Fighters who got more respect after the way they performed in a loss

Muhammad Ali after the FOTC 1971. Not even his most virulent critic could accuse him of not having a warrior mentality or cast iron jaw after this one.

Sugar Ray Leonard after the Brawl in Montreal. Ray proved that he was tough.

 

Jack Dempsey after the first Tunney loss.

 

Duran vs Hagler
Vargas vs Trinidad
Taylor vs Chavez
Barrera vs Morales I
Morales vs Barrera II
Marquez vs Pac I and II
Foreman vs Holyfield
Morales vs Maidana

 

umm not really

 

Vitali after lewis
Tyson after holyfield
Holyfield after bowe
Whittaker after oscar and tito

 

Charles after Marciano I

Tarver after Jones I

Foreman after Holyfield

Norton after Holmes

Walcott after Louis I

Corbett after Jeffries I

Duran after Hagler

Hearns after Leonard I

 

Yes...Dempsey was accorded more respect and affection from the boxing public,...fans and boxing people alike after losing to Tunney..all encapsulated by his famous remartk to his wife right after the fight.."Honey, I just forgot to duck"..

 

Frazier after Ali, the third time.

 

ross after the armstrong fight. kid chocolate after canzoneri I.

 

Not sure on Ross here, he was all ready respected going into the Armstrong fight with his rule of the divsion, and his victorys over fellow legends.

Ross got pundits for his stand vs Armstrong, but he didnt get respect for it, since he all ready earn it in past fights.

 

he was certainly respected already, i just thought he showed heart and so gained even more respect for this effort. maybe respect is the wrong word though...

 

i just re-read your post. interesting. maybe respect is something that someone either has, or doesn't. i've always thought that respect is a matter of degree i.e. someone can be more or less respected than someone else, and the respect that someone commands can increase or decrease. hmmm.

 

I think Ross will still be a all time great even with out the Armstrong lost, sure the lost really show what kinda of a chin he had, BUT he did face punchers before Armstrong, non of em gave him the beating Armstrong did though.

But he would make my top ten p4p on his rule of the welterweights, 3 time divsions champion, beating top fighters and legends. He was all ready a legend before the Armstrong fight. He did beat p4p number 1 Tony Caniz not once, but 2 times. (The myth of Robinson being p4p is false. That started way back with Fitz. After Fitz, Greb, Benny Leonard, Tony Canzi, Walker, Ross, Armstrong, than Robinson(and a few others) got the top spot pre dated Robinson)

 

yeah, similar to what we learnt about whitaker when he fought trinidad. admittedly, not a legacy-breaker, but still a positive, for me anyway.

 

Didn't last long, but Yuri Forman' new-found fan respect after his gallant one-legged effort against Cotto.