can a shot fighter return to his original prime

Sometimes it can appear so due to selective matchmaking, but as soon as a big money fight happens against a good fighter in HIS prime , it all comes out in the wash. Example, Roger Mayweather beat a couple of "B" grade Mexican fighters to get the attention of Julio C. Chavez for a rematch. What happened? Roger got the beating of his life, & hanged them up...

 

Can you imagine being able to jump in on a professional boxer and throw 2 left hooks while holding your right hand above your head???? Roy Jones was a freak of nature :deal

 

A fighter can never return to his original prime but that doesn't mean he cannot have success later in his career. He just has to use other things such as ring intelligence and perhaps an assortment of veteran tricks to compensate for the physical attributes that have diminished.

 

Well, I think that if he does return to a very good form, he wasn't shot, just out of shape. Take Tarver, for example. It turns out that his poor performances were due mostly to the fact that he was ill-prepared for the challenge in front of him. With much better preparation, he still looked faded, but not shot.

On the other hand, if you take Hopkins, who was in the best possible shape against Calzaghe, he was clearly badly faded, and there's nothing that can be done to change that, it seems; it's just age, taking its toll.

 

Not sure about going back to original prime but I am convinced that the 1996 Holyfield was better in many aspects compared to his prime 92 version.

 

Foreman did.

 

He reinvented himself. He never returned to his prime. The Foreman that destroyed Frasier would destroy the one that beat Moorer.

 

Yes.

Definition of shot: When a loss occurs.

Lewis was pre-prime against McCall (equivalent of shot) and past his prime v Rahman (shot).
He was fine after McCall though.

 

dont forget to mention the gift MD he got against alex stewart when in reality it should have been a stoppage loss for Foreman cuz he got brutalized in that fight

 

I don't think a fighter can return to their prime, if they could it wouldn't be their prime. I do think they can become extremely effective again, using other skills and experience. I think Hopkins, Foreman, Holmes, and others have shown this.

 

ok...but at what point would you say he was 'shot' ?

 

Casamayor is still very very shot. He got a gift wrapped decision against Santa Cruz and went life and death with a limited sort of fighter in Katsidis.

It's even more impressive than returning to his original prime because he's still able to get it done with nothing left.

 

He lost every round against Moorer before he knocked him out.
He should've lost against ordinary Axl Schulz.
He lost (but should've won) against Shannon Briggs.

-> He didn't.

 

Toney wasn't really shot, but almost everyone wrote him off after the Thadzi fight. He had to take the long, hard way back to the top to become the CW-champ against Jirov.

 

Bradock never reached his prime before he fought Max Baer.
He worked, never trained properly, and fought to eat..
His experience and heart carried him.
And proper training , with proper diet and rest did not come until he was training for Baer.