Boxing

Eddie Hearn Thinks Current World Champion As Good As Floyd Mayweather And Sugar Ray Leonard

Eddie Hearn names current world champion who is as good as Floyd Mayweather and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Apratim Banerjee|
IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Floyd Mayweather and Sugar Ray Leonard are two of the greatest boxers of all time. Mayweather is one of the biggest draws that the sport has ever had, retiring with an unblemished record of 50-0-0.

Mayweather was a defensive great and mastered the art of hitting and not getting hit. Very few fighters have been successful at replicating that style at a world championship level.

One fighter who is currently doing so is WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson. Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn has now claimed that Stevenson is just as good as Mayweather and other greats like Sugar Ray Leonard, Pernell Whitaker, and others. He said in a recent press conference:

The man to my left, if he was from the UK, he would be what we call a national treasure. He would be a superstar. And he should be not just a superstar of boxing, but a superstar of American sport. He’s 27 years of age. He’s a three-division world champion. And he's never broken [a] sweat.

Hearn then went on to compare Stevenson with the greatest boxers of all time, saying:

Eric Gomez said it right about comparing him to Floyd Mayweather. I also put him with the likes of ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, Pernell Whitaker, all of the greats. This is how good this man is. But for greatness, you need a great opponent. And that is William Zepeda. And this is the fight where Shakur Stevenson will show everybody how great and special he is. I think you’re talking about pound-for-pound number one greatness from this man.

Shakur Stevenson is often criticized for his style of fighting. Instead of getting involved in a slugfest, Stevenson keeps things technical, which has served him well so far. He currently boasts a record of 23-0-0 with 11 knockouts.

Stevenson defeated Josh Padley via ninth round TKO in his last outing in February, and faces William Zepeda next on July 12.

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Apratim Banerjee
APRATIM BANERJEE

Apratim is a Boxing and Soccer reporter for On SI. He has been in the industry for five years, having also worked for The Sporting News, Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, and more. After coming from an engineering background, he started pursuing a career in sports media. Apratim also holds an MSc. Sport Marketing degree from Loughborough University London and is a keen practitioner of social media and digital marketing. In his spare time, Apratim likes to play an array of sports and practice calisthenics. He is also an avid enthusiast of improving his martial arts skills.