Heavyweight who would benefit most from waking up as their younger self?

Tyson famously lamented that he was smart too late and old too soon, but it doubt he was the only one.

Which heavyweight's career would benefit the most if, as an older man after his career is over, he went to sleep and woke up in the past as his younger self? Who could best use the life experience, skill, and knowledge of how things turned out the first time to forge a better legacy?

(This is primarily a boxing related question; no cheating by, e.g., sending Larry Holmes to the past to quit boxing and invest early in Apple!)

 

I think George Foreman could have benefited by combining some of the maturity and tactics that he used in his comeback when he was a younger man in the 70s

 

Golota, you could tell he matured into a better fighter later in his career but it was after some of his physical gifts had left him due to age and injury.

Witherspoon also from the recent interviews has said he wished he had trained harder but he had some outside distractions (Don King)

 

Foreman was the first that came to mind for me as well, for the reasons you mentioned, but also because he had more agency than a lot of fighters seem to. He was clever and charismatic enough to take the reins and manage his own career the way he wanted it.

That said, it's an open question whether he could have done that much more in his first career, and the longer his first lasts, the more wear and tear accumulates if he wants to try a second...

 

Golota is a very interesting pick that hadn't occurred to me. Might pick up the unified championship if he can keep it together vs Bowe (and avoid Lennox). Though I wonder whether he earns the same notoriety among fans if he doesn't foul as much.

 

I'd like to think a lot of the drug addicted and distracted Heavies of the '80s would jump at the chance. A lot of wasted talent in that era.

 

Im pretty confident Golota would have beaten Bowe twice. Maybe he doesn't get whatever medical injections prior to the Lewis fight (that's for another thread) and gives a better account for himself. I still wouldn't pick him to beat Lewis but maybe he does better. Without the stigma of the Bowe and Lewis debacles other chances could arise in his physical prime. I'm not saying he becomes an ATG but his career for sure could have been better.

 

As you said, Tyson is an obvious shout.
I reckon Foreman would be another great example.
I would even say Wlad and Shannon Briggs.
And a even greater example, Ike Ikeabuchi. I reckon he would have had a great career.

 

Ibeabuchi would be a question of whether he can get good enough psychiatric treatment back in the 90s. It's an interesting thing to thing about.

What do you think Briggs could have done better with an older man's experience?

 

Idk, maybe wrong, but perhaps Frank Bruno. He was learning to hold a bit more at the end of his career, when hurt. He perhaps gets the Smith win by not going out to try and finish him in the last round too.
Maybe he's always going to get himself beat but he was definitely a more learned fighter as he aged.

 

Lionel Butler. Man that guy had some talent.

 

I think Ikeabuchi might have got more wise in prison and realized the mistakes he made. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.
As for Briggs, I think he's more composed now and he's in better place mentally. This helps a lot. He has admitted to suffering from depression.

 

Archie Moore (amazing how fast he was in his prime but how different his style was). He became a better fighter when he was 33-38 but had lost a little.

same with Hopkins.

 

Why just limit it to HWs?

One thought is Charley Burley if he saw how his career panned out he could have made certain efforts to change it.

For heavy's I think Bert Cooper would look back and realize what he had done and we'd see a great cruiser.

Give Archie Moore his brain at 20 and you'd have an unbeatable fighter.

Give Duran a second chance and I don't think he'd have quit.

Infinite possibilities here.

 

I don't think Burley could have made much more.
His style just wasn't appealing to the general masses. And for a black man in that era, that means no chance to make it big.
As for Duran, it was the rapid weight loss that affected him. Give him a second chance and he probably won't gain so much weight after Montreal.