Don't forget that he whooped Morales' ass hard after the Pacquiao loss. He was supposed to be done so many times before he was actually finished. Ironically though, he was only really "finished" after the defining moment of his career (beating the tar out of Morales in that 3rd fight) when he took the rubber match against Morales.
Has to be Foreman.... Honorable mentions. Vitali Klitschko did well for himself after nearly 4 years out of the ring. Wlad rebuilt his career and went on to dominate his own era after even his own brother wrote him off.
Robinson Castellanos was 10(5)-10(5) before going on an 11 fight win streak. Hes a had a rocky road since but is now facing his first title shot.
hardly a big comeback, getting koed by mediocrity to get koed again by mediocrity, to again get koed by mediocrity.
After suffering an 8th rd TKO in 1987 he retired. He made a come back in 1995 and in his first fight won the Australian Heavy Weight title. He carried on boxing, and in 1998 at 48 years old, he beat a former WBA title holder to win the vacant WBF Heavy Weight title. Who will be the first to get this without Google....................
George Foreman for me. Ray Robinson and Ray leonard had several "mini retirements" and came back looking great as well. But what Foreman did was incredible especially given his advanced age at the time. I forgot about the great Muhammad Ali. he lost over 3 years of his absolute prime and went on to dominate the 70's against some of the best HW's of all time. But he was a great fighter before the draft situation, Foreman looked a bit shot before he retired in the late 70's.
My apologies, I just went back and read through the thread, you had already mentioned him. Sort of skipped through it earlier, my wife is right, I never learn from my mistakes.
Massive injuries... Willie Pep airplane crash, tore his shoulder up or something, I forget what exactly. Carlos Monzon gunshot to his arm midway through his epic title run. Danny Jacobs massive cancerous tumor on his spine. Evander Holyfield's bad heart that forced retirement, "fixed" by a Christian priest. Andre Dirrell's bad brain that forced retirement, diagnosed by one Dr. Shaw Hi. Maybe. OK, those last two are jokes. Well, apparently not. But yeah.