Name boxers that were never the same after winning a BIG fight

Riddick Bowe never beat another decent opponent ever again after beating Holyfield, but you could mention his third fight against Holy, but Holy was on better form in their second fight. Oliver McCall was a one hit wonder after knocking Lewis out. Bruno only had one decent win on his record then flopped in his first defense, going to retire straight afterwards. Randy Turpin beat Ray Robinson then after losing the rematch fell apart completely, he even killed himself eventually because he couldn`t live without the attention and acclaim he got after winning the middleweight title.

 

Smoking Joe left a fair amount of himself in the ring against Ali in their first bout.

Pryor was never as sharp after that first AA fight.

 

I had Bowe winning the 2nd Holy fight.

 

Mancini after Kim. Mentally he was never the same. Hagler after Mugabi. Gomez after Pintor

 

After Pavlik beat Taylor he never really returned to that form.

 

He got caught with loads of shots in that fight, Holy`s movement confused him.

 

Hagler was starting to slow down by the time he met Mugabi, that`s the fight they made Leonard`s mind up and then decided he could beat Marvin.

 

No kidding

 

Bowe won. Watch it again without bias which seems hard for you to do according to your posts. You also seen easily swayed by what you read like that makes it the truth. It's only some guys opinion remember that.

 

Hagler post Hearns, that fight took a lot out of both of them. Hagler visibly was not the same fighter again.

Sugar Ray Leonard never quite regained his complete form post Finch after his break.

I would go Arguello after the rematch with Pryor. Between the Arguello fights and drugs he was heading down.

Roy Jones Jr post Ruiz i think would be a very good mention. The weight fluctuating, career stage and age caught up very rapidly.

You can name any amount of fighters before the war. Guys like Louis and Conn and dozens of others who happened to be of an age that led to them being noticeably affected.

 

Pernell Whitaker after Chavez. I know he kept winning but I was a big fan and I saw slippage well before the Oscar fight. He was getting knocked down and run close by guys that wouldn't have touched him before.

 

Roy Jones after beating Ruiz. Although it wasn’t from the punishment he took. I think moving down in weight took something out of him (not a discredit to Antonio he just didn’t look the same).

 

Leotis Martin is a rather dark example given his health problems after the bout

Mike Rossman never duplicated a victory comparable to his coup over Galindez

There are only a handful of times I've been more taken aback by the outcome of a fight than Oleg Maskaev's heroic, improbable title win over Hasim Rahman. He had a long (injury induced) layoff, looked
pretty shambolic in beating the distinctly NOT world class Peter Okhello, and then got TKOed by Samuel Peter.

Iran Barkley after his second victory over Hearns, although I give him points for the sheer oddity of beating Gerrie Coetzee when both guys were washed up.

 

Marvin Hagler after Thomas Hearns. He was never active again after that fight and I think the fame he always wanted he got and he didn't have the motivation after. And he was getting older.