Harry Wills had a pretty long undefeated streak until the Sharkey fight, and it was pretty late in his career
Interesting topic. I don't know the longest but Eder Jofre's 25-fight win-streak to end his career is mightily impressive. He moved up from bantamweight, become the Featherweight Champ, beat some quality fighters, and retired with a 12-rounder at 40.
Vitali Klitschko came to mind first with 13 consecutive wins at the end of his career. He was 41 years and 51 days old in his last fight and win.
Kid Chocolate went 25-0-3 his last 28 fights of his career. Not many of them stellar names but his activity was impressive.
I believe George Foreman won 24 in a row to begin his remarkable comeback before losing to Holyfield. Yes, many of them (but certainly not all) were overmatched opponent types and journeymen, but George had been off a long time and ballooned to somewhere around 400 pounds while preaching. To me it was a remarkable approach — he basically took it almost as a re-debut and complete new start. He had to learn what his body could (and could not) do and work his way up to higher competition like a fighter starting a pro career from the first bout. And he had to work his way into shape and shake off a ton of rust. Larry Holmes, to some degree, tried a similar path with success. Most guys when they come back want a win or two and a payday … usually against someone they’re not equipped to fight. Easy touch or two and then a champion or contender. Not George. I don’t even think at first he considered getting into title contention, but somewhere along the way he began to see he still had the goods and could adjust his style to make it work. I think it’s an approach only a heavyweight could take because the right guy with the right constitution, chin and power can get to the top (or at least near it) in the big-boy ranks. A lightweight? No way — the speed and reflex deficiencies become an issue that prevents it (no matter how hard they may still hit). And big men mature later … look at offensive linemen in the NFL, many of whom peak in the early to mid 30s, whereas most other positions are losing everything it takes to success at that level by then. I like that George took a novel approach and broke new ground in how to go about it.
Not when old & limited to 1 x weight division, but from the age of 20 onwards, Benny ended his career around 81-0 in fights contested in & around LW, including 10 x world title wins. Again, not old, but Packey McFarland ended his career 27-0 including newspaper decisions. If it were unbeaten streaks, ending his career 98-0-6 is the most I can think of. As another poster mentioned, Carlos Monzon also deserves a shout. He ended his career 57-0-3, going on to beat the 3 x fighters he drew with in rematches.
Marvin Johnson had a 16 fight winning streak leading up to his final world title (including a victory over future LWH king Charles Williams), I believe it was The Ring's comeback of the year when he won the title against Leslie Stewart. Interesting it was the only time he made a successful defense out of his three reigns.
Shannon Briggs won a bunch of fights and I believe was on streak when he retired in like his mid or late 40’s ? Of course the guys he was beating were basically trial horses but still..
