why yes, fighters should all be like ray robinson! he sure retired at the right time, didn't he? it only took a legend and massive puncher like joey archer to get him to retire.
and roberto duran, so did he. He didn't fight on for an extra years or so, right?
muhammad ali, he sure looked great late in his career, mainly in his last 4 fights, against the experienced and seasoned leon spinks, and against larry holmes and trevor berbick.
fighters who fight on too long damage their legacy.
they should be like greats such as alexis arguello, ray leonard, henry armstrong, joe louis, thomas hearns, julio cesar chavez, ezzard charles, and archie moore!
they never damaged their legacies, because they retired at the right time!
They should be like Marvin Hagler, Jack Dempsey, Lennox Lewis and Rocky Marciano.
You can add Gene Tunney to that list. Even Mike Spinks, who cashed out against Tyson but didn't squeeze every last penny he could by exploitng his name value.
alot of people seem to think that an unbeaten record is a better attribute than having fought the best fighters in your era. Not me.
I agree though, alot of greats go on too long, but maybe thats because a boxers career is relatively short and mentally they dont know when to quit (which is usually a good thing)