FORMER Olympic gold medallist (Montreal 1976) and then unbeaten professional welterweight Sugar Ray Leonard stopped compatriot Floyd Mayweather Snr in the 10th and last round to register his 14th successive professional win on September 9, 1978 at Providence, Rhode Island’s Civic Center.
Leonard started cautiously before putting an impressive range of punches together. 24-year-old Mayweather was down twice in the eighth round before a left hook to the chin finished the fight in the 10th.
“I feel I could have done better with two hands,” Mayweather said after the fight. “My right is my best hand. I tried to punch with it after the first but it was paining too bad.”
“After I hit him with all those overhand rights, he was through,” said 22-year-old Leonard, adding the fight should have been stopped in the sixth.
The fight was televised live by ABC on Wide World of Sports in the US.
