Fighters That Went Downhill, After Suffering A First Defeat?

Fair enough.

I suspect our views aren't wildly different. I think the absolute apex of Cotto's career was pre-Margarito 1. I don't think he was exactly the same post that terrible beating. I still consider him a quality fighter for a time after it and acknowledge he went on to have some good wins.

If you feel he was still improving post Margarito 1, or was exactly equal to his absolute peak after it, fair enough, we can agree to disagree.

 

That's fair enough you know me i'm pretty fair and always look at both sides, if you want to come to an agreement. You could say Cotto may of had something taken out of him after the Margarito fight.

But i still think his losses after the Margarito fight, were due to him fighting tougher opposition aka Mayweather, Pacquiao, rather than him being seriously effected by his 1st loss to Margarito. And i'll stick by what i said about Clottey who i think is underrated.

But overall i agree with most of what you said, and i don't think we need to continue this discussion anymore no offence intended.

 

Agreed

 

Michael Grant

 

John Mugabi

 

Donald Curry is an obvious one after he got beat by Honeyghan.

Guillermo Rigondeaux and Yuriorkis Gamboa both fell off the rails after their first defeat.

 

I remember how highly regarded Juan Manuel Lopez was for a time and was pegged as the next Trinidad. All that came crashing down after he got beat by Orlando Salido twice and from there on he was never the same fighter.

 

Oh, man, I thought I remembered a particular undefeated fighter, but as it turns out he wasn't. It was Dana Roston, a hot featherweight prospect but he was 14-1-1 when the boxing gods decided to throw him out of Asgard. The future looked so bright for him. He had beaten Louie Espinoza, Lenny Valdez and Adrian Arreola. He was being featured regularly on ESPN and had just beaten journeyman Rocky Garcia when he yells into the post-fight mic, "I'm tired of fighting this sh*t!" Well his career took a '180' and he finished his career with a final record of 16-29-2. Talk about a complete vertical drop.

 

I remember being quite high on Lopez after he destroyed Ponce De Leon, but then he showed some vulnerability against Mtagwa. And then Salido pretty much took his soul in both fights, that was literally the definition of a slugger over coming the more skillful boxer just sheer will over skill.

 

Don't forget that he got beat by Salido twice in his hometown. Salido really took his soul and destroyed any hopes of an anticipated fight between Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa. It was quite shocking to see Lopez's skills eroded so heavily. He started out as a technical boxer puncher to becoming a one dimensional puncher later on.

 

Not a world beater by any means but Owen Beck. After he loss to Monte Barrett he became absolutely horrendous, even from a journeymen standpoint.

 

Don't think have seen mention of David Reid, Audley Harrison, David Price or Jorge Luis Gonzalez. Someone like Gonzalez the signs and issues were present and building throughout his career

I think that it perhaps falls into two categories (a) those fighters who were affected physically or psychologically by a hard fought loss and then never the same (b) those for other reasons like age, not being able to win when stepping up just having reached a certain level, having too many miles on the clock, perhaps poorly managed. Some have other issues that all finally cone to a head so perhaps it's not the loss itself but just a matter of time.

 

Quite a few, Alex Ramos and Milton McCrory come to mind, as well as Jeff Chandler, though to Jeff's credit, didn't try to comeback, or remain around for the inevitable.

 

I never thought Wilfred Benitez was the same once he lost his 'O'.

Wilfredo was far greater.

 

Robert Mullins