cotto was getting the better of him early on.

The reason why Mayweather is criticized for his fight against Canelo Alvarez in 2013 is that he picked him out when he was only 22, which was before he matured.

Also, Mayweather used a catchweight of 152 pounds instead of facing Canelo at the full weight of 154 for the junior middleweight division.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX8YgLZvtUc