In your opinion: How can a top fighter come back from a loss in today’s Boxing environment?

[-Kev-]

Fighters of the past had losses in their prime, but came back from losses and were still top fighters even with those losses.

Today it seems like that is something that is a lot more difficult to overcome for a top fighter. Especially top 10 P4P fighters and top 5 best fighters of a weight class.

If a top fighter goes on a string of wins over other top 10 fighters, fights 10-15 of them, but losses to 1 or 2 of them, he is “exposed” and that loss proves that he actually was never that good to begin with. And those losses are now also evidence that he would lose to other top 10 fighters.

So, how can a fighter overcome losses today?

How many “I told you Joe Louis was always an overrated bum” threads would be created after losing to Max Schmeling, a guy with 7 losses?

How would prime, undefeated Ali’s loss to Joe Frazier be treated today? Would his critics pan him and say he was exposed and overrated?

What kind of response would a prime, undefeated Duran’s loss to Esteban De Jesus get from today’s boxing fans?

What about a prime George Foreman getting hurt, dropped and losing to Jimmy Young?

Would Tyson’s loss to Douglas prompt today’s fans to say that Mike Tyson losses to any good heavyweight in history?

Lastly, how badly would Pacquiao be ridiculed by today’s 2022 fans, if he were to lose to Torrecampo and Sansurat?

Some of the top fighters of today, like Lomachenko, Joshua, Canelo, Wilder, have losses and these losses are used by their critics as a way to prove their criticism was warranted.

[PRINCEKOOL]

Just ignore people and carry on. Avoid social media, no idea why boxers or top athletes obsess over social media.

People change up real quick, a loss is only made out to be a big deal because? Fighters give these critics too much credit.

Just ignore them and carry on. Derek Chisora is a great example of this.

Honestly, if Alvarez is to win his rematch with Bivol? People will change up their behaviors really quick.

You only have to look at people on this forum, they change up real quick from fight to fight. 90% of Fury's hardcore fans online, will be gone if he ever lost 'But then they would come back again if he was to win'.

These people should not have such a strangle hold and influence on fighters.

The critics will always be watching.

This is very generic advice, but it is how to deal with the situation.

[Dakuwaqa]

It’s bollocks

You can go from the greatest thing since seedless grapes to being a overrated bum with one mediocre performance.

Two defeats back to back and you’re camping out in the wilderness, catching your own fish for dinner and wiping your arse with leaves

[JakeTheBoxer]

Are we talking about the fighters or divas only?

[Earl-Hickey]

They could start by not listening to our opinions.

Obviously a loss is a setback, and the nature of the loss is important, if its competitive vs a top level opponent then that's one thing, if its a schooling obviously that's gonna be harder to come back from.

One of my favourite fighters Carl Froch came back from losses really well, rather than him losing confidence losses seemed to just piss him off and make him come back stronger.

But my general overall advice to boxers in pretty much any situation is don't pay too much attention to the fans lol, most times we do not have the fighters interests at heart that's just a fact.

[Cypocryphy]

Fighters of the past had losses in their prime, but came back from losses and were still top fighters even with those losses.

Today it seems like that is something that is a lot more difficult to overcome for a top fighter. Especially top 10 P4P fighters and top 5 best fighters of a weight class.

If a top fighter goes on a string of wins over other top 10 fighters, fights 10-15 of them, but losses to 1 or 2 of them, he is “exposed” and that loss proves that he actually was never that good to begin with. And those losses are now also evidence that he would lose to other top 10 fighters.

So, how can a fighter overcome losses today?

How many “I told you Joe Louis was always an overrated bum” threads would be created after losing to Max Schmeling, a guy with 7 losses?

How would prime, undefeated Ali’s loss to Joe Frazier be treated today? Would his critics pan him and say he was exposed and overrated?

What kind of response would a prime, undefeated Duran’s loss to Esteban De Jesus get from today’s boxing fans?

What about a prime George Foreman getting hurt, dropped and losing to Jimmy Young?

Would Tyson’s loss to Douglas prompt today’s fans to say that Mike Tyson losses to any good heavyweight in history?

Lastly, how badly would Pacquiao be ridiculed by today’s 2022 fans, if he were to lose to Torrecampo and Sansurat?

Some of the top fighters of today, like Lomachenko, Joshua, Canelo, Wilder, have losses and these losses are used by their critics as a way to prove their criticism was warranted.

I have one word to explain it: Tribalism. Either racial tribalism or nationalistic tribalism.

People have agendas now, a lot of the time, and the biggest agenda is to promote tribalism. The problem is that with some of these contemporary fighters you mentioned have extremist fans and extremist haters. But also with Lomachenko, Joshua, Canelo and Wilder, you have people hating on them for different reasons, so each case has to be judged individually.

Anthony Joshua's stock went down significantly because of his loss to Andy Ruiz, which was like a Tyson loss to Buster Douglas. Joshua lost to a guy he should have never lost to is how many view that fight, and that's where the criticism began of Joshua. Before then he could do no wrong. Then, after taking a loss to Usyk, most people view him accurately, which is that he's very good but not the best. There are some who **** on him for other reasons, such as the Wilder fans who are critical of anyone who had previously attacked Wilder's abilities. It is American fans vs English fans most of the time.

Wilder has a lot of fans that are fanatical, conspiratorial lunatics, believing that he didn't lose to Fury but was cheated, that Fury had loaded gloves (from egg weights to horseshoes), that he was drugged, that his whole team was in on the conspiracy, etc. etc. You couple that with how much **** Wilder had talked, it makes sense. There was also a racial narrative going on with Wilder fanaticals, and that caused greater division. Wilder because a faux-civil rights figure for many of these fans, and there was push back on that aspect too. So these qualities have made it hard for Wilder to come back on top.

Similar issues can be said about Lomachenko, with narratives such as "complexion for the protection" are pushed, unjustly so too. You had people upset because Arum said he hadn't seen such good footwork since Ali. You had all of these people pushing a racial narrative again on a guy that's not even American, who he himself never compared himself to Ali. Of course, when Arum compares Keyshawn Davis to Sugar Ray Leonard, you don't get any pushback. So we can see that there are certain groups that think of everything in some tribal manner, and this is why it's difficult for some to make a comeback. And it should matter how a fighter takes a loss because Loma lost by split decision to Salido, who everyone thought should have been disqualified and whom the judges counted many of the below-the-belt blows in order to validate his win over Loma. You then have the Lopez fight, which even though he lost, he outclassed Lopez, winning the fight if not the match.

Canelo is a mixed bag, but the reasons some hate on him goes back to that tribalistic agenda so popular these days. It goes both ways too because his biggest fans are tribalistic, certain demographics, which are primarily found in America. You don't see so many fanaticals in Mexico, so it points to a cultural issue in America. The other reason people are critical of Canelo is due to the industry doing what it can to give Canelo wins when he doesn't deserve them. Many believe, including myself, that it hurts the sport of boxing when you continually give a guy a W because he brings in more money. Many have been waiting for Canelo to lose because they feel it's a win against corruption.

[Marchegiano]

By winning

[REDEEMER]

By winning

A.J won soundly in his rematch in his first attempt at redemption . He was never bombarded easily and destroyed like many past time greats but people still count that as some fight that indefinitely counts against him it then not others if we use that logic .

Let’s be real here even if Wilder won a title belt without beating Fury then that’s actually plausible to hold against him looking at his resume there a huge difference between him and A.J. . If Foreman was fighting today they would say he’s worse then Joyce who many called a bum before he kept winning .


It’s simply a double standard in todays era as it is with any current era ,when a fighter loses he’s overated ,look at Canelo just the latest fight . It’s absurd . I’m not sure posters know there can be only one winner in a boxing match and seem to think a loss exposes someone ?

[GhostofDempsey]

Pacquiao came back from some devastating losses in 2012. Took a little time off, recouped, and rebuilt his career. After the loss to Mayweather, he did it again. Rebuilt his career, got some quality wins over Bradley and Vargas. Gets robbed against Horn, and comes back even stronger with solid wins over Matthysse, Broner and Thurman. Barrera and Morales came back strong from losses, as did Marquez, Jacobs, and Khan. You have to be willing to take on big challenges. Show some heart and grit, and it helps if you are a fan-friendly fighter. If Loma comes back after the Ukraine war, he'll be right back in the top 5 because he is highly skilled and entertaining to watch.

Some fighters can't come back from losses. They are in fact exposed, Wilder was a classic example. Quillin was full of hype and potential until getting wiped out in one round by Jacobs. Teofimo has a fragile ego and is still struggling with that loss, he may never be the same again.

[-Kev-]

Are we talking about the fighters or divas only?

You tell me. Historians considered Sugar Ray Robinson as a diva. As well as the greatest of all time.

So yeah, sure, both divas and fighters.