"If you retire undefeated it means you didn't fight everyone you were supposed to"

I voted yes because I feel that is the case more times than not.

 

It's rare for a fighter to fight everyone they were supposed to.
With 99% of champion fighters you can always find someone around who :
(a) was very good (b) was willing to fight them, and (c) who they didn't fight.

When Froch retires, NOT undefeated, people will probably be able to point out one or two who he was 'supposed' to fight.
So he should STFU.

 

It depends, some fans want unrealistic fights and they also suggest that a fighter pushes himself to his maximum limitation. e.g. A natural mw cleans out his division, does the same at smw but fans would ask that he fight the best guy at lhw because he's achieved everything and there's no harm in losing to the bigger man. If the fighter declines most would say that he didn't attempt to be great nor did he fight the guys that he was supposed to.

 

if a guy fights until he is old and slowing down and he is undefeated alot of fans expect you to continue fighting on until you lose thus "passing the torch"

i see points to both sides but regardless if that person has clearly lost a step or not when they decide to retire WHOEVER was next in line to face them is suddenly touted as the boogey man that scared said fighter into retirement

 

Good point...

Even with most defeated fighters you can throw around a few names that were never fought.

 

fight enough top level fighters you are going to lose mayweather hasn't even got 50 fights

 

Yep^

 

Who decides who you was supposed to fight? It doesn't make any sense

 

The champs who retired undefeated is a short list and not mostly of the very greatest names.

Joe Calzaghe: who fought Bhop and Jones when they were old men.
Ricardo Lopez: who never fought Mark Johnson.
Rocky Marciano: technically fought everyone but was just in a lousy period when all the best heavyweights were old men from the previous generation Joe Louis, Archie Moore, and Jersey Joe Walcott, etc.
Sven Ottke: didn't fight Joe Calzaghe.
Edwin Valero: died just as he was getting started.

Plus, none of these fellows even has 50 fights to his credit. If you fight long enough you slow down or have an off night. If you fight enough people one of them will have your number. Sure, you could point out that Ray Robinson fought everyone in multiple weight classes except for Charlie Burley, but he still got the other top forty challengers didn't he? He fought 200 guys lost 20, fought from welterweight to light-heavyweight, retired in his mid 40s, and that's a pretty great record, all things considered. But when people think about Ray Robinson they don't dwell on the fights he lost. The emphasis is on the 180 fights he won, the titanic accomplishments, and the risks he took. You can look at Roberto Duran and say "Gee, he's got a lot of losses on his record." Or you can say "Of course, he's got losses. He was a middle aged lightweight fighting in the middle and super middleweight divisions and he still managed to snatch a title off Iran Barkley who would go on to be a light heavyweight champion."

 

You should have included the option "It Depends". Some fighters duck, others don't.

Floyd and Calzaghe are undefeated because they didn't fight all the top fighters.

Marciano just fought in a division that doesn't normally offer much quality opposition. He fought the best available, but there weren't many great fighters and he managed to retire undefeated.

 

Who would have beaten Calzaghe?, by the time JC reached his best in the early 2000's he tried to get the fights but couldn't, Hopkins jumped from 160 to 175!!, Jones moved up to 175 then HW. Everyone will keep bringing up he didnt want a fight with Jones and post the comment he made in the 90's. He would have been undefeated regardless of who he fought when he could have (in the 2000's).

Floyd - forget 154 because he cant even make the weight limit, 147, didnt fight Cotto around 06-08, would have edged him out, Margarito around the same time, he would have edged him out. Only 2 fighters he didnt fight that could have beaten him were Pac and Williams, williams would have beaten him in my opinion

 

Had Floyd fought the best available guys at welter from 07-10, ( Williams, Pac, Cotto, Margarito, Mosley) he'd be incredibly shopworn. No way he gets through them all undefeated.

 

Yes I can't think of one fighter who has retired undefeated and not ducked some one or another and if such a feat was possible SRR and SRL would have accomplished it

 

Yes .

undefeated dont mean sh#t .