Floyd Mayweather turns 34; Couldn't have beat Ray Leonard at 24

Semi-retired undefeated professional boxer “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather turned 34 yesterday.

The only individual to more frequently hang-up the gloves than Mayweather was legendary prizefighter “Sugar” Ray Leonard.

Combined, Leonard (36-3-1, 25 KOs) and Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) have retired more times than Lindsay Lohan has snorted blow.

Nevertheless, a welterweight bout pitting a 1981 Leonard versus a 2009 Mayweather would have been a fascinating battle of tremendous skills and contrasting styles.

Leonard, who captured a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and was the first prizefighter to earn in excess of $100 million in purses, is widely considered one of the greatest pugilists of all-time.

"Sugar Ray," the winner of five world titles in five weight divisions, managed to trump future fellow International Hall of Fame inductees Wilfred Benitez (53-8-1, 31 KOs), Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns (61-5-1, 48 KOs), Roberto "Manos de piedra" Duran (103-16, 70 KOs) and Marvelous Marvin Hagler (62-3-2, 52 KOs) before he finally hung up his gloves for good in March 1997.

Regardless of Leonard's litany of accolades and triumphs, the man named "Boxer of the Decade" for the 1980s was at his vintage best when he fought Hearns in September 1981 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada to unify the world welterweight titles in a contest scheduled for fifteen rounds.

Hearns entered the Leonard bout with an unblemished record of 32-0 with 30 knockouts

"The Hitman" somehow generated frightening punching power despite his awkwardness and tall and skinny physique.

In the promotion dubbed "The Showdown," Hearns battered Leonard and was winning on all three judges scorecards after the conclusion of the twelfth round.

Leonard's legendary trainer, Angelo Dundee, screamed at "Sugar Ray" between rounds, "You're blowing it, son! You're blowing it."

With a horrifically swollen left-eye and nearing defeat, Leonard heeded Dundee's words and stormed out of his corner with violent intentions at the start of the thirteenth round.

Leonard subsequently pounded Hearns and knocked "The Hitman" to the canvas twice in the thirteenth round alone.

Hearns barely survived the pummeling and was literally saved by the bell.

In the fourteenth, Hearns was a lamb to the slaughter as Leonard landed furious combinations that caused the referee to mercilessly halt the bruising.

Leonard continued to periodically fight for 17 years after he trounced Hearns in their initial contest and he vanquished many more fine competitors over that span of time.

Sadly, after the Hearns victory, Leonard was plagued by a serious eye injury and an addiction to cocaine and alcohol abuse.

Hence, Leonard was at his most elite that late-summer night versus Hearns in "Sin City."

Although extremely debatable and controversial, Mayweather was at his dynamic best in the ring when he virtually shutout an undersized Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KOs) in September 2009.

Mayweather, a nine-time titlist in five separate weight classes who was named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year in 1998 and 2007, failed to meet the required weight limit for his dismantling of Marquez.

Nevertheless, Mayweather's utter domination of a worthy adversary cannot be diminished.

Ultimately, Mayweather landed a surreal 59 percent of his 490 punches.

Conversely, Marquez connected on a porous 12 percent of his 583 punches.

Mayweather so thoroughly manhandled Marquez that it's difficult to claim he wasn't at his peak that autumn evening.

Still, if a 2009 version of Mayweather scrapped a 1981 edition of Leonard on ten occasions, "Sugar Ray" would have emerged victorious approximately eight times.

At his apex, Leonard was naturally bigger, stronger and quicker than Mayweather.

More importantly, Leonard was mentally and physically tougher than Mayweather ever will be.

Mayweather, one of two boxers ever in Compubox history to go an entire round without being hit, is an absolute defensive wizard.

"Pretty Boy" is such a legitimate defensive tactician that he would have consistently given Leonard epic battles.

However, Mayweather mainly would have vacated an arena against Leonard as a decided loser.

Leonard would have knocked Mayweather onto Queer Street six times and earned two more victories over "Pretty Boy" in a unanimous fashion.

Strictly because he is a defensive virtuoso, Mayweather may have slithered by Leonard twice to prevail on the scorecards.

Floyd Mayweather is a great fighter who is squandering his prime abilities in the squared circle.

Roger "Pit" Perron from Brockton is a longtime boxing trainer who now works with Mike and Rich Cappiello at their gym, Cappiello Brothers Boxing and Training.

“Fight or shut up, Floyd,” Perron said succinctly when asked about Mayweather. “C'mon.”

"Sugar" Ray Leonard is an iconic pugilist.

At 24 or 34, Floyd Mayweather does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breathe as Ray Leonard.

DISCLAIMER: Mayweather fans generally loathe Manny Pacquiao supporters and vice versa.

To be emphatically clear, "Sugar" Ray Leonard would have also emerged victorious over Pacquiao.

Nowadays, most people are too young, naive or uneducated to realize this fact and that's a shame.