Fighters that burned out early due to gym wars?

Meldrick Taylor and G-man comes to mind.

 

Good shout on G-Man, sparring heavyweights without headgear ain't a good idea.

 

If I'm not mistaken Pryor sustained an eye injury in sparring.
I think it happened before the Arguello rematch.

Sparred with everybody - lightweights, middleweights, cruserweights.

 

Roy Williams?

 

1970s HW Tiger Williams? No, I don't think so. In his final defeat and only stoppage loss, he came back from a hellacious sustained hammering of Shavers rights to the body to nearly top Earnie in the final round. He then won the final seven bouts of his career over the next three years, six by knockout. Fili Moala, Walter Santemore and Walter Moore were decent heavyweights to close out with wins against.

"I wouldn't drive through Philadephia, because I was afraid of running into Williams!"-Earnie Shavers. Holmes admits that Tiger also made him **** bricks.

What sometimes cost him in competition was too much of a sparring partner's mentality, but the 6 foot tall Shavers, even with an 80 inch reach, had substantial difficulty reaching the head of the 6'5" Williams. Roy retired after knocking out the 6'5" Santemore in five. Three years later, the oft knocked out Santemore would decision Earnie in ten for his final big win, suggesting Shavers never really resolved the issue of a five inch height deficit. Nobody as short as Earnie ever stopped Santemore. In his 11 losses inside the distance, everybody aside from the 6'1" Adilson Rodriguez ranged in height from 6'3" to 6'10."

Tiger didn't burn out because of gym wars, he gave up because everybody was afraid of him. He was the apex predator of the Philly gym ring.

Because guys like Wepner and Williams were so tall by the standards of their era, I think that spared them of a certain degree of brain trauma, as those they sparred with and fought against usually concentrated on their bodies. His other defeats were decision losses to the 6'5" Jeff Merritt, the 6'5" Larry Middleton, the 6'4" Richard Dunn [who really confused Williams with his southpaw jab], and 6'3" master boxing veteran Henry Clark [towards the conclusion of his final winning streak]. There seemed to be a real difference between 6'4" and 6'5" when it came to height helping a heavyweight avoid hard head shots from shorter heavyweights during that era. [Dunn was china chinned, but a decently skilled southpaw with good footwork who only lost one decision, an early eight rounder to rival Billy Aird later avenged over ten in their third and final bout. I think I'd take Richard over fellow china chinned Brit Jack Bodell, on account of his greater height and Bodell's two left feet.]

 

A perfect first reply to this thread, which should prompt us to look for exceptions outside Philly.

Followed immediately by an ideal example far away from the mecca of boxing gym wars.

Both Mike and Jerry were coerced into taking punches at far too early an age, when their brains were developing and their skulls to soft. Jerry stated after their dementia first surfaced, but while still cognizant, that he and his brother simply were not old enough to validly consent to what they were being forced into doing by paternal decree.

That brings us to a trio of brothers in Puerto Rico who got whacked too much at too early an age by resentful veteran sparring partners much older and more physically mature than they were, Wilfredo, Frankie, and Gregorio Benitez Jr.

Gregorio, Jr. was retired by his ring-dad father from hell with a 20-2-0 record at 17 years and eight months of age. Before he was out of his 20s, signs of pugilistica dementia had already surfaced in him. Brother Wilfredo was three months younger than that when he defeated Cervantes for his first title after 25 professional bouts, preceded by 144 amateur matches, a number comparable to Gregorio, Jr.'s total of amateur bouts.

Was Wilfredo already terminally brain damaged when he stepped into the ring against Cervantes? This little kid was forced to spar with the likes of Serrano, DeJesus, Angel Espada and Escalera. Monstrous.

Frankie also became brain damaged after a similar number of amateur bouts to what his brothers had, followed by 33 additional professional contests before retiring midway between his 20th and 21st birthdays.

So right there, we seen one common reason for fighters burning out early due to gym wars. They are simply too young and underdeveloped when those wars begin. Kids should not be forced to compete with punches to the head before they are old enough to consent, and their brains developed enough that they do not sustain damage during the process of neurological growth.

Many ATGs with noted professional longevity and extended neurological well being made a volitional choice to take up the sport while relatively mature. Jack Britton didn't start until his 20th year, then kept on going until he was 45. Archie Moore began around the same age. Greb started punch for pay around 19. Marciano and Weaver were old enough to discover their punching ability when they slugged other servicemen while in the military. Foreman was big enough and strong enough to handle himself when he took up boxing. He wasn't a little kid. Neither was Frazier, who like Pastrano, took up boxing to lose weight.

Armstrong was 18, and never lost his marbles. Panama Al Brown started just before turning 20. Emile Griffith was approaching 20. What triggered his decline wasn't something that happened in the ring, but what happened when he was jumped and viciously beaten almost to the point of death in 1992. False claims of death from pugilistica dementia are always inserted into obituaries by boxing abolitionists.

Pep was 84 when he died. By that age, how can one assert whether or not boxing induced trauma is responsible? [Willie began amateur boxing at 15, then turned pro at the same age El Radar dethroned Pambele at, so he didn't begin at as insanely early an age as the Benitez and Quarry brothers. Camacho, Sr. also undertook amateur boxing at 15, followed by turning professional at 18, albeit preceded by an impressive street fighting background. But adults forcing prepubescent kids to get punched in competition is criminal, period.]

Len Wickwar is noted for the record number of bouts he had, 454 matches before turning 30 alone. One might assume he was just a baby when he started, but he was actually closer to 18 than Benitez was against Cervantes.


Ray Leonard is also reported to possibly be an example of ring war burnout. It's one thing to train hard, but that's no substitute for official competition before a live paying audience. However, SRL reportedly did have real fights replicated behind closed doors in successful preparation for Hagler after what was essentially a five year layoff, and this wouldn't be the only time Ray did this. He might have shortened his career with ring wars we never saw.