Hailed as boxing’s all-time pound-for-pound number one, Sugar Ray Robinson is appreciated by the purists, whilst Floyd Mayweather is seen by many to have been the best fighter since the turn of the millennium. Now, undefeated four-division champion Shakur Stevenson has had his say on how a fight between the two would have played out.
The very reason behind the introduction of the ‘pound-for-pound’ ratings, Robinson famously lost just one of his first 132 professional bouts and is recognised by the masses as the greatest boxer to have ever graced the sport.
However, speaking on The Art of Ward podcast, current pound-for-pound star Stevenson stated that he does not believe a clash between Robinson and Mayweather would have even been competitive, confidently picking the modern-day great to come out on top.
“Floyd Mayweather [would have won], no question. Floyd Mayweaher, no question, not even close, nothing to even think about.
“I don’t think that it would be a competitive fight.”
Stevenson then expanded on his opinion, declaring that Mayweather’s style is simply far more ‘evolved’ and that his defensive superiority would have proven too difficult for Robinson to overcome.
“Floyd Mayweather, he had different looks. So Floyd would have his hands up [high guard], he would have his hands right here [in front of his chest] sometimes, he would have it here [Philly Shell], he had different looks. I feel like his game was way more evolved than Sugar Ray Robinson’s.
“A lot of the times, if you watch Sugar Ray Robinson, his hands was always right here [left hand low, right hand on chin]. From an offensive standpoint, Sugar Ray Robinson would be harder to deal with than Floyd Mayweather.
“But, from a defensive standpoint and who could do more, who got better boxing, IQ, skills; to me, Floyd Mayweather was way ahead of Sugar Ray Robinson.”
The debate is perhaps one of boxing’s most difficult fantasy matchups, not only because of their extraordinary talent but because they competed in vastly different eras, under different rules, training methods and levels of competition, making any direct comparison inherently speculative.
