Can you compare and contrast Mayweather Jr and Sugar Ray Leonard?

I agree with almost everything that Joshua tongue click has said, and I can offer my opinion of the difference between Leonard's loss to Duran os opposed to Mayweather's win over Marquez. Duran was indeed a lightweight champ, and probably the best lightweight ever (maybe Armstrong is equal, but maybe not). Duran was a lightweight champ until 1978, but then he fought at 142 his first fight above lightweight, then his next 7 fights were at welterweight before fighting Leonard in 1980. Duran was very comfortable at welterweight by this time, and by 1980, at 29 years old, Duran had outgrown the lightweight division. Marquez was 36 when he fought Mayweather, and he'd never gone above lightweight before; I think he was not as naturally big as Duran; I mean, by 1983 Duran (who wasn't at all a middleweight by any means) went the distance with Marvin Hagler, and he was 32 at that time. There simply is no way that Juan Marquez could have done the same thing. Another thing about the Duran-Leonard fight in 1980 is Duran was officially 71-1 going into their 1st fight. His only loss coming back in 1972. Duran was at the top of his game, and had unbelieveable momentum going into the Leonard fight. Leonard to his credit took the fight with Duran that everyone now would tell him not to take as he was 27-0, and he'd just turned 24 years old 33 days before their first fight. Ray Leonard agreed to fight Duran when he was just 23 yrs old, and every expert predicted it to be a huge mistake, even though he'd already beaten Benitez for the welterweight title. Also, Ray lost a UD, but it was a very close fight. Two judges had Leonard losing by one point, and the 3rd judge had Leonard down by two points. Not a shut out like Mayweather-Marquez. The only fight that is close to being similar for FLoyd at that age was his fight with Corralles, who was undefeated, and FLoyd put on an amazing performance no doubt. When Floyd was at 130 and 135 he was comparable to Leonard, but not once he moved above those weights. Like I've said before, Floyd will be remembered more at welterweight for the fights he didn't fight (Margarito, Cotto, Williams) than the ones he fought. You simply cannot say that about Leonard, and that's why he's a legend, and he would be in the boxing hall of fame had he never returned after 1982 from the eye injury. Leonard didn't fight a lot of fights, but part of that's is due to missing much of his prime; He retired at 25 yrs old. I think Leonard, being from that different era, had a different mentality, and he was more of a puncher than Mayweather without question. Leonard could really put something on his punches. The only fighter Mayweather has faced that was physically as big as Leonard was Oscar de la Hoya, and he's not Sugar Ray Leonard. I can definately see a similarity between Leonard and Mayweather, but if they were to fight each other Floyd would lose because he's too small and doesn't hit hard enough to keep someone like Leonard off of him. Ray was just as fast, and his reach was better; he threw combinations, and he engaged the opponent. Floyd was as good as Ray when he was at 130. I'd say the same thing about Floyd at 130. No other fighter at 130 would beat FLoyd; not Pacquiao, not Marquez, not Morales. But FLoyd at welterweight isn't a legend or really anything close to being a legend; he's just very good in this era of the alphabet, nobody wants to lose, I'm not in my prime till I'm 29 yrs old (Pascal, Bradley, Lopez). Ray would have fought all those guys. I know this is a long answer, but I have one more thing to say that truly separates Leonard from Floyd. After Ray retired in 1982, he returned for a fight in 1984 then retired for 3 more years. He came back at 31 yrs of age in 1987 after being inactive for the most part for 5 years to fight at a weight he'd never fought (160) and fought the best middleweight in the world. Floyd came out of a 21 month retirement to fight a guy that was 2 weight classes below him. He just doesn't put it on the line like Leonard.