Boxers that flew too close to the sun?

I think the issue is Conn trying to push for the KO vs. Louis instead of just being content to win on points.

 

Ketchell thinking he could hand with Langford.

 

You forgot about SRL before that. Cocky **** Tommy was. Thought he was going KO Ray easy ... loved him for that tho.

 

Ketchell and old man Jeffries trying to bring down Johnson springs to mind. Napoles vs Monzon was a good shout.

Charnley, who was a very good but not great lightweight, compactly framed and unsuited to moving up, letting his unscrupulous manager Arthur Boggis throw him in with an ATG peak physical titan like Griffith.

The most literal example I can think of with awful real life parallels to the actual Icarus myth is probably Paret. Two tough fights with Griffith, moving up to middle to ill advisedly tip his hand against Fullmer, taking a horrible prime ending beating, then dropping weight to take on Griffith again just a couple of months later. Then talking a load of what was at the time, grievously insulting shite. All coming together with well known terrible consequences.

 

Wilfred Benitez & his disastrous sojourn up @ 160 - he had no business ever being above 154, which he usually made w/ room to spare.

 

Bob Foster attempting to fight at HW when he challenged Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali.

 

Ironically, former fighter and astronaut Icarus Davis flew a spacecraft so close to the sun that he did wind up incinerating. Some say it was suicide. I say: What if it wasn't?

 

Now you’ve got me depressed. One of my favourite fighters ever

 

That the people around him allowed it , was truly shocking.

 

That's true , I was very young but I remember Foreman was seen as a rather crude novice ( albeit numerically he'd had plenty of fights ) whilst Frazier was seen as ' The man ' .
Never has a fight looked so different with hindsight.
As we later learned , Fraziers manager actually advised him to retire after TFOTC and protected him with 2 easy defenses in 1972, Frazier suffered from dangerously high blood pressure amongst other things . He said Frazier had enough money to retire comfortably and I actually think they saw Foreman as an easier option than some others. From entering the ring Frazier didn't even look the same guy that beat Ali.
Years later Frazier was apparently pretty broke which always puzzled me as he didn't do drugs and seemed like a good family man , but he ended up living in a room above his gym which seemed all he had.

 

Not as high profile perhaps as some of the replies , but Mark Kaylor fighting at light heavy .
After beating some lower ranked but bigger guys he got walloped by Tom Collins who looked 2 weight divisions bigger than him after initially outboxing him.
It was a brutal beating. The super middle division hadn't really got going at the time Mark couldn't make the middleweight limit anymore . Lawless retired him after the beating although Mark reversed the decision and carried on eventually.

 

Forgot one of the most devious: Leonard trying to beat Duran at his own game by in-fighting him during the Brawl at Montreal lmao

 

Ummmmmmmm Sweet Pea flew into the sun then orbited it 3 times TBH.


Original question:
In hindsight, Chad Dawson high off a humbling of Bernard thinking he could drop down to a weight he hadn't been at in 6 years and dominate their reigning champion.

 

Kelly Pavlik going up in weight to take on Bhop. He never recovered mentally from that schooling

 

Canelo moving up to face Bivol. That said, this is when I most admired him.