Fighters you felt retired too early?

1) Foreman after Jimmy Young

2) Prime Tyson for arrest

3) Ibeabuchi for arrest

3) Billy Collins Jr after the infamous fight with Resto

4) McClellan after Benn

 

Yeah, a bit higher than Dempsey

 

One of the magazines kept Foreman in their top-10 for a good year and a half after losing to Jimmy Young. When a reader wrote in questioning why Foreman was still ranked despite having retired more than a year prior, the editor responded with something like, "28 year old former champions don't retire and stay retired. Foreman will be back."

As the years rolled on by we'd occasionally see an update on Reverend George. He'd inevitably say, "Nah, I'm never coming back to boxing." And I'd think to myself how the editor of the boxing magazine was wrong. Then George started his "ill-advised joke of a comeback" at an "ancient" 38 years old.

If Foreman hadn't come back we'd look at him a lot differently now. While I don't have any sources handy, I do remember reading the occasional "greatest all-time heavyweights" article and George was certainly not the top-10 (or top-5) guy we see him as now. It was like he was seen as a bully who caved when the pressure was on; who didn't have the intestinal fortitude to be an all-time-great.

I don't know if he retired too early. I think he needed that time to get his head together. But was there ever a more successful comeback as far as repairing, enhancing, and cementing a reputation as an all-time-great?

 

Does it count when you’re beaten into retirement?

 

Marlon Starling. The last years of his career were really weird. As soon as he established himself as the top welterweight in the world, he jumped up to middleweight to face the guy who was considered the top middleweight in the world, resulting in a terrible fight and MD loss. Then he dropped twelve pounds in four months to defend his WW title, and lost another MD, this time in a better fight. That was it for him.

What's weird is that he openly stated that he was in it for the money and looking for a big fight, but he packed it in when he still could have made some money in the sport.

 

And he was right. But Foreman did return too late, i would have loved that Foreman was around between 1978- 1985.
He would have won one of the belts for sure.
Shavers,cooney,Norton,Berbick,weaver, cobb, Tate,Leon,all them are ****ed with George in the map. And young was finished at that time, however the power and chin of george were intact. The only tests for George were larry Holmes and spoon also would give a decent fight.

 

I would never criticise a fighter for retiring, and better a dozen fights too soon, than one too late...

But in the spirit of the thread, I always wondered what Micheal Spinks could have done had he sorted that knee out. Tyson aside, he would have been pick-em at worse against any other Heavyweight in the late 80s.

 

Fair play to him. I couldn't bear Naseem when he was fighting but have heard on a few occasions that, away from being the Prince, he's quite a nice, humble guy. This quote shows that side to him.

And, I say this through gritted teeth, he deserved to earn big money. He was a bloody good fighter - he could easily have been the greatest British fighter ever - and an even better showman.

 

Bouncing Frazier around will always be a major boxing accomplishment.

He cemented his legacy right then and there. Coming back and winning title again at 45 reaffirmed his absolute greatness.

 

I have always felt that he was totally and completely embarrassed by Barrera that he could not come back in the ring and have something like that happen again. He was done.

His tremendous ego was crushed that fight. It was probably the best thing for him as a person. Humbling.

 

Steve Collins should not have retired when he did - only 12 days before a WBO Title defence against Calzaghe.

Regardless of whether he could have gone on to achieve more than he did or been more successful, the fact that he pulled out at such short notice and retired instead was just a bad look at the time, made worse by how successful Calzaghe went on to be.

 

Johnny Famechon.

Retired after losing the Featherweight title in a close fight to the great Vincente Saldivar at the age of 25. A return bout would have been a natural and he’d have fitted into the mix with Shibata, Jofre, Legra again and Marcel no worries in my opinion.

A very good boxer who was never stopped and was still absolutely world class when he walked away with his looks and health intact.

 

Mike Tyson, after all he's making a comeback at 53 and will beat Wilder and Fury....

 

Collins was pissed off to begin with because he believe he'd fulfilled his contractual obligations for the year as champion and the fight in September of 1997 was a optional one which he didn't want to take, but Frank Warren believed the contract stipulated that the September fight was mandatory and the WBO sided with him.

Collins was on holiday at the time he recieved the news and wasn't pleased by it. He then turned up at the press conferance announcing the fight just to storm out like a diva in protest about it.

He'd already told the press by this point that he no motivation for any fight that wasn't against Roy Jones Jr.

Days before his scheduled fight with Calzaghe he pulled out injured due to an abscess on is right foot and doctors advice not to fight for six weeks. Warren initially announced this meant that Collins was going to be stripped of the WBO Title but the WBO confirmed that he would remain their champion provided he fought the winner of Calzaghe/Eubank within 90 days - Calzaghe/Eubank would be an interim title fight in the meantime.

Shortly thereafter Collins announced his retirement as a fighter, saying that he was only interesting in continuing on as a fighter if he could face of Roy Jones Jr, and as there was no chance of that happen he saw no other alternative than to retire. He'd claimed he'd been considering retirement for a year by that point and Calzaghe, he said, was a good up-and-comer but he was essentially a nobody who would get him no closer to his fight with Jones.

In 1999 Collins considered a comeback but collapsed in sparring and gave it up.

 

It's the primary reason so many get into it in the first place. Take away the money and very few will still be getting into that ring to take punishment, and that includes several of the ATGs that are known for their heart and warrior attitude.

In response to the thread, I don't think any retired "too early." Fighters retire when they don't want to fight anymore or when something occurs where they're no longer able to. It's totally unreasonable to go "oh well they would've had a great fight against these two guys had they stuck around" because those fights are very taxing on their bodies and it isn't some video game or movie where things are done only for the fun of those who aren't actually in it.

There was a post earlier that said get in, make you money, and get out. That is absolutely perfect. Fighting is a job for most of the guys in the business. I saw Hagler mentioned earlier...he did it perfect. He was in the sport and made a career of it making as much money as possible. He began to decline and finally lost a decision that pissed him off. When he didn't get a rematch there was no more motivation for him and he'd already made his money so he retired. No reason for a guy like Hagler to be thinking "oh, the fans would really like me to square up with Michael Nunn" or "I better go to war with some up and coming lion because it'd make a great show for the fans"