Is there any fighter that was beat 'IN' his prime?

[shogunn]

ali and frazier, during their wars. Maybe foreman at the jungle.

[Benny Leonard]

Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling #1.

Slapped around and had to QUIT. All after he just brutally ko'd his last 6 opponents which were some of his best wins too(Baer, Primo etc.)

It depends on how you want to look at "Prime."

He was better after that defeat to Schmeling because he didn't train hard for that fight. After that fight, every fight mattered and he was serious. Taking Max lightly was the last thing you want to do. After Joe's defeat, he never took a fighter lightly again. Many things changed. Plus, he wasn't even Champion yet. What happened once he became Champion?

[strugler]

No one lose on their prime...................................PAC and juan ma arent prime anymore..................................Cotto and JMM too..................

[TheGreatA]

Marco Antonio Barrera vs Pacquiao I
Alexis Arguello vs Vilomar Fernandez I
Erik Morales vs Marco Antonio Barrera I & II
Tommy Loughran vs Jack Sharkey I
George Foreman vs Muhammad Ali
Evander Holyfield vs Rid**** Bowe I & II
Floyd Patterson vs Ingemar Johansson I & II
Mike McCallum vs Sumbu Kalambay I
Michael Nunn vs Toney
Dwight Qawi vs Michael Spinks
Sandy Saddler vs Willie Pep II
Antonio Cervantes vs Wilfred Benitez
Ken Buchanan vs Roberto Duran
Barney Ross vs Henry Armstrong

[TheGreatA]

Ali wasn't as good after the 3 year exile.

Foreman was in his prime but if you want to get down to it, he changed after he defeated Frazier. He stopped fighting behind the jab and it ended up costing him.


It really depends on how we want to define Prime. If it is at your absolute best....then it is going to be a sharper definition. If use Prime in a point system, like 1-100 and 100 being the Absolute Peak...with 90-100 being Prime...then we have something else. Take Foreman for example: 100 would be up to Frazier and from there he slipped since he fell in love with his power and stopped fighting behind his jab. His jab went on the decline with punch-out-put. It was just bombs away.

Here is an example with Foreman:





Right After Frazier:

Foreman always fought wild against lesser opposition. He fought Norton the same way he fought Frazier and that was the fight he had before facing Ali.

[Mersey]

I think most people have misread the thread lol

Its a thread about people making excuses when a fighter loses in their prime.

[J.R]

Wladimir Klitschko losing to David Haye.......

[Benny Leonard]

I think most people have misread the thread lol

Its a thread about people making excuses when a fighter loses in their prime.

Yes, I understood what TS was saying...but I would like to move forward a bit to ask everybody to define what "Prime" is. Is it a broad definition or are we moving closer to "absolute best?"


Clear definition:

Prime: the time of maturity when power and vigor are greatest; being at the best stage of development

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3A+prime&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10

[Ravishing]

Sugar Ray Leonard was in his prime years when he lost to Duran.

Oscar lost in his prime to Tito

I wanna believe Lennox was still in his prime when McCall KO'd him.

Douglas over Tyson

Yea, it's not an oddity for a fighter in his prime to lose.

[Left2body]

apparently not
mike tyson did'nt train for that douglas fight
naseem hamed did'nt train for the barrera fight
bernard hopkins was green against jones/bernard hopkins was past his prime against taylor/calzaghe
ricky hatton was'nt fighting at his weight class against mayweather/ricky hatton was past prime against pacquiao
trinidad was past prime when he lost to hopkins
ezzard charles was on crack that is why marciano was able to beat him

Well Mike Tyson really had well documented problems. Trinidad was 2 weightclasses north of his best weight.

But to answer your question Duran beat a Prime SRL. Mosley beat a prime DLH.