GTFO, you've overstayed your welcome! (Most Ill-Advised Comeback Taking Place in the Next 2 Months?)

...and the nominees are...

• Giovani "The Aztec Warrior" Segura, 36 years old, returning May 26th @ bantamweight. Last fought June 18th, 2016...at featherweight. Prime weight(s): flyweight/super fly. Opponent: moderately dangerous Mexican journeyman Efrain "Matador" Pérez, a tough & heavy-handed natural bantam. Supplemental evidence: Segura is from a weight range in which fighting ability conventionally fizzles by one's early to mid thirties, with rare exceptions. He also fought his entire career with a give & take style that generally lends itself to a short-burning fuse of a prime and eating counter punches galore while breaking opponents down, a`la Margarito, LSC, and JSK. If, as the naturally much smaller man, he can't hurt Pérez - which the Matador's record suggests is difficult to do - he could be in trouble in a war of attrition with a larger man that can punch.

• Alonzo "Big Zo" Butler, 38 years old, returning May 26th @ heavyweight. Last fought: December of 2016, in a draw with then-unbeaten Fred Latham. Prime weight(s): heavyweight. Opponent: aging Midwestern journeyman Matthew "The Gator" Greer, currently on an 0-10 skid, with four losses by stoppage including most recently to Lucas Browne last June. Supplemental evidence: Butler was an early-aughts prospect with a sturdy frame at 6'3" and decent power, gone bust when he took minor steps up in class and was exposed as lacking in fundamentals losing decisions to Friday Ahunanya in 2008 & Travis Walker in 2011. Greer's claim to fame is momentarily hurting the famously iron-chinned blown-up middleweight and longtime HW sometimes contender and sideshow-attraction James "Lights Out" Toney in their fight all the way back in 2009, before Toney kayoed him. Par for Butler is 4 rounds - both due to most of his opponents stopping the Gator within that timeframe, and because that is how long this bout is scheduled to last. Should he dispatch Greer as expected, Butler is due in the ring a month later on June 30th against TBA. I can't say I see the point...and even the bottom of the barrel Greer is still dangerous enough that he could land a lucky haymaker on the anything but slick Butler to embarrass him & ruin the plans for the June party.

• Sergey "The Ghost" Khomitsky, 43 years old, returning May 30th @ super middleweight. Last fought this February, dropping a wide UD to Dmitrii Chudinov in an 8-rounder in Nürnberg. Prime weight(s): middleweight, was making the limit pretty consistently for the first decade of his career, and until as recently as January 2016 and didn't start campaigning at super middle until his late thirties. Opponent: unbeaten 26 year old yet green Russian prospect Vladimir Shishkin, of whom I've never heard, so probably not a stud in the amateurs unless he was some unsung gem. Supplemental evidence: the Ghost was springing upsets left & right just a few years ago, running John Ryder close in 2016 and holding Stas Kashtanov to a MD in a defeat last July, but losing to Chudinov is a red flag considering the Night Wolf had lost to 46 year old (then still "only" 45 years old, to be fair) Lolenga Mock just six weeks earlier. Khomitsky has always been able to surprise younger opponents with his strength & hustle, but in facing someone young enough (in some jurisdictions) to legally be his son, he might be reduced to just his intangibles and outmatched physically. The mind could well still be willing, but...

• Badi "The Prince" Ajamu, 46 years old, returning June 1st @ cruiserweight. Last fought in March, on the second leg of a comeback tour begun in August of last year, having previously spent 9 years on the shelf after his light heavyweight swansong against DeAndrey Abron. Prime weight(s): light heavyweight, fought with a perfect attendance record in the division from his 2001 debut until 2009. Opponent: this actually is a rematch of his August 2017 bout with 39 year old Puerto Rican trial horse Édgar Pérez Villanueva. Supplemental evidence: in their last encounter, Ajamu - who is best remembered for getting schooled by Roy Jones in 2006 to snap the fading great's three-loss skid - defeated Pérez by UD in an 8-rounder. Pérez Villanueva has since dropped a decision to Allan Green (another ill-advised comeback, five years removed from being dominated in an upset loss to Blake Caparello) in January and retired on his stool against 8-0 (7) French-Brooklynite southpaw Frederic Julan. So probably another distance affair, probably wide on the cards for Ajamu...but where is he going with this?

