Which Fighter Had The Greatest Comeback..?

Young Corbett III is right up there

After being knocked out in one round by the great Jimmy Mclarnin at WW he moved up to MW & beat Walker, Conn, Lesnevich & Apostoli .. beat that?

 

Wlad deserves a mention.

 

Joe Louis had one helluva comeback after the first Schmeling fight.

 

Richard Dunn

 

Foreman for me. Particularly as I get older I appreciate more and more what he achieved.

 

My pick too.

 

I think hands down it has to be George Foreman.

 

The question is way too much open ended and needs context.

Fergy you've been around long enough to know most of us only read the header old mate. Some have/will only read the header maybe and not spotted your "After a devastating defeat" inside.

Even fully read "devastating defeat" is up for interpretation as is the time period after said defeat, as well as context of said defeat.

Louis was beaten quite heavily by Schmeling. Louis was a massive massive favorite and already had some eye opening wins over solid contenders. In the big scheme of things the defeat was devastating. It was a real momentum killer and he took quite the beating. He went on to have one of rthe greatest careers ever, obviously.

If we were speaking simply "comeback" Foreman's about first cab off the rank. "After a devastating defeat" might leave it up for debate. He only lost by decision to Young. He did however suffer heat exhaustion and hallucinations to the point where he didn't fight for a decade. That makes it a devastating defeat i guess? Does the fact he didn't fight for so long afterward after things at all? I guess not? What he did second career was amazing with age context and the like, but less so if not taking other stuff into account.

Is Leonards loss to Duran devastating? Tho the fight was close in the end he copped a fair beating overall both to body and ego. It was his first loss. He came back to make Duran quit in an immediate rematch and also beat Hagler and Hearns among others.

Lewis was stopped by McCall in 2 rounds and came back to be, for many of us, a top 5 ATG heavyweight. He did an enormous amount after that embarrassing defeat.

Was Duran's quit job against SRL a devastating loss? His country turned on him and he spent much of his career trying to beat the stigma. We all know the extent of the fallout. It was "devastating". Tho he had other losses, at least one embarrassing, he came back to perform feats that have him as a top 10 lock for a great many.

Ali's loss to Frazier was pretty devastating on many fronts. It gave haters a platform, it was his first loss, one that smashed his ego. He endured a lot of punishment. He came back to beat Frazier twice and also the seemingly invincible Foreman.

If one wants to look into the likes of Archie Moore, Henry Armstrong, Ezzard Charles and co have had some serious losses before great rebounds.

Marvin Hagler was beaten from pillar to post by Willie Armstrong earlier career, he came back ok.

Eusebio Pedroza was KO'd by Alfonso Zamora and Oscar Arnal back to back early career and didn't lose again for almost a decade.

Hearns came back strong after a couple of devasting losses. He even rebounded from the Barkley KO for a short stint.

 

For Duran to get obliterated by Hearns, and, then come back to beat Hearn's conqueror in Iran Barkley is nothing short of astounding.

 

I disagree. He simply avoided punchers after getting pummeled by Sanders and Brewster. And, if that was not the case, he would have rematched Sanders instead of having his big brother do it for him. The next time he was against a legitimate puncher in his prime, he lost again.

 

Give me a break. He dominated the division for ten years after the Sanders loss. Corrie wasn't interested in being part of Wlad's rebuilding campaign. Meanwhile Wlad faced Brewster again, Peter twice, Haye, undefeated Wach, Povetkin, Lepai... Plenty of guys who could hit.

 

Louis vs Schmeling 1 was the first fight that came to my mind.

That was, potentially, a career ending defeat in terms of Joe’s future viability (or lack thereof) going forward.

As good as Joe was as at the time, it was a fight from which he learned a lot and improved himself accordingly. Repairing himself just from the psychological damage was no mean feat in itself.

What I like about that fight is that it is very much part of the Joe Louis story and reflective of his ultimate greatness.

It’s not a fight that is looked back on in order to ply any excuses for Joe or to explain why the wheels permanently fell off at that point had that been a material consequence of that loss.

We have Louis’ career, warts and all, no nips, tucks or unreasonable omissions, preclusions or overdone woulda shoulda coulda explanations - Joe ensured that they weren’t required and, as such, Joe’s career, from go to whoa, shines like pure gold completely in its own right.