Boxers who were better after a defeat and boxers who were broken after a defeat

Nigel Benn improved after Michael Watson.

Harry Arroyo was a shell of himself after losing to Jimmy Paul. Not even clubfighter level.

 

I think Julian Jackson improved after the McCallum loss.

Livingstone Bramble went from an undefeated top 5 P4P fighter, to journeyman status after he lost to Rosario.

And @salsanchezfan mentioned Jimmy Paul, he also never recovered from his own loss to Greg Haugen, in a fight where he seemed to age overnight.

George Foreman become stronger mentally after his loss to Jimmy Young.

Eusebio Pedroza lost to Zamora at Bantamweight, then moved up to Featherweight best move he ever made.

 

Fernando Vargas was never the same after the Tito fight. He got dropped and hurt in his next fight against Wilfredo Rivera and plain looked bad. He looked a little better in his next fight but still not too good. He fought better in the DLH fight but still lost. After that, the beatings and back injury really added up.

Meldrick Taylor took a horrible beating in the first JC Chavez fight. He did manage a very good performance a year later in the title win over Aaron Davis, but the punishment he took (probably also in Philly gym wars) was adding up. He gutted out a tough win over Glenwood Brown, but was dropped twice and showing issues with punch resistance. His team must have seen the writing on the wall and cashed out with the Norris fight. Espana was always going to be a bad matchup, but my god he looked terrible.

Nigel Benn worked on being less wild after being taken to school by Michael Watson

 

Benn was embarrassed against Watson after all the hype was that he’d take over the world knocking out Leonard, Hearns, Duran and Nunn all in due course. Yet looked like a raw novice against Islington taxi driver Michael Watson - being knocked out by a jab!

He did very well to regroup after everyone wrote him off.

 

Naz was never the same after the Barrera loss .

Canelo was better after the Floyd defeat.

 

David Price seemed to have his confidence shook after the Tony Thompson loss. He eventually would have faltered at top level, but an aggressive, confident Price would have wasted guys like Teper and Hammer.

 

Frank Bruno did well to come back and keep coming back after losing.
The Smith fight was heartbreaking for Terry lawless who wanted to call it a day but Frank regrouped.
Heartbreak again, against Witherspoon.
Then the Tyson fight followed Lewis.

Then finally years after the Smith fight, Bruno wins the WBC Title.

 

Curry was gonna be the man to beat Hagler then was upset by Honeyghan an was never the same again

 

Maybe he became stronger mentally as a person outside the ring but He retired from the ring after young an wasted the next 10 years of what was his prime years

 

Dennis Andries after losing to Thomas Hearns.

 

Prince Naseem Hamed essentially retired after his Barerra loss. He was absolutely broken after that match. He can say that it was problems with his hands (and he could very well have had hand issues), but I will always believe that Barerra exposed him to the point where his passion for boxing was gone and was never to return.

Lennox Lewis came in prepared for both of his rematches after his losses to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman. He was dominating McCall before his mental breakdown and his knockout of Rahman is one of the sickest knockouts ever IMO.

 

True but Foreman said had he carried on after the Jimmy Young fight he'd be dead, I'm not sure what he meant by that. But obviously he was dealing with his demons, and he needed to rebuild himself mentally and physically. And all in all it worked out best as he become a fan favourite in his 2nd career.

 

I wonder if his comment about the post-Young fight era was related to self-harm in a way.

Anyway, it was definitely for the best for him. He emerged from his second career a fan favorite, with his health intact, rich beyond his wildest dreams from the grill endorsement. It would be a rare fighter to be offered a choice of their future, being given the option of Foreman's trajectory, and to say "nah".

 

Foreman wins "better after defeat" hands down.