Prediction: What fighters star will fall in the next few Decades?

Good call on Iron Mike. I think his star fades because folks will look at his short frame and think he would not match up w/ bigger heavies like we have presently and I'm certain, for the future. And he was stopped quite a few times.

Roy Jones. Because of the way he went out. Regardless of age, too many koby results from less than terrific fighters.

DLH. Not as sure about him as the other 2, but I think his close calls and losses don't put him in top tier status ina few decades.

Commander Vander. Just too many losses as a heavy will dwarf the accomplishments of him as a cruiser. And what a terrific cruiser he was. What a pleasure it was watching him clean out the division. He fought everyone and got rid of all the old names. If the guy stayed there, he may have been like 45-2 or something with 30 or 35 title fights to his credit.

 

Frazier

 

Actually disagree on Roy Jones. I think because his decline was so sudden and shocking, rather than gradual like we expect with most all time greats, there was a severe overreaction by his harshest critics from 2004 up until a couple of years back or so. You could argue that, even before the decline, people calling him the all-time greatest when he beat Ruiz in 2003 were going over the top, and as a result those on the other side of the fence went too far in going the other way and picking his legacy apart.

Now, with a bit more time to reflect, I think more people are appreciating how special he was and the magnitude of his accomplishments. I don't think his torrid run over the past few years will (or should) count against him too much. Ezzard Charles had a similarly horrible, sudden and steep decline near the end of his career and it's never held against him, as most are sensible enough to acknowledge that he was a long way removed from his best and that those results were in no way reflective of his real abilities. Same thing should apply to Jones.

Roy not quite in that absolute highest echelon like Ezzard is, but I reckon in a few decades time history will still be very, very impressed with him.

 

I don't think Roy Jones should punished for suffering losses well beyond his prime.

Evander Holyfield is one of my favorite fighters of all time and always will be. But at the moment, he's dangling at the bottom of a lot of top 10's, and as time goes on, I think he'll likely get bumped off of most of them. Larry Holmes is still secure in my top five. Its going to take a lot more than what we've seen over the past 20 years to get him off of there.

 

Muhammad Ali
He's being glorified as a sports god. He has nowhere to go but down.

 

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Yeah, Ali.

 

Who did Holyfield beat?

 

Mike Tyson. As he fades more from the public eye, the mythos of his fighting persona will also fade from public memory. On paper his resume isn't ATG worthy.

 

BillB's comments are interesting and they have an undeniable logic to them, but I think it might be a while before boxing folks begin to look askance at his boxing record.

We're seeing more and more backlash here over time about him as a person, which is probably justified if what we read is to be believed. THAT much I can certainly see. Then of course, he'll leave us, and the love-fest will start anew.

But I do think his skills and list of scalps at heavy easily eclipse everyone else's.

 

Mayweather.

People are tearing holes out of his resume right now, and he's active.

 

Tyson. He lost his biggest fights, and is also remembered for the Douglas upset loss.