Fighters who had a loss early but became unbeatable later on

azumah nelson

Klitschko obviously got knocked down a few times before his decade of dominance. He took on everyone who would fight him and only ended later on against Fury & Joshua; with few arguments there was anyone else left he couldn't beat ( and many touting him to beat both in rematches)

Great thread.... you know what, this just shows you the ATG mind set that these fighters had to overcome early adversity and go and to be great. So then I find myself asking why do people pronounce death on a fighter/prospect who has lost? Fans immediately say that the fighter has been "exposed". I don't think we as fans should write fighters off so quickly just because of a loss especially if it's early on. I respect recent fighters like Loma and Badou Jack who have also treated early losses as a learning curve and come back to do great things. Now if the fans would just give fighter like Lublin amongst others (very young and inexperienced) a chance to learn from their losses, it would be great. Another thing that has influenced this mind set of being undefeated is Floyd Mayweathers career, as people are trying to hold fighters to that criteria and even fighters themselves are trying to go throughout their careers undefeated.

Off the top of my head Hopkins , Donaire , Salido all lost their first fight and had good to great runs

Wlad was really, really dominant at his peak - after 3 bad losses.

Sergio Martinez also comes to mind. Yeah but no shame losing to Margarito. If you take away his other losses (Paul Williams who many felt was a robbery and Cotto, Martinez knee was done) that was his only legitimate L in his record. Even the draw against Cintron was a robbery. People said he should've lost against Murray but i think so. I always think of Hopkins when it come to this question.

Sergio Martinez also comes to mind.

How about Jose Luis Castillo, he was TKO'd 4 times before beating Stevie Johnson, Cesar Bazan, Floyd Mayweahter*, Juan Lazcano, Joel Casamayor, Julio Diaz and eventually Diego Corrales. *you know

Hagler and Ken Norton were the first that came to mind

Nonito Donaire, Adonis Stevenson.

Juan Manuel Marquez I believe lost his first or one of his first then went on to become one of the best combination punchers in modern history. Rafael Marquez got knocked out couple times early in his career.

Juan Manuel Marquez I believe lost his first or one of his first then went on to become one of the best combination punchers in modern history.

Who are some fighters that you can think of that had a loss or two early but became more dominant for the remainder of their careers? Only fighters that I can think of that remained unbeaten for the rest of their careers after a few loss would be Salvador Sanchez and Carlos Monzon. Lomachenko could very well be that fighter as well, a dominating force after learning from a loss. People like to sh#t on him for losing to a guy lik Salido in his second pro fight but keep forgetting about other ATGs who also lost very early on. Hopkins lost first pro fight

Johnny Nelson had like 10 early losses.

Badou Jack, Lomachenko