fighter i've seen recover the best from an ugly loss: Badou Jack

Froch as well. After the loss to Ward it was pretty much beat Bute or retire and he stormed back to blow away Bute. He went on to have his best wins and make the most money after the loss to Ward.

 

Tony Crolla deserves a mention here. After seeing him crushed by Derry Mathews back in 2012, few would have expected he could reach a point where he'd be able to compete and go 12 with a Jorge Linares. And that Mathews loss was neither his first nor his last setback prior to winning a title belt. It's been far from an even road for Crolla, but he's gotten the absolute maximum out of his abilities by way of a great output of dedication and resilience.

 

I like the shout and I like Zab myself and can definitely ride with your argument. But when a fighter is as naturally gifted as Judah was, and said fighter knows it, how can they not keep entering the ring and betting on themselves and talents regardless of how many times they fell down the same well? Fortitude is the inner strength and refusal to kick it in, in-test - and all boxing matches are a test. To me, it loses some value when it's shown in between the tests. But for sure, he deserves his respect, I just wouldn't class him with some of these other guys.

 

Well, though I agree that there are nominations which should take precedence over Zab, the thread specifically concerns the matter of bouncing back from ugly defeats. To read an average forum thread on Judah, one might get the impression he was an absolute good-for-nothing outside of his natural talent, so it just occurred to me that he was a better shout here than we might typically give him credit for. Sometimes a good look back over a career can lead to a modest but meaningful re-evaluation of a fighter.

And he did show considerable in-fight fortitude at times in his career, most memorably in its twilight when he hung in there after being hurt by Matthysse, scored the KO under duress against Kaiser Mabuza and endured a beating from Danny Garcia to come on late in their fight. That's interesting and instructive to me, because it shows our folly as fans that we should be so ready to let a prizefighter be defined by an appearance of weakness on a given night in a given stage of his career, when so much can depend on where a man is at circumstantially (see Oliver McCall's vividly contrasting showings in his bouts with Lennox Lewis, years apart). It also makes the consistency of those who are able to go to the well and give their all with absolute stoicism each and every time out all the more remarkable and appreciatable.

There have been many talented men who lacked the grit and guts to make something of it - do we ever consider that sparkling talent can be a deception, with just as much potential to afflict men with the burden of unreasonable expectations as to reward them with the glory of great accomplishment? I don't think Zab's talent should deduct credit from any resilience he's shown across the course of his two decades in the sport.

 

I really want and hope Erickson Lubin recovers from his loss to Jermell Charlo. I think he has way too much to offer the sport and don't want to see it go to waste over one fight against an excellent fighter when he was 22 years old.

 

Any word on jack versus Adonis yet?

 

Jack is roided to the gills.
Surprising under mayweather he suddenly has amazing powers of recovery.

 

Your first loss and the way you come back from it defines many fighters. It what makes a man in this sport IMO. If you lose your confidence and can't bounce back it shows you're not cut out for boxing.

 

Daniel Jacobs

 

Lomachenko?

 

Dennis Andries. He absorbed a brutal battering from Thomas Hearns and
his first fight with Jeff Harding was pure savagery. Despite these two heavy
defeats he came back to beat Harding in rematch and regain the title.

 

Andy Lee

 

Cotto post Margarito was never the same as the human wrecking ball at 140, but he overcame a devastating loss reasonably well.

 

A lot of the guys being listed were already ranked and champions at the times of their early ugly loss. Jack was not touted by anyone other than some TMT cheerleaders. Nobody on here thought he would recover to accomplish anything worthy of discussion all these years later. The opposite is true for many other names being thrown around. Even more impressive for Jack. Dude has compiled quite a run since what seemed to be the derailment of the train.

 

One punch ko is not nearly as damaging as a sustained beating like bowe took against golota or Taylor against Chavez....