Fighters you felt retired too early?

None. Get your money and get out. No reason to hang on too long and take unnecessary beatings. Quitting early shows they have a clear path to some other kind of life, other interests and ways to live which all fighters will have to adjust to eventually anyway. Perfect. Get out while the getting's good.

 

Gene Tunney is a good shout.

Ward seemed like he had plenty left. On the other hand, if he felt that he couldn't do it anymore (which he did) it was the right choice. It just felt a bit out of the blue after making such a great comeback from his lay-off, which also was frustrating. But he knew best what his body and mind could give.

Jeffries should have faced Johnson before retiring the first time.

 

Bowe

 

Bowe wasn't old, but he had nothing left

 

For boxing? What type of motive is this one? A boxer have to fight or retire for himself not for the fans and the man was clearly in his end as boxer

 

There actually aren't that many, and most of the ones I'd consider good choices (Marcel, Ward, Arbachakov etc.) have already been mentioned.

Someone like Vitali could, I suspect, have stayed on for another couple of years putting away the dross mandatories the WBC served up without too much trouble given the state of play in 2013/2014, but I'd never say he retired too early. He was long in the tooth, was a faded fighter (even though he was still winning) and was unlikely to come across any more opponents who'd actually add anything to his legacy in that time. The same goes for Lewis ten years earlier.

What about Duilio Loi? Was in his early thirties when he quit, so hardly a spring chicken particularly for the era. But still in good form as his most significant and best fights / wins (Ortiz and Perkins) came late in his career. Bowed out as champion, but there were some outstanding 140 pounders emerging in the shape of Hernandez and, above all, Napoles. Neither Perkins nor Hernandez would risk their 140 lb title against Napoles - would Loi have done so?

 

Jimmy Caruthers retired right in his prime the came years later. He left an excellent division and could have been involved in all kinds of good fights.

Jose Becerra was very young too. Just lost a non-title fight but there was money to be made and big fights ahead.

Probably Carlos Zárate would have regained the title and provided he could make weight likely wouldn’t lose unless it was moving up to Gomez again.

 

There's never been a fighter that retired too early, only those who retired too late.

 

James J Jeffries.

He was probably as good as he had ever been when he retired.

 

In practice yes, if it was a member of your family, you would want them out ASAP.

But from a legacy perspective sometimes!

 

This. You only have so many fights in you.

 

With respect, I really disagree particularly with the first paragraph.

For boxing, it would be far better if more took their lead from Lewis, Hagler, Marciano and called it a day with health intact. Boxing suffers from guys like Riddick Bowe, Meldrick Taylor, Terry Norris, Tommy Hearns, all high-profile figures who stuck in the sport too long and are now walking advertisements for the anti-boxing brigade, with slurred speech and poor motor co-ordination. They have brain damage.

And I don't see how boxing would have benefitted from two champions in mid to late 30s who both knew they had gone to the well once too often and were no longer elite performers. I actually think boxing has had too many older guys hanging around and they get in the way of a new generation of younger, fresher names. Promoters and their TV networks will stick with the names of the old champs, put on a show compromised by one of the performers being spent so his opponent has to be carefully selected so not of high quality, the public sees a sub-standard show at elite prices and doesn't want to fork out another $100 for a poor night's sport again. Meanwhile, the younger fighters get frustrated waiting in the queue behind an old fart with little left but the name - but an old fart who still hogs much of the attention - so they drift away, maybe come back but never fulfil their potential and boxing is weaker for it, both as an evolving sport and as a medium of entertainment.

I also think, in the case of Lewis certainly, that another loss would have hurt his legacy. He gets a lot of stick for not rematching Vitalli despite the fact that he was 38, had had 15 hard years in the game and knew that his skills were on the wane. The people who are unforgiving of his decision not to fight again, despite those compelling criteria for retiring, would have been hard on him had he lost. Lennox may have thought that either way he would get flak so he chose the route to flak that, at least, didn't mean getting his head bashed around for a night. When the man doing the bashing weighs about 245lbs that's not a daft decision if you can afford it.

 

I have a friend who met him in Mecca during the Hajj.

He is a boxing fan, and he asked him why he retired from boxing when he did.

He replied:

"To be honest I had made as much money as I could spend, and my family wanted me to get out."

It is true, he was making more money than any other boxer, apart from Holyfield!

 

Nah!

If Bowe fights on, the results are not pretty!

 

Wow. Sad, only for the money?