• Derrick "Take It To Da Bank" Webster, 35 years old (will celebrate his 36th birthday a week after the fight), returning June 1st @ super middleweight headlining the same card with Ajamu vs. Pérez II in Atlantic City. Last fought in March, again sharing a bill with Ajamu, doing the same last August for Ajamu's initial comeback. Prime weight(s): super middleweight. Opponent: like Ajamu's choice, a light-hitting but hard to stop Mexican, 34 year old Oscar Riojas. Supplemental evidence: Webster squeaked by Darnell Boone via split decision in 2013, and later blitzed 23-1 Ghanaian prospect Obodai Sai with essentially the first leather he threw in 20 seconds flat in 2014...but in his only real step up to date otherwise got dominated by Arif Magomedov on ShoBox in July 2015 and hasn't fought anybody with a pulse since returning eleven months later.

• Roman "The Lion Heart" Shkarupa, 39 years old, returning June 2nd @ super middleweight. Last fought in April, and before that October to break a year of inactivity since the previous October. Prime weight(s): super middleweight. Opponent: unbeaten 25 year old southpaw Turkish-German prospect Emre "The Lion Jr." Çukur. Supplemental evidence: the Ukrainian was a decent gatekeeper once upon a time, but at 5′7½″ and without a big eraser in either fist has always fought on borrowed time against the big fellas at 168lbs, a division where the average height is much nearer six feet. He did upset a Kosovan-German prospect with an identical record to Çukur's (but with more knockouts) of 10-0 last month, but prior was on a skid of three losses dating to December of 2015. While none were southpaws like Çukur, the commonality between his conquerors: Dilmurod Satybaldiev, Nadjib Mohammedi, and Lolenga Mock - is that all have low stoppage ratios; they are not artists but point-scorers. Roman is at his best facing a come-forward type, which the young Turk (who did so-so in the amateurs, per a bit of perfunctory digging) isn't.

• Emanuele "Ruspa" Della Rosa, 38 years old, returning June 8th @ middleweight. Last fought July of 2017 in a 6-rounder, and before that September of 2016 in a losing bid for the European Union 154lb title. Prime weight(s): welter/super welter. Opponent: awkward jabbing specialist Andrew Francillette, thirty years old with a 20-1-1 (5) record and competing for just the second time outside his native France and firs ttime outside his linguistic-cultural sphere (having fought once in the Francophone city-state of Monaco). Supplement evidence: while he was a real force on the Italian domestic scene at light middle a half decade ago, EDR never had the big equalizer of KO power and thus went a lot of rounds, verging on 300 in the pros...just 99 fewer than, for reference, Floyd Mayweather Jr. who debuted nine years earlier. He was still operating at pretty decent levels heading into 2016 but his subsequent 24 rounds of war against Francillette's countryman Zakaria Attou (going 0-1-1 in the rivalry) might have taken his last few shreds of bounce from his step.

• Sefer "The Real Deal" Seferi, 39 years old, returning June 9th @ heavyweight. Last fought in March, and before that April of last year. Prime weight(s): cruiser. Opponent: the prodigal son of the heavyweight division and ostensibly its lineal champ until beaten in the ring, Tyson Luke "The Gypsy King" Fury. Supplemental evidence: in his 5th heavyweight appearance to date (of 6 career-long in 24 bouts total), Seferi camped out in the middle of the ring and tried giving as well as he got - but was outclassed by Manuel "Diamond Boy" Charr, who in his very next outing thirteen months later would become, improbably, the present WBA heavyweight champion. Sefer is the clear B-side of his family, often appearing on the undercards of his more talented (but squarely Euro level nonetheless) sibling Nuri. The question here is whether or not Fury can stop him. If he goes the distance and collects his biggest paycheck yet (or, scores a massive flukey upset KO) and rides off into the sunset, then we can strike this off the ill-advised list. If he comes in under-trained and gets brutalized, or is stiffed on the purse, or continues to fight beyond this, we leave it on.

