Saddest Decline Of A Fighter?

I hated seeing Ruben Olivares getting cuffed about by guys that Pancho Rosales wouldn't have brought in as sparring partners during his heyday.

 

Many fighters come to mind for me.
Benitez vs Hamsho and Moore. After watching Benitez give boxing lessons to much better fighters , and to see him lose to that caliber of fighters was heartbreaking.
Aaron Pryor, mainly it was the drugs that ruined him, though I thought he'd still be able to handle a fighter the caliber of Bobby Young,,,, until he lost.
Roberto Duran, prime Duran would've been arrested for murder for fighting the likes of Pazianza, or Laing at one point of his career.
Ray Leonard, all the mutiple layoffs would catch up to him against fighters he certainly beat in his prime in Camacho and Norris.
Larry Holmes,,,, losing to Spinks ,,,, TWICE!!!!!
Ali losing to Berbick,,,, Berbick wouldn't have defeated prime Ali, with Ali only allowed to use his left jab.
Pedroza losing to McGuigan, prime Pedroza doesn't lose to any version of McGuigan.
Arguello losing to Costello until he KO'd him.
Arguello prior to the 1st Pryor fight doesn't lose a round to Costello. The fight wouldn't go beyond the 1st rd in my opinion.
Holyfield losing to Toney, if that wasn't a indication of how far Holyfield was past prime , nothing else was.

 

The sport is filled with an exceptional amount of hardship , tragic stories like perhaps none other ... in my time Ali for sure but so many others .. Joe Frazier mostly blind living in a room above his gym in Philly ....Mathew Saad taking beating after beating from third rate fighters .. Greg Page, horrible. Meldrick Taylor, Rocky Lockeridge ... from the old guys Langford broke and blind and Barbados Joe Walcott mopping floors at MSG ...

 

He was like watching a freakin superhero at his peak. You watched his fights expecting otherworldly performances, for him to make the other guy look like he was standing still or telegraphing every single movement seconds in advance. To watch him go from an absurd talent like that to what he became was sad.

 

It’s always sad no matter who it is. Everyone is going to decline, it’s the circle of life. but I don’t like to see any guy continue at a level he cannot win at no more. Especially if he’s getting beat up for trying to win. That’s tragic. Great fighters or ordinary fighters. They can all be out of their depth.

There’s guys out there who will know it’s over. So they accept the role. Treat each fight as a sparring session. go through the motions. Turn up. Hang in. Get paid for the workout. They know what is expected. The once great fighter who decide they are not getting paid enough to try and win. That’s sad enough in its own way, But the desperate delusional already hurt fighter not accepting that he is now that level, the wanting to go out on a shield each time.. woh. That’s awful.

 

Yes, there's a lot of sad stories out there. It's virtually impossible to single out one over the other.

 

Wilfred Benitez end was sad.

 

I didn't really follow his whole career but looking back at McNeely (peter) him and Tyson are about the same age nowadays, but to look at the hurricane just seems like he aged and withered big time instead of iron Mike. I know they met for a brief moment of time but age hasn't been too good for Peter McNeely. He battled many wars in the ring AND out of the ring with substance abuse.

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Roy Jones, Saad Muhammad, Holyfield.

 

Once a fighter, no matter what stