Greatest Performance Of An "Aged Fighter ''?

I agree it should have been FOTY. It is, to this day, one of the best technical battles at HW on film. If you wanted to show someone unfamiliar with the sport two HW fights for them to appreciate the different ends of the sport, I'd show them Foreman-Lyle and Holmes-Norton.

 

I agree, excellent post.

I'm from the UK & whilst driving with a colleague a few months ago we were listening to Talksport and there was a section where both presenters had to nominate their 5 greatest British boxers of all time. I can't remember the exact 5 each picked, but discussions centered around Lewis, Calzaghe, Benn, Eubank, Froch & Naz.

I told my colleague none would be top 3 for me (Fitz, Wilde & TKL, btw). He asked who my number 1 was & hadn't heard of Bob. The best way I could think of to explain why I ranked him so highly was, it took c.80-years of boxing before the LHW World Champion became the HW World Champion, despite multiple great LHW champions getting shots, when Spinks beat a faded 35-year old Holmes in a close fight, and it hasn't been done since. Yet, Fitz was a MW world champion who had already become HW champ over 80-years earlier. Then, at the age of 41, which is probably equivalent of about 48 or 49, he beat an ATG to became LHW champion.

The only argument I'd entertain for Fitz not being the greatest British P4P fighter of all time is if you don't conisder him British. Otherwise he's a lock for me.

 

Great post. When it comes to who “owns”’him, some might consider Fitz a “bitza” - Brit, Kiwi, Aussie and American.

Like later career Joe Bugner - I think it’s obvious that Fitz should be deemed an Aussie - that’s where he cut his teeth as a fighter in his formative years.

I am kidding of course - well sorta . Ha.

A fighter can be viewed as always developing and learning - and that includes developing even more among a better quality and more competitive field of fighters - wherever the bulk of that field resides.

Not sure but has relatively inactive, 33 yo Corbett’s effort in the first Jeffries’ fight been mentioned? Not too shabby.

 

First came to mind for me was Jofre. Had a great run post retirement when coming back

 

A very underrated win ... Peter is written off a a nothing now but for a while he was a legit force and Vitali came back from injuries and a long layoff to dice him up ... a terrific win in my opinion ...

 

I wouldn't call this a greatest performance by Jack 'Kid' Berg, afterall, he had engaged Canzoneri and Chocolate a number of times by this time, but his fight with Tippy Larkin needs to be looked at. An old 30 years old with about 165 fights behind him, Berg was really a well-chewed caramel by this time. Conversely, Larkin was hot and on a 27 bout unbeaten streak before Berg broke the streak winning a 10-round decision. Now, full disclosure, boxrec says Larkin hurt his hand in the 1st round, but then said he went all out for a KO in the 9th and 10th but Berg stayed with him. Usually with stories like this you wonder about the truth in them, however, Larkin did take a break of 5 months after this bout. That in itself was unusual for fighters back then, especially since he had already fought 4 times that year and when he returned in November he had two more fights. He was very active so an injury could be legit. But Berg was still in the ring with the KO artist and still had to fend for himself in there. No mean feat and it wasn't his fault Larkin hurt his hand (well, maybe it was, how dare he have such a hard head). The old dude still had to work his way to a win and I was always impressed with the win by a fighter clearly on the down side against a streaking contender.

 

Neat post buddy, I prefer the lesser known fights and fighters in almost any topic, the endless squabbles on here re: Marciano, Greb, Ali, and most recently Dempsey, soooo tiresome, refreshing that you should throw some light on Berg, and in particular Larkin, of whom we have read very little about, well done, btw there is film of his fight with Graham on YT, so yes more please on the lessers, example's would be :
Harlem Tommy Murphy , Ever Hammer, Augie Ratner, Solly Krieger, Buck Crouse, Chuck Wiggins, Silent Martin, KO Chaney, etc.
stay safe hombre.

 

So true Mike.

Posts illuminating me to less familiar fights and fighters have often triggered me into some quick research for further and better education.

 

Wada****ingpostcheers

 

100%. BHOP didn't just win fights in his 40's, he dominated world champions like Taver and Pavlik.

 

My dad had that on vhs I remember the recording starting with mercer breaking damianis nose

 

For me it was when Hopkins beat Jean Pasquel, their second fight. Hopkins won the fight easy at age 47 and late in the fight he started doing push-ups between rounds mocking him lol.

 

Two of my favourites would be Nelson, aged 37, coming back after 19 months of inactivity to properly whip Ruelas and Leija back-to-back. Not many were backing him after the way his first two fights against them had gone.