 

...continued...

• Antonio Deon "The Magic Man" Tarver, 49 years old, returning June 10th @ heavyweight. Last fought in August of 2015 in a split draw with Steve "USS" Cunningham. Prime weight(s): light heavyweight. Opponent: former domestic United States amateur standout (56-12 record, ranked the #1 super heavy in the country for a few years) turned fringe contender Travis "My Time" Kauffman. Supplemental evidence: while no world-beater, Kauffman has fought on even terms with both Amir Mansour and Cristobal Arreola when they were skirting the outer rim of world title contention. He is 17 years Milkdud's junior, with more in the gas tank and reasonable pop for a natural heavyweight. Tarver has fought just annually, once per year (not counting the last two, when he was absent from the ring altogether) since 2008. In other words, in the decade since Dawson I, there have been seven ring appearances from the former lineal 175lb champion, one resulting in a NC at the heart of a doping scandal involving Tarver. His last scalp, Johnathon Banks, might be comparable in quality to a Travis Kauffman but that was in 2014...and Tarver will turn 50 this autumn.

• Wilfredo "Papito" Vázquez Jr., 33 years old, returning June 16th @ lightweight. Last fought: October 2016 at super feather, knocked out by JuanMa López. Prime weight(s): super bantamweight. Opponent: legendary Mexican technician Cristian Ricardo Lucio "El Diamante" Mijares, who is making this his swansong performance at home in front of his fans in Gómez Palacio in the state of Durano, Mexico. Supplemental evidence: it could just as easily be argued that Mijares, considering he is a 36 year old who began his career at flyweight, and fought in his entire prime at super fly, and following a savage KO loss at the hands of Vic Darchinyan and subsequently two consecutive robbery losses to Nehomar Andrés Cermeño has been making a surprising climb up the weights despite never having been known for having a lick of stopping power, going 23-2 (12) with the first of those losses yet another robbery, against Vic Terrazas...but the second a legit spanking from Léodegario Santa Cruz - ought to be the focus of this very paragraph, rather than its antagonist - but for the fact that he never really went anywhere, unlike Vázquez - and it has already been advertised that Mijares is retiring after this contest to conclude his lengthy (and impressive) run in the higher weights. Mijares despite his age is surprisingly game nowadays, while the cracks in Vázquez's armor were already beginning to show during his prime...and that was a good half dozen years and MANY clean punches ago...

• Suriyan "Kompayak Porpramook" Satorn, 35 years old (will be 36 on fight day), returning on June 23rd at light flyweight. Last fought in March, against the same opponent, taking it by split decision, before that on the shelf for 1½ years. Prime weight(s): light fly. Opponent: Siridech Deebook (aka Pongsaklek Sithdabnij), more than a decade Satorn's junior, and entered the rivalry 15-4-1 (13) having debuted, like Satorn, in his teens. Supplemental evidence: the last time Satorn fought somebody other than Deebook and with a pulse was Koki Eto in 2013, when he was floored late but held on to lose a unanimous decision for the interim WBA flyweight title. He was annihilated ten months before that by Adrián "El Confesor" Hernández. If his shaky chin held up against what on paper appears to be a puncher in Deebook the first time, in bothering with a rematch he is tempting fate by not leaving well enough alone.

