Best career comebacks

[The Surgeon]

Im talking about guys who retired and came back to do great things, guys who have gone threw a real slump and turned it around, things like that.

I'l name a few myself

Big George Foreman. The guy was the baddest dude in the game pre Ali. After that not so much. He was one good shot away from defeat vs Ron Lyle and even tho he got some KO wins in there it wasnt long before non puncher Jimmy Young was schooling him and even dropping him on his way to a claer points win. Foreman retired only to return a staggering 10 Years later! George returned a seemingly new man, Fat, Bald and a jolly god fearing guy who could laugh at himself and always wore a smile. 20 fights into his comeback George took Gerry Cooney apart in two rounds. He ment buisness by this point. He took young lion and warrior champion Evander Holyfield the full distance and was dangerous enough to keep Big Bomber Tommy Morrison in reverse mode all night. Then in 1994 at two months shy of 46 and at 250 lbs he faced Undefeated heavyweight champion Michael Moorer. Foreman took a beating until in the tenth round he smashed a slow but fantastically timed and heavy right cross against MM's jaw. Game Over. AND NEW..... Foreman had become the oldest heavyweight champion of all time with the spectacular KO. After that he fought 4 more times (all going the distance) before retiring after losing to Shannon Briggs in 97.


Eder Jofre. This magnificent little fighter unified the titles in the Bantamweight division when he stopped Britain's Johnny Caldwell in 10. The Brazilian would go on to defend it 5 times over the next 3 and a half years. Jofre's reign ended when he went to Japan to take on another great fighter and home hero Fighting Harada. Jofre dehydrated from weight making dropped a points decision, his first loss in 51 fights. Harada would win the return a yaer later, again in Japan. Jofre struggling to make Bantamweight anymore and gutted by the Harda losses retired aged 30. After more than 3 years out he returned and compiled an amazing comeback record of 25 fights - 25 wins! 13 by way of ko too. In 73, just short of his 37th birthday he used all of his experiance and skill along with power to outbox the outstanding 29 year old Spaniard Jose Legra to win the WBC title. He defended against another Hall Of Fame entrant in Mexico's brilliant Vincente Saldivar, knocking him out in the fourth with a perfect left hook. Eder was stripped of his title in 74 and remained inactive but 2 years later returned to the ring and racked up another 6 wins before retiring for good at 40 years old with an outstanding 72-2-4 (50) ledger

Theres been plenty more great comebacks of all sorts but i'l leave it at that for now and see what u guys come up with

[The Surgeon]

Mike Tyson. Tyson ripped through the mediocre heavys of the 80's, becoming champion at a record 20 years old. He unified the belts and dominated the division and indeed the sport before he ran into one Buster Douglas in Tokyo. Making his 10th defence Tyson was a heavy betting favourite of the 40/1 underdog but Buster fought an inspired fight and stopped the young champ in the 10th. Tyson was thought to be on the slide even before Douglas and subsequent bouts vs Razor Ruddock did little to squash this belief. Tyson was due to face new champ Holyfield but was sent to prison for 6 years, serving 3. After his release Tyson took only two tune ups vs lesser opposition before he made his first real assault on the division. Taking on Frank Bruno for the WBC strap. Tyson destroyed Bruno in 3 onesided rounds. He then took WBA king Bruce Seldon's belt from him in less than a round. Tyson had after little over a year out of prison and 4 years out of the ring taken two world champions apart in a total of 4 rounds. He then met Evander Holyfield and was stopped. Tyson's life and career seemed unstable from then on. He Bit Evander's ear off in the return match and was DQ'd. He won spectacularly at times, was stopped by apparent no hoper's and sometimes his fight just degenerated into farce. But Mike was always even right to the end boxing's biggest star and his early comeback while it may have flattered was still very impressive all things considered

