Name some fighters you considered still in their prime after their first loss

Make a list of fighters that you still consider in their prime after their first loss(es).

Many times, fighters will be protected by their fans when they lose, ranging from logical to illogical reasons as to why. Ali, Frazier, Tyson & Chavez are 4 names that come up the most when giving reasons for their first loss.

Ali's is the most logical as he was still rusty from the 3 year lay-off & had recently won a tough 15 TKO victory over Bonavena (a guy who gave Frazier two hard fights, dropping him the the 1st one). You can't really fault people for this one.

Tyson's is the least logical. He was the undefeated, undisputed HW champion with a fearsome reputation & showing no signs of slowing down, let alone losing any time soon. He was also in his physical prime. How can you become past your prime over night? I say this as a big Tyson fan. He didn't lose because he was past his prime. He lost because he was unfocused, unprepared & overlooked Douglas for the super-fight with Holyfield.

Frazier & Chavez have moderately legitimate reasons, but still are fairly weak. Frazier wasn't the same after the FOTC with Ali. He took a lot of punishment & clean blows to the face that he had to been in hospital for about a month after. He didn't fight again that year fighting nearly a year (10 months) later against 2 fringe contenders (Terry Daniels & Ron Stander). He then loses to #1 HW contender George Foreman by a dominant & empthatic 2nd Round TKO. Some of the reasons for the loss are the FOTC (that some say took years off Frazier's career) & the fact that he was over weight for the fight (he was 10lbs heavier than when he fought in FOTC). This may be true, but no fighter that Frazier fought before or after handled him in that manner, except Foreman himself in the rematch. It had more to do with styles than anything else because I'm sure no other HW at the time could have done that to Frazier.

Chavez was 31, had been fighting as a pro for 14 years, was 89-0-1, & was in his 3rd weight class. That much activity would take a toll on anyone's body. However, before his loss to Frankie Randall, Chavez had shown that fighters with styles similar to Randall gave him problems. Meldrick Taylor gave Chavez a lot of fits in their historic & controversial fight which saw Chavez win via dramatic TKO in the 12 with 2 seconds to go. He was severely behind on points on 2 judges scorecards (the other judge was obviously bought & paid for) and had to rally late to get the victory. Roger Mayweather in the rematch gave Chavez a tough fight, and it was arguably even before Mayweather decided to quit on his stool after the 10th. Pernell Whitaker arguably won and was robbed of a victory against Chavez as one judge gave it to Whitaker, and the other 2 judges scored it a draw - making it a "Majority Decision Draw". So seeing as Chavez had some close calls in the past 5 years prior to his first "official" loss, it's safe to say he could have lost even a few years ago.

 

Yeah the title is the question. I just gave some examples of fighters who many fans gave excuses for their first loss - some legit, others not so much.

 

Yes