• Martin "The Road Warrior" Murray, 35 years old, returning June 23rd at middleweight. Last fought in September and before that April of last year. Prime weight(s): middle with occasional jaunts up to 168lbs, but went on a continuous 7-fight tear at super middle & even light heavy in the wake of his loss to GGG. Opponent: current unbeaten WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. Supplemental evidence: many believe he got a gift over Gabe Rosado, which, coupled with a wide loss to George "The Saint" Groves (who is more than inversely-proportionate less skilled than Saunders as he is physically larger) bodes very poorly for his chances of doing anything but getting the flesh countered off his face like slow-cooked 1st-prize-at-the-BBQ fall-off-the-bone pork ribs here. Really should've called it a day after the valiant effort but ultimately violent gut-check (literally) in his attempt to dethrone Golovkin, as he was clearly already exiting his prime then.

• Walter "2 Guns" Wright, 37 years old, returning June 23rd at super welterweight. Last fought: March and before that January of this year, snapping a 5 year hiatus before that, which in turn was preceded by a three year absence, then another three year absence before that. In other words, between his loss to Anthony Small in March 2007 and the start of this year he fought just twice in a whole decade. Prime weight(s): light middleweight, but has ballooned as high as light heavy. Opponent: local Bostonian prospect (we rubbed shoulders with a lot of the same people and even trained in some of the same facilities, though I doubt he knows who I am) Mark "the Bazooka" DeLuca, currently 21-0 (13). Supplemental evidence: the alum of Season 2 of the original run of The Contender, after losing to eventual semifinalist K9 Bundrage, went on a brief comeback picking up a couple of nice KO victories over fellow Contender alum Vinroy Barrett and unbeaten Dan Wallace, before dropping a split decision to Anthony Small in a bitterly contested bout across the pond in the UK. Apparently discouraged by what he perceived as his second robbery loss in a little over a year, Wright hung up the gloves, returning only sporadically every few years until apparently choosing to now, in his late 30s, make a stand and build some momentum. He picked one hell of a cherry, though - DeLuca made his pro debut a month after Wright's loss to Small, racked up an 8-0 record over the next three years and then just vanished from the ring, very mysteriously (even Mark's uncle, who for a long time was my personal barber, couldn't say why he wasn't getting fights) until signing with Al Haymon in 2014 and keeping a very healthy schedule ever since, culminating in a high-profile co-headlining spot on ESPN2 this March.

• Jean-Thenistor "Haitian Sensation" Pascal, 35 years old, returning June 29th @ cruiser. Last fought in December, upsetting 16-0 (13) Egyptian hype job Ahmed Elbiali at the agreed-upon catchweight of 178lbs. Prime weight(s): super middle for a time (albeit slightly drained at the weight) and then more famously making his mark at light heavy. Opponent: former MMA practitioner Steve Bosse, who at 36 years old debuted in pro boxing just this February and is taking an enormous leap in class against Pascal in his sophomore outing. Supplemental evidence: Bosse was 12-2 (9) in MMA, spending most of his professional combat sports career in the "light heavyweight" division, which in MMA has a limit 30lbs higher than is the cap in boxing where Pascal was in nominally the same class. Bosse scored most of his knockouts via punches, and while both of his losses were via KO, just one came from punches (the other from a head kick) and it was late in the fight, when gassed, when he was still a green fighter just six months after his debut.

 

...continued...

• Beibut Amirhanoviç "No Limits" Shumenov, 34 years old, returning July 7th @ cruiser. Last fought in May of 2016, knocking out Al Haymon prospect Junior Anthony Wright on the Lara vs. Martirosyan II undercard. Prime weight(s): light heavyweight. Opponent: career 200lber and Turkish-German cracker jack title collector Nezir "Hizni" Altunkaya, whose sole defeat to date (and only step up in class) was to Krzysztof Głowacki, who shut him out and made Altunkaya quit on his stool after 5 rounds. Supplemental evidence: while Shumenov was certainly many levels above his scheduled opponent in his prime, he was already slipping when he lost a split decision to 49 year old Bernard Hopkins, and that was four years ago. Shumenov also has well-documented eye injuries that forced him to retire last year, begging the question why he's setting foot in the ring again, greedily seeking to recapture the same vacant WBA cruiser title for which he beat Wright (and which has since been captured and then vacated by Yunier Dorticos and then Arsen Goulamirian, both of whom definitely would have been insanely dangerous for Shumenov to get in with while basically half blind).

