Fighters who seemed to be 'completely done' but came back and won the title later

Big George looked done after Jimmy Young.

 

This is a slight cop out as Jean Pascal on one lesser versions of an alphabet title, but I have no idea in hell how he beat Marcus Browne and Badou Jack in his last 2 fights. I felt like he should have retired a long time ago, but fair play to the guy for sticking it out.

 

Holyfield in 1994-'95 looked completely done but came back and beat Tyson in 1996.

Tyson Fury looked completely done, more or less, when he was walking around at 380 pounds in 2016-'17, and his first comeback fight back in June 2018 did nothing to dispell that fear.

 

Holyfield in the Czyz fight for me. I watched that bout and was telling everyone how awful he looked that he needs to retire immediately. Then he got the Tyson fight and I felt he wouldn’t last 3 rounds. How wrong I was

 

Duran for me.

 

Holyfield after Bowe 1
Holyfield after Moorer 1
Holyfield after Bowe 3

Looked finished after all three. At least, not likely to regain the title after Bowe 1. Came back each time.

 

By the time Erik Morales tried regaining his 130 lb. title from Manny Pac in 2006, he was looking shaky and looked like he was done after getting stopped in 3. I said at the time he has to retire or risk getting hurt. But he continued on, with mixed results, but actually won a vacant portion of the 140 lb. title 5 years later.

 

Unfortunately, Frankie Duarte should be on this list, but never will be due to robbery.

 

Thomas Hearns a few times. Even after Hagler I wondered, and then especailly after Kinchen he looked like he could not take a punch anymore and he did look finished, and I think Ray Leonard thought he was finished with good reason. And then Tommy came back and fought well and should have won the fight with Ray. And then he looked bad against Olajide and he beat Hill a year later for the 175 pound title. After the second Barkley fight he really was kind of washed up. He still had power, but he would tough fights inbetween easy ones. There was a pattern.

 

Nobody has mentioned Jersey Joe Walcott?

 

Yea that wasn't a total shock at the time but Watching the fight itself you would of thought that Garza had never heard of Rosario. Like you know watch his right.

 

1) Ali (with Spinks II)
2) B-Hopkins (with Cloud)
3) Foreman (with Moorer)
4) L. Lewis (with Rahman)
5) Joshua (with A. Ruiz jr.)
6) Holyfield (with J. Ruiz)

 

I have to disagree on Ali with Spinks II. At the time Spinks' win wasn't really thought of as a fluke, but it was thought that Ali took him lightly. Pre-fight reports said that Ali was taking this bout much more seriously. Meanwhile, Spinks kept having run-ins with the law and seemed out of control. The eleven-year-old me - and by this time I was reading the newpapers, mags, and watching all I could on network TV - was pretty convinced that Ali would win. Las Vegas oddsmakers had Ali favored 2 1/2 - 1.

I'm not sure people totally wrote off Lennox Lewis, either. McCall 1 was, as I recall, seen as an early stoppage and a bump in the road. Mercer was seen as a learning experience. Rahman 1... it was pretty well acknowledged that Lewis didn't take Rahman seriously prior to the fight, electing to appear in Ocean's Eleven (I think that was the movie). Granted, the Rahman loss could've ruined Lewis, and Rahman could have been one of those guys who improved when he won the crown. So in my eyes, at least, the rematch could have gone either way. Vegas favored Lewis 5 - 2.

 

Manny Pacquiao. I didn't think he'd have a prayer vs Thurman, but I'm glad he proved me wrong.