Esteban de Jesus I am not sure if this exactly fits as "sharpest decline" but I always had the impression that Jesus could have lasted longer as a true contender, barring his drug problem. No idea if this was for real, but sure it is very telling: In Thanksgiving weekend 1981, in what became a famous case in Puerto Rico, De Jesus was convicted of murder after killing a 17-year-old, over a traffic dispute. He was sentenced to life in jail. There, he excelled in another sport, baseball, making the Puerto Rico penal system all star team three times. In 1984, he became a born-again Christian and started to turn his life around, becoming a preacher. After it became public knowledge that De Jesus had acquired HIV and had become a sufferer of full-blown AIDS, governor Rafael Hernández Colón pardoned him. After returning to spend his last days with his family, De Jesus was visited by many celebrities, including hall of fame baseball player Orlando Cepeda, Salsa music superstar Cheo Feliciano and his old nemesis Duran himself. Duran hugged and kissed De Jesus and told his daughter to do the same. This event was witnessed by José Torres who said he was amazed to see Duran's compassionate gesture as he lifted De Jesus out of his bed and hugged him at a time when so little was known and so much feared about AIDS.[1] Esteban De Jesús died one month after being pardoned at the age of 37.
john beat me to david reid! davey moore and david reid both had a hard time rebounding after their losses to duran and trinidad.
Yeah Terry came to my mind immediately, from 89-93 he was as sharp as one can be but you can see a very noticeable decline in his 1995/96 fights.
Naseem Hamed. Don't know if he really qualifies as he won his last fight after losing to Barrera, but he looked a shadow of his former self in gaining a points win against a fringe contender (manuel calvo) and then retired
I was really impressed with David Reid when he took on a peak Trinidad. He was beating the **** out of Felix for good stretches of the fight and dropped him but then the power just caught up on him.
Wilfredo Gomez after moving up in weight perhaps? :think Speaking of Gomez, perhaps Pintor post Gomez...
Also, Mayorga post Trinidad beating his ****ing brains out. He's actually 2-3 since the Trinidad match. That's huge, he was a real wrecking ball there for a while.