Originally Posted by Dixon:
“Those fighters were way above the level of opponants Mayweather has faced!
Floyd's chin has never been really tested by a one punch KO artist. with great hand speed like a Tommy Hearns.
No doubt that Hearns would have landed major bombs on Floyds chin at some point.
Unlike Leonard, Floyd lacks power so Hearns wouldn't have to be wary of going in and getting badly hurt like he did with Leonard.
As an all round fighter Mayweather doesn't begin to compare to a peaktime Leonard!
I'd also have taken a peaktime Duran to have been too fast and busy for Mayweather and outpointed him.”
You make some excellent points.
Floyd is great, but you don't really know how great a fighter is until that said fighter has faced adversity.
This is why Sugar Ray Leonard is a true all-time great of boxing, because he faced adversity & came through it.
Floyd has never been in a true 'life or death' struggle in any of his contests to date, because there just isn't anyone out there.
An ageing De La Hoya gave can him some fits, but Oscar was too far past his best to really test Mayweather.
I also think the Duran of the 70s & the one who jumped up to welterweight to beat Leonard would have been Floyd's second worst nightmare, only surpassed by the Tommy Hearns that slaughtered Pipino Cuevas.
Tommy Hearns was almost unqiue in that he could put you to sleep with one shot, but when his power didn't work, he could outbox the very best boxers, like he did with Leonard, Wilfredo Benitez & Virgil Hill late in his career at light heavyweight.
Nobody could outbox Tommy Hearns & the only guys that beat him were guys that had good chins & stamina & were able to put him under pressure; I don't think Mayweather would have had the power to worry Hearns & he certainly was too small to outbox Tommy too.