How Much Impact....

[jspivey]

do the losses at the end of a fighters career have on his greatness compared to ones suffered early on? Being that boxing fans and critics alike can disregard a fighter after a significant loss, what about losses suffered towards the end of a career? Are those just as credible?

[Hydro]

Not much at all.

Look at the greatest of them all.

Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran, etc...

[Mr. Ryan]

do the losses at the end of a fighters career have on his greatness compared to ones suffered early on? Being that boxing fans and critics alike can disregard a fighter after a significant loss, what about losses suffered towards the end of a career? Are those just as credible?

It depends, what really constitutes the end of a fighter's career? Are they really shot? You can't do this all by statistics, there has to be objective viewing of the situation and then an assessment can be made. When Ray Robinson was losing to guys like Paul Pender and Joey Archer, you couldn't hold that against him because he was visibly slipping. The same with guys Muhammad Ali and Duran, they simply hung around too long. But in hindsight, yeah you have to say that Duran's losses to Lampkin and Benitez should be held against him cuz like 6 years later he's beating Barkley for the Middleweight title.

Roy Jones, just months removed from winning a title belt against John Ruiz, goe out and gets blown out in 2 by Antonio Tarver. And there was no omen that this is something that was going to happen. As Tarver said, if Jones is shot then I pulled the trigger.

[Mr. Ryan]

Yeah. I guess i mean take somebody like... Shane Mosley. If he could become
undisputed champ again, would he rise on yours or somone elses' All Time...
list. Or would fans and critics still down him for losses to Forrest and Wright?
'Cause a lot of people jumped off the wagon after the Forrest fights(not me personally).

I thought he would lose to Forrest, I was big on Forrest as a stylistic danger for Mosley. I completely thought that Wright would wipe him out, and he did. Mosley has always been a fighter of great athletic ability, but little technique really. No jabs, head movement, things like that. He's a guy who works too hard to get his objective complete, cuz he was never tought the easy way to get it accomplished.

[The Fix]

It depends, what really constitutes the end of a fighter's career? Are they really shot? You can't do this all by statistics, there has to be objective viewing of the situation and then an assessment can be made. When Ray Robinson was losing to guys like Paul Pender and Joey Archer, you couldn't hold that against him because he was visibly slipping. The same with guys Muhammad Ali and Duran, they simply hung around too long. But in hindsight, yeah you have to say that Duran's losses to Lampkin and Benitez should be held against him cuz like 6 years later he's beating Barkley for the Middleweight title.

Roy Jones, just months removed from winning a title belt against John Ruiz, goe out and gets blown out in 2 by Antonio Tarver. And there was no omen that this is something that was going to happen. As Tarver said, if Jones is shot then I pulled the trigger.

it was visibly clear that jones had slipped in the first tarver fight and sc****d by with a close MD win..... he than went on to get blown out by both tarver and glen johnson.... he didnt all of a sudden look like superman against ruiz and than get KO'd by tarver...

[Kball15]

I think its a big deal.

i think part of being a great fighter is knowing when to leave.

Its a hard thing to grasp but a great fighter should always know when to hang 'em up.

[Abe Attell]

I think its a big deal.

i think part of being a great fighter is knowing when to leave.

Its a hard thing to grasp but a great fighter should always know when to hang 'em up.

Really, I don't think so..."Great" fighters rarely leave on top...even in history, great Generals usually go until there is nothing left.

Check any sport, not many "top" guys leave when they are still in their prime or even when they start to decline.

In the NFL, it only seems the Running Backs have the sense to leave on top.

[Run]

The losses are nowhere near as credible.

Nobody could say that if Holyfield fought Brock or someone else today he wouldn't get his ass torn apart all over the ring.

He's not the same Holyfield that he once was and people can't keep beating him for glory because it ran out after the 2nd Ruiz fight.



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[Hydro]

I think its a big deal.

i think part of being a great fighter is knowing when to leave.

Its a hard thing to grasp but a great fighter should always know when to hang 'em up.

Most great fighters fight on too long.

[Hydro]

I wanted to bring this up 'cause I recognize the guys Ali, Duran, Robinson, etc. But it just wild how say.... Roy Jones losses will be beside him probably forever, but Oscar De la Hoya losses seem like they don't count. Maybe it's just me.

By whom?

DLH groupies?

Well, most of them, they're just dumb.