Fighters you came to respect after a loss?

Nigel Benn. After his loss to Watson and then Eubank. He picked himself up both times and improved his game.

 

Not exactly what you're asking, but Azumah Nelson's stock rose considerably after his loss to Salvador Sanchez.

 

Lennox Lewis too. Some fighters go down hill after shocking kos, but Lewis came back after and improved, regained his title.

 

Leonard after his loss to Duran - took worse punishment than any time in his career and fought back hard; no excuses afterwards either, after losing his title

 

I wasn't a hater of him before like some, but had new respect for wilder after the 3rd fury fight

 

In the late 80’s Roger Mayweather had a rematch with Julio Cesar Chavez. In their first fight mayweather was stopped early but in the rematch he gave Chavez a terrific fight and at times I was even cheering for him. Roger Mayweather was a very good and underrated fighter

 

Wilder after Fury 3. To me he proved he was the 2nd best heavy in the world that night. Very admirable courage, heart, and one hell of a lot of power.

 

Kell Brook. I had a feeling he didn't want to fight the WWs (mainly Spence) at the time. The GGG fight felt like a cash out fight. He shocked me once he faced Errol after the GGG fight. Makes me wonder if his team wasn't too confident in his abilities to face the elite much more often.

 

I wonder if it was more to do with the appeal of a pre-GGG Brook to the WW elite. He would have been a threat to Thurman, Garcia and maybe even past prime Pacquiao, whilst not having the profile in USA to be a huge money fight for them.

 

After his all out brawl loss to Timothy Bradley I gained a lot of respect for Ruslan Provodnikov.

 

You may be right. Thurman's stock shot up once he beat Porter and Garcia. Teams have different views on risk/reward though.

 

I think Ali and Ray Leonard shared common ground in garnering mucho respect for their respective performances in the FOTC and The Brawl In Montreal - two pretty, flashy fighters, relatively untouched hitherto, who displayed the utmost mettle in their losing efforts - while still making for close fights.

 

**** you beat me to it.

That was insane. Made liars out of everyone who said he had no chin.

At one point (I think the 8th or 9th) I was screaming “HOW IS WILDER STILL STANDING?” Off the top of my lungs.

 

Luis Ortiz after he lost to Jack Dempsey. It was admirable to see Ortiz at his advanced age fight a killer like Dempsey.