Boxing’s best second careers

You named the major ones.

I'm not sure if Maske returning from an eleven year retirement for a one and done revenge on a consistently active Hill would qualify?

 

How about Mike Tyson and Eder Jofre. They both came back after long layoffs to win world titles.

 

...and if we are counting Maske, perhaps an even more stunning one-off feat was Freitas'.

 

Jofre was the first thought for me.
Johnny Tapia hasn't been mentioned yet

 

Tyson Fury is a good example, except there's nothing "classic" about the guy.

 

Zack Padilla was pretty much a nobody when he was KO'd by 8-8 Dwayne Prim. He took 5 years off, and gained, then lost something like 100 pounds in that time. He came back to win all 15 of his fights, including a title winning effort against Carlos Gonzalez, and 4 title defenses.

 

Foreman.
Not because he made the biggest second career success of all.
But because he took the biggest break between two careers; 10 years.
If others took a break of 10 years - there would be no second career

 

Jersey Joe Walcott came back after 4 year absence and did much better

 

Eder Jofre for me.

BW to FW is one of the hardest jumps to make and Eder was never anything like a fully fledged FW.

Despite this and despite being past his best, he went 23-0 in his 2nd career up at FW, beating the 7-years younger ATG FW Vivente Saldivar, as well as Jose Legra, Frankie Crawford, Manny Elias and Octavio Gomez.

 

All of the best ones have been taken at this point of the thread but I'm going to throw out a guy that was one of my favorites that had a five year layoff and looked pretty damn good when he came back at 154. Ike Bazooka Quartey!

Ike came back after a five year layoff to beat former world champion Vero Phillips, tuff guy and Pernell Whitaker concourer Carlos Bajorquez and he should have got the decision over Vernon Forrest in what was a horrible robbery that would have set up a title shot against Carlos Baldomir. Had he fought Baldomir, he would have beat the brakes off of that piece of **** child molester and become a world champion at 154. Instead he moved to middleweight to challenge pound for pound top three guy at the time Winky Wright and held his own in a respectable losing effort.

 

OK, here are a few:

Vicente Saldivar - retired as featherweight champion and came back 21 months later, against the #1 contender, no less, beat him, then waited another 10 months before fighting and regaining the 126 lb. title.

Rodolfo Gonzalez - came out of Mexico as a big KO prospect before quitting the ring for 33 months battling a lengthy illness. Came back on a very long road and eventually won the WBC lightweight title.

3 contemporary heavyweights took quite the hiatus back in the day

Sonny Liston - out for 22 months due to incarceration. At the time he was a very hot prospect. Came back to win the heavyweight title.

Cleveland Williams - out for 26 months in the '50s (not talking about when he was shot, that would be another addition to this piece) after the Satterfield bout. I believe it was for military service but not sure. Hot prospect at the time and then went on to become a top contender

Eddie Machen - out for 14 months (does not seem like much today. Today's fighters take 14 months between fights but back then it was almost career-ending) due to a nervous breakdown. He was already an established contender when he took his break and battled back into contention.

 

To be fair, Machen was a shell of himself when he came back. Excellent examples nonetheless.

 

Frankie Duarte should be a cornerstone on this thread. Had one fight in a 5 year period where he was trying to get himself clean and sober, and succeeded. His comeback culminated in some terrific wins which led to a shot at the bantamweight title, where, IMO, he was robbed blind in his bout with Bernardo Pinango.

 

Yusef Mack