• Chauncy "The Hillyard Panda/Hammer" Welliver, 35 years old, returning July 7th @ heavyweight. Last fought: July of 2016, losing a split decision against 30-18-1 Marselles Brown, in Welliver's fifth loss in a row. Prime weight(s): heavyweight. Opponent: TBA. Supplemental evidence: the rotund Spokane native was able to be somewhat effective for a time at the outer fringe of the world rankings, outlasting many C+ and B- talents with his ability to soak up punishment while scoring with a high volume of pit-pat stuff with surprising hand speed for his sloppy condition. That was, however, in the old days when he was tipping scales in the mid-200's. In the last 4½ years, when active, he is weighing in exclusively (and disgustingly) above 300lbs. Unless he picks a homeless guy off the street or miraculously comes in weighing less than a sixth of a ton, he could be facing his 6th loss in a row, since knocking out Saúl "El Fénix Asesino" Becerra Gil (aka Saúl Farah) more than 5 years ago.

• Ivan "Vicious" Vivian Harris, 39 years old (will be 40 come fight night), returning July 21st @ light welterweight. Last fought: May of 2017 and before that September of 2015. Prime weight(s): light welter. Opponent: longtime contender and truth serum incarnate DeMarcus "Chop-Chop" Corley, who is currently 43 years old and will be 44 on fight night, in a rematch. Corley defeated Harris via unanimous decision last May, with both tasting canvas. Supplement evidence: despite being a few years Corley's junior chronologically, Harris was on a rougher patch heading into their first meeting, with back to back KO losses buffering him from his last positive run (with back to back split decision upsets scored over Danny O'Connor and Jorge Páez Jr.). Corley was on a 6-1 run since his last bad losing streak, and following Harris I nearly defeated Hank Lundy (robbed IMO) in February and then did upset Venezuelan nearly-man Patrick López this April.

• Lisa "Bad News" Brown & Chevelle "Fist of Steel" Hallback, 48 & 47 years old respectively, returning to co-headline a bill on July 29th @ featherweight & welterweight respectively. Last fought: September 2013 (Brown) and August 2014 (Hallback), respectively. Prime weight(s): super bantamweight (Brown) and super featherweight/lightweight (Hallback), respectively. Opponent: hard-hitting 29 year old Nigerian former world title challenger Helen "Iron Lady" Joseph (Brown) and TBA (Hallback), respectively. Supplement evidence: these are both respected former world champions who can't possibly believe they're on the march toward reclaiming any gold in their late forties, after layoffs of several years each. They both hold the distinction of having been stopped just once in their pro careers, by Jackie "La Princesa Azteca" Nava (Brown) and Lucia "The Dutch Destroyer" Rijker (Hallback), respectively - and these comebacks would seem to jeopardize that. This is mind-boggling.

 

Nineteen ill-advised comebacks, for various reasons, in the span of just this summer (excluding August!!!)

Just a short formatted paragraph on each meant that I had to spread the OP across three posts due to character limit. That's how many people are boxing on longer than is probably good for their health.

 

I was just innocently scrolling through BoxRec and checking out the international boxing schedule for the near future, when I found myself every five seconds muttering "why are they still fighting?? ", not an uncommon phrase to mutter in this sport but even more so than usual in this short time span, until it reached absurd enough a point that a thread demanded to be made on this sudden "having no idea when to call it a day and hang up the gloves" pandemic.

 

You think Kauffman's able to pop his kayo cherry and take away the "Can't Be Stopped (Unlike My Excuse Making Rival )" boast?

 

Who? I named nineteen ****ing people in the OP(s), dude, be specific.

 

I bulleted them at least.

Sure yeah go ahead but keep the bullet point formatting.