Sugar Ray Leonard predicts he would have stopped Floyd Mayweather Jr if the pair had fought in their primes
In one of the biggest fantasy matchups in all of boxing, legendary five-weight world champion Sugar Ray Leonard predicted he would have defeated Floyd Mayweather Jr if they crossed paths.
Sugar Ray Leonard was one of the faces of boxing during its golden era in the 70s and 80s.
Leonard was one of the ‘Four Kings’ alongside fellow legends Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran. The clashes between the four live long in the memory of boxing fans and are regarded as some of the best fights of all time.
Fans and pundits love to speculate how legends of the past, such as Sugar Ray Leonard, would match up against modern-day legends like Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Like Leonard, Mayweather Jr is also a five-weight world champion, whilst holding a perfect professional record of 50-0.
However, Sugar Ray Leonard had his say on the matchup in an interview that has resurfaced on social media in recent days.
Leonard believes the fight would have gone the same way as when he fought Floyd Mayweather Sr in 1978.
“I knocked your father out. Like father, like son.” Leornard said.
‘I could beat Mayweather’
Despite predicting a knockout win, Sugar Ray Leonard was full of praise for Mayweather Jr when analysing the hypothetical fight.
“There’s no one way to fight Floyd Mayweather, he is that good, he is that talented. No one could penetrate his defence, he was one of the best guys out there.”
Despite acknowledging the skills of Mayweather, he still believes he would have been the one to hand Mayweather Jr the first loss of his professional career.
“Absolutely [I was greater than Floyd], and I’m not bragging, but then again, my mindset as a fighter, as a champion, will always tell me I could beat Mayweather, I could beat Tyson, that’s what made me who I became.”
A matchup between the two could feasibly have taken place at Welterweight. Leonard was the undisputed champion at 147 pounds in his prime, whilst Mayweather also held the IBF, IBO and WBC welterweight titles during his career.
A fight between the two would have been one of the highest-level boxing matches in history, but who do you think would have won this fantasy matchup between the two legends?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