Sugar Ray Robinson. Phase one of SRR's career was near impeccable - greatest Welterweight of all time, greatest middleweight since Harry Greb, 3 title reigns and only 3 losses in 135 fights. That 3rd defeat came at the hands of Joey Maxim when Ray challenged for the Light heavyweight title in the searing heat. Robinson, giving away 15lbs, was ahead on the cards when he collapsed through the heat at the end of the 14th round. Things seemed at 31 to be over for the great man. Robinson retired and remained so for 2 and a half years before returning. It didnt start well, he lost 9 out of 10 rounds against Tiger Jones. Only Squeaked a Split decision over journeyman Johnny Lombardo who he outweighed by 9lbs. He was also dropped by another journeyman before earning another SD. At 34 it seemed he just didnt have it anymore. But in his next fight he faced Carl Bobo Olson for the middleweight title, he KO'd Olson in two short rounds to win the MW crown a third time. In a return Olson could only manage to survive a further 2 rounds. He lost it to Gene Fullmer in 57 but four months later obliterated Fullmer with perhaps the greatest left hook ever thrown to regain the title. Carmen Basillio took Rays belt in a brutal war in 57 only to lose it back to Ray in the return, another rough one. After losing the belt again Sugar at nearly 40 years old had one more great performance left. He faced Fullmer in 1960 and recieved a draw but the general feel was that Robinson had done enough to win. Ray didnt really do much after that but his comeback probably enhanced his already stellar career

[TBear]

Honorable mention to Big George and Sugar Ray Leonard.

[D-MiZe]

No one tops Foreman.

[The Surgeon]

Vitali Klitchko. The big man from the Ukraine took the WBO trinket from Britain's Herbie Hide in a mere two rounds in 1999. Klitchko was 27-0 with a stunning 27 KO wins under his belt, having only been beyond the 5th round twice when he ran into America's Chris Byrd. Vitali ahead on the cards pulled out with a damaged shoulder losing his title and causing critics to doubt his heart. In 2003 after 5 stoppage wins Vitali was matched at short notice with World Champion Lennox Lewis. While being stopped on cuts for a TKO loss, he gave Lewis a tough fight and to an extent redeemed himself for quiting against Byrd. In 04 he one the vacant WBC title against his brothers conquer'r Corrie Saunders. After only one easy defence against the UK's Danny Williams Klitchko hung up the gloves. Having been injured repeatedly in training he felt his time was over. Four years later though he would return and challege young Puncher Samuel Peter for his old belt with NO tune ups. Klitchko won every second before stopping Peter. He has since defended a further 7 times barely losing a round and at 40 years old holds the highest KO % in heavyweight championship history


Roberto Duran. He wasnt one for retiring but 1982 it looked like a good idea. Duran was a dominant lightweight champion and made 12 defences of his crown before jumping up to welterweight where he would take Sugar Ray Leonard's title from him in Montreal. and have a brilliant 2 year run. Then however came the infamous "No Mas" defeat in the return with SRL. Duran's hard case image was shattered and his career lay in ruins. A little over a year later he looked off losing tamely on points for the WBC junior Middleweight belt to Puerto Rico's young champion Wilfredo Benitez. In his next bout having a 6lb weight advantage he was handily outboxed by Britains welterweight Kirkland Laing. At 31 after 77 fighyts it was clear Duran was not the same force. But Roberto had other ideas and went on to outclass Pipino Cuevas, KO'ing him in 4. He followed that with a onesided win over Undefeated Davey Moore for the WBA light middleweight belt. He then made a challenge for a rampant Marvin Hagler's middleweight title, losing only a narrow points decision. But in his losing effort he confirmed his new reputation as a defensive master and great counter puncher. There was a serious blip though when Tommy Hearns sparked him in 2 for the only clean ko of his career and first at that point. Then in 89 Duran in perhaps his last great showing out boxed and out fought big favourite Iran Barkley at middle for the WBC strap in his 92nd fight. Duiran fought on until a car crash forced his retirement aged 50

[Barn]

SRL was a pretty good comeback. Don't forget Ali.

[New England]

vinny paz !

[The Surgeon]

vinny paz !

Lol a broken neck comeback was pretty impressive yeah!

[The Surgeon]

SRL was a pretty good comeback. Don't forget Ali.

Was gonna do them next actually!

[The Surgeon]

Willy Pep coming back after a plane crash inspires