Why do people discount peoples records once they’re past a certain point

Too much of a blanket statement. You have to consider every fighter case by case.

Jones Jr only really missed on Dariusz, in a fight he would have been a huge favourite in, and he absolutely destroy the man who beat him and destroyed the man he beat for the title.

Ali, I don't think he missed anyone tbh, he fought them all. Even Holmes when he was riddled with Parkinsons.

SRR missed out on Burley, a lot give him a past based on the rankings at the time, but it was quite clearly a duck. A very typical high risk, low reward fight. But he fought everyone else, and most of them more than once and more importantly most of them in their prime.

Either way, that's a strawman argument. You're point was retiring with a 0 makes you special, my point was there's more to consider than just that.

 

So if Apple came out with failed product after failed product for the next 20 years and then went out of business, are still not forever the tech GOAT for iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc,?

 

Pac could lose his next 5 fights by KO and it would have zero bearing on his resume/ATG standing. It only means he was operating far beyond his expiration date. Nothing more.

 

Of course they have. Every single great has been in debatable decisions, even one as dominant as Jones Jr and Whitaker.

They get scrutinised, but only by those who cba with looking at boxing history, which is less and less people.

A lot of fans are fans of a boxer, not of boxing, so they don't care about history.

But Jones Jr had a very close win with Tarver. Robinsons had many many close wins. Leonard had a close win over Hagler. Ali had a close win over Norton and Young. One of Durans marquee victories was a close win over Barkley. Even the fearsome Alexis Arguello had a close win over Jose Ramirez.

If you posted on classic you'd have seen all of these fights debated many times. You're currently posting in General, so most don't care about those fights. They care about fights they've watched featuring their favourite boxers (those they love and those they hate).

 

Great fighters will have losses over time, especially at the tail end of their careers and in their 40s. It does absolutely nothing to diminish what they had accomplished beforehand. Look at guys like SRR, Charles, Duran, Holyfield, RJJ, Olivares and so many other others that stuck around for too long and took losses to lower tier fighters. They are still rated highly and well respected because of what they were able to achieve, nobody rates them lower because of their losses past their best.

I rate Ezzard Charles (95 wins, 25 losses, 1 draw) higher than Rocky Marciano (49 wins, 0 losses).

 

If great fighters lose a couple fights at the end when they get old, that's one thing. It's fairly common.

When Roy Jones got wasted by Antonio Tarver, people were shocked. When he got wasted a couple months later by Glen Johnson, people couldn't believe have far he'd dropped in such a short time. When he continued to box for close to 20 years after that, getting bounced around by guys like Danny Green and Enzo Maccarinelli, it just overshadows much of the great stuff that came before.

Like I said, there aren't enough years left for Pacquiao to overshadow decades of stellar wins.

That said, Manny shouldn't screw around. Because if he starts getting knocked cold by never-will-be's, it most definitely has an impact on how he's viewed. Especially brutal KO losses.

It simply does. We've seen it.

 

How do loses in a fighters past prime condition subtract from established accomplishments. What, Manny isn't the only 8 division champ anymore because he lost to Ugas? That achievement is somehow diminished. Do you consider Mayweather and Marciano the greatest fighters ever? Mayweather is #1 because he has more wins? By your logic, you must. Please clarify.

 

More leeway?

Mate Mayweather is a billionaire, do you think he cares what we think of his close fights?

In comparison one of the greatest fighters of all time, Sam Langford, was homeless and begging on the street whilst fully blind after he retired.

Fighters today have a lot more fans with a lot more access to their footage, scrutiny is much more possible now. I mean you actually have people watching fights at 25% speed counting punches.

Even take yourself for a minute, how many close fights of greats have you actually watched and scrutinised yourself?