Name boxers who won their 1st title fight while being clearly past their prime

Lets talk Alberto Davila.

@roughdiamond - Care to have a go at the years?

 

Well I'd say Davila's best showcase performance was against Duarte. I think that was '77? He won the title, finally, in '84 I believe. You could argue he was at least 3+ years past prime I guess, but @scartissue would probably be better to ask.

 

Yeah he was still fighting at a high level but i reckon he'd been slipping a little for a while. Most definitely wasn't peak.

 

It's all ones opinions, of course. But the first Duarte fight would be close to where Davila was peaking IMO. I always felt the Rodolfo Martinez/Carlos Zarate fights were Davila at his zenith. His speed of combos were intense at this time. I think by the time he won the title - although still fast - he wasn't quite the ring general with loss of foot speed, but he really became a good body-puncher as evidenced in his win over Enrique Sanchez. Again, just my opinion. He had many great performances and the second Pintor fight was also one of them.

 

isn't there some question as to Liston's actual age at that time?

 

Glen Johnson

 

More of a late bloomer. He wasn’t even training full time earlier in his career.

 

Corrie Sanders

 

Harsh to call Bruno a bum.Maybe not the best but he had loads of courage

 

Sakio Bika.

He was the first who came to my mind. I felt he had his best days in the era where he fought Calzaghe, Bute etc past his best won a title vs. Rubio, I felt he also beat Anthony Dirrell the first time and gave Adonis Stevenson a tough fight.

 

Levander Johnson

 

Frank Bruno.

 

Did he even have a prime?

 

Katie Taylor

 

Jack Johnson was already thirty with many bouts and miles under his belt ..

Buster Drayton