It could be argued that John Mugabi was done when he beat Rene Jacquot for the title, exiting in the very next effort rather dramatically against Norris, and early too.
Terry Norris in 1997 was done but was somehow still WBC super welter champ. The Keith Mullings fight showed just how done he was.
It absolutely is subjective and impossible to measure. One thing I looked at were Brown and Curry's performances/records after losing their titles: Simon Brown - 6 wins (4 tkos), 9 losses (4 by tko), only notable wins were Nestor Maciel (?) and Glenwood Brown (46-6, decent win). Somehow got title shots against Vincent Pettway, Lonnie Bradley, Bernard Hopkins and Quirino Garcia and went 0-4 (2 by tko). Donal Curry - 4 wins (4 tkos), 4 losses (3 by tko) only notable win was against Brett Lally (24-4). Again, based on his name, he received title shots against Rene Jacquot, Michael Nunn, Terry Norris and Emmett Linton (?) and went 0-4 (3 by tko). The Gianfranco Rosi title win was a bit of an anomaly for me as I saw it live and Curry looked terrible in between dropping Rosi several times with effective counters. Curry's balance and timing looked poor in between the knockdowns and he didn't look at all like the Curry of a few years prior. But this is mostly a feeling you get about the fighter you know and how they look fight to fight. I also remember thinking Lennox Lewis looked vulnerable his last few fights as champion after regaining the title against Rahman. His age (37) was showing against Klitschko as he got off to a poor start and looked shaky the first few rounds until he started landing his jab and inside uppercut with authority. I thought he picked the perfect time to retire as it was a matter of time before he would be caught again, regardless of his awesome physical skills and experience.
Speaking of Mullings----he ruined Marquez before that Norris bout. Horrible judging and Marquez left everything in the ring that night. Bad bad licking and here was a guy ready to be taken before the Mullings bout even.
Yeah, Marquez never really seemed to get his career on track, not really. He was such an amateur hotshot, but never seemed to gel with the pro game.
Bruce Curry was on the downside of his career when he finally won a 140lb title, and looked pretty shot when he faced Costello.
Currently, I'd say Manuel Charr. (Does anyone think he's going to win against anyone should he actually defend his "belt?")
Completely shot, I've watched film of the pre Hagler Mugabi and compared it to the post Hagler beast. I thought it was stunning the falloff. Before his loss to Hagler I believe Mugabi would have done to Norris what Julian Jackson did. Though I think the broken eye socket against Thomas accelerated his plunge
Wish you two had been around 30 years ago! I went to a Bruno fight with friends, but I was really there to see the Beast. I was ranting and raving about Mugabi to my friends. Sure, he is fighting a no name, but still you watch him flatten him, Mugabi always wins by KO! That no name was one Gerald McClellan, and indeed someone was flattened inside three minutes... Indeed the card was so one sided, both main fights did not have a bell for the second round!
A shot fighter? ,,,,the man who beat the brakes off Julio Chavez, Frankie Randall. After he was robbed in the second Chavez fight Frankie won the super lightweight title . Then he split 2 fights with Coggi, he was a mess at this point. He then lost to Rahilo for the belt. He then went on to lose 13 of his next 18 fights.
I know the feeling. I was ringside for Hopkins-Steve Frank, which lasted a record 24 seconds or something like that.
