When I say "one year prime", I mean fighters whose fans insist that said fighters prime existed in a VERY short time frame. Is this really just excuse making? Is it legitimate to say a fighter was prime for potentially only ONE fight? Where do you draw the line with how short a "prime" can be? To me it seems people are confusing a peak performance with prime. If a fighter has a bad performance, it doesn't mean he was suddenly "out of his prime", every fighter has bad showings. What do you think, ESB?
I really dont think much of one or two year prime guys. It usually means they were just matched carefully, there was no good compitition around for a minute, or they have no discipline to keep working. Hamed, Tyson...ect.
Tyson was the most obvious one in terms of fans saying "oh, but he wasnt in his prime". At least Hamed had the good grace to retire when he wasnt able to dediacted himself anymore. Tyson got beaten 6 times in his career and his fans have an excuse for every one of them. Even the ones that happened when he was still young!
Normally I agree with you, but there are special cases, like with Fernando Vargas, imo. Vargas was a much better fighter against Marquez, Winky, and Ike, then he was when he won the title off of Campas. He was the best he had ever been in the year that he fought Winky, Ike, Thompson and Trinidad (this is for real, he literally fought all these guys in a one year span) However, almost immediatly after beating Ike (with only ross in between) he fought Trinidad. There is no way I can look at Vargas's form pre tito, and the one after tito outside of 1 fight (hoya, which was a case of not being as good as he once was but being good once as he ever was while being on steroids) No way can someone objectively say that Tito didnt end Vargas's prime that night, imo. That was a brutal, brutal fight.... vargas hadnt been hurt or down in any fight of his life before Trinidad amature (100+ fights) or pro, then was buzzed, hurt, or dropped in almost every fight afterwards, outside of maybe the Vanderpool and Joval fights (because Joval is one of the lightest punchers Ive ever seen) Just imo
is it not more likely that they simply had one or two great fights in them that simply gets mistaken for prime...like a recen example would be ishida...ko's kirkland in 1 but then gets shut out by williams...does that mean he simply had a short prime or that he just wasn't elite in the 1st place?
Hameds prime was when he was facing more obviously flawed opposition. The top top fighters like Barerra would not be troubled by his style. Morales as well, but it would of been much more competitive and much more entertaining than the barrera fight
In some cases fighters prime can be ended by brutal fights, pushed a long to fast ect. But sometimes i believe its when people are one trick ponys and get an oppenent thats good enough to capitalize on there flaws an single dimensions and the said opponent has a good enough team to study the tape and break down the footage an create a gameplan to expose. An soon as a fighter has a said blueprintits all over from there
It just depends on the fighter. Some guys had short primes due to styles, punishment, lifestyle, psychological effects of losing, whatever. Meldrick Taylor was never quite the same after moving to 147, having just taken a bad beating in the Chavez fight. I'd say his prime was 88-90. As said earlier, Fernando Vargas's prime ended when he faced Tito. He looked pretty good once after that, in the loss to De La Hoya. His prime was 98-00.
Prime.... What is prime? Maybe it's a combination of the available opponents.. The percieved quality of the opponents when the fighter gets them... Physical speed or reflexes...psychological and physical state due to out of the ring and in the ring circumstances..... Trainer... A lot of stuff. Still I think a "prime" can actually be just one year, without discrediting whether a fighter was ever even "that good"... Hamed at his best ended after the Bungu fight. As many mentioned, Vargas lost his prime after Trinidad slapped him around. Some guys lose their prime due to motivation.. Hopkins won't lose his prime til father time gets him. JT was too weak mentally to have a long prime even though physically he should have been good longer. All depends. Lennox Lewis is the greatest heavyweight of all time. Thank you.
Tyson had a prime of about 2 years lol Loss of Cus, Jail and social problems led to his quick demise Without these problems he would have had about 4 years prime and could have dominated up intill 1996 maybe.
It's a case of simply using your brain With someone like Tyson, once you could clearly see his level of training and most importantly in ring skillset had declined, it was clear he was past his peak years, and thus out of both his physical and technical prime However Taking a loss does not mean you are suddenly not in your prime, ala Wlad, Cotto, Khan who have all suffered brutal losses but (and with Khan this is a prediction) have gone on to improve as fighters afterward
Short primes happen, but as some people on here have said it gets overstated at times. You usually see it in brawlers that lack defense or guys that just took a severe beating. Example, Jeff Lacy had a short prime/peak. He took a beating from Calzaghe that you KNEW he wasn't coming back from....and he didn't. He may never have been an elite world beater, but he went from being a decent fighter to one that badly struggled against light opposition. Now, like I said, he was never destined to be elite, but had he avoided Calzaghe, maybe his career lasts longer and his prime is perceived differently. Another example of course is the aformentioned Fernando Vargas. He wasn't coming back from that epic beatdown that Tito gave him. Now, once again to clarify, I DO think it gets overstated sometimes. An example of this would be if anyone said Librado Andrade was peak from Mack to Bute I. I would disagree. I think he was certainly at his peak when he was getting waxed by Mikkel Kessler over 12 rounds and still at his peak in Bute II. However, with his style, he was also destined to go down hill rapidly when he did start going down hill.
