Best ever old man performances?

[The Old LefHook]

Langford knocking Tiger Flowers out at forty. That was back when forty was fifty-five.

[yngwie]

Ah yes, so then it would be more along the lines of Holmes-Mercer, Foreman and his earlier opponents in his comeback, Duran-Barkley. Would Ali-Spinks 2 qualify then, since Ali was pretty much shot at that point?

Holmes vs Mercer was crazy, i mean, Mercer was kinda raw and old even at the olympics, but was a huge puncher with an iron chin and i believe it was undefeated at the point, every great has one last great night i believe.

[just the facts]

Holmes vs Mercer was pretty good

That was one of my choices along with Duran kicking Davey Moores a$$.

[Ray Corso]

Sugar Ray Robinson 150W 12L 3D in 1963 with Sugar being 42 yrs old.

vs

Ralph Dupas at the time was an impressive 98W 17L 6D at the age of 28 yrs.

Sugar Ray wins a split over a very good fighter, Ralph gave up some weight to fight his hero (10lbs) and did very well. Sugar was in very good condition for that bout and fought well all the way through it. Dupas trained by Angie Dundee
Ray

[KillaCamNZ]

Mickey Rourke.

[bwilson]

Archie Moore was an old man all through his prime.

[Anthony342]

That was one of my choices along with Duran kicking Davey Moores a$$.

Oh yeah, I watched Duran-Moore, good pick.

[soul_survivor]

Im talking the fights where a great fighter has lost all or most of his physical gifts, but manages to school or beat a good young fighter with pure ring knowledge and technique

Recent example would be Hopkins over Pascal.

That's not a good example because hopkins hadn't lost all of his physical gifts. He was and probably still is, very fit, great stamina and certainly had his quick counter speed when he fought pascal both times. Hopkins is not a typical old fighter.

Better examples would be Ali v spinks 2. By this time Ali had started slurring his speech and moving in the weird shuffle which often defines pd. Yet he managed to produce one last great training camp and one last great effort, against all the odds.

I can think of a couple older examples but no more recent ones. Fighters are physically fit and unaffected well into their 30s these days and the new generation isn't really up to their level.

[ShoulderRoll]

Orlando Salido was considered old in ring years (not in age) when he used all the veteran tricks to beat the Ukrainian golden boy Vasyl Lomachenko.

[TOBYLEE1]

I say Duran/Barkley. I thought that Duran was going to get murdered in that fight