I'd say it's when he is at his sharpest, most technically-proficient, most durable-chinned, at any time in his career. Which can be an interesting judgement call - for example, I'd put Lennox Lewis' peak around '92, when he beat Razor through blistering handspeed. He didn't possess that same speed and athleticism when he beat Holyfield later that decade, but some people seem to think that that is his peak. My point here is that, especially with the Heavies, with the longer lasting career fighters you're going to have that sliding scale between speed and strength - you lose the former, you actually gain the latter. With the lighter guys, as they physically slow down throughout their 20's they usually bank a large amount of ring savvy, which often more than compensates. For an example of a tough judgement call, just what year would you place Barrera's peak?
Tough to call at times, especially with the lesser known fighters. Bear in mind that you can have two different peaks - physical (handspeed, strength, stamina) and mental (ring smarts, technical craft, reactions). The peak of the former doesn't necessarily coincide with the peak of the latter, so it's often about finding the bridge between the two extremes. The less a fighter has been against top opposition in his career (particularly the different times in which he fought various fighters -- and thus was "tested"), the harder that exact point is to determine. I agree Lennox's physical peak was probably around the time he went through "Razor".
To me its when their at their best technically and at their peak physically, of coarse this does not, if ever, culminate at the same time but you have to find the blend between that imo. Like Hopkins can still beat someone who does not test his stamina (Pavlik) because he still has those superior skills, but he cant beat someone who is going to exploit his physical deterioration, stamina etc. Different scenario but Jermain Taylor can beat someone in a Boxing match(Hopkins) but he cant beat a lesser fighter who is going to exploit his stamina.
In Jermain's case I think we're really talking about qualities of a fighter, rather than his physical peak. Since it's hard to see how he would improve his natural physical stamina as he got older.
I think it is at the point where they looked their best, against the best fighter they have fought, preferably close to prime. Although styles make fights, so this could be flawed. And sometimes physical prime and mental prime are displayed, Hopkins was physical prime against Jones, but had a great display of his ring smarts years later.
Well thought-out and informative reply, very rare on ESB! I agree that we do see the two distinct peaks for both traits (physical and strategic), so then we need to focus on the lesser of the traits at either peak to determine whether it is superior to its counterpart (at the other peak). Again, this can be a pretty tough choice. Though, if you stay with LL's example of 1992 and 1999, I'd say the acid-test question, with a HW, is "If you could put each version in the same ring and get them to fight, which would win?" I don't think you can apply that test to a Cruiser-turned-Heavy, or anyone lighter. For example, Erik Morales @ 140 vs himself @ 122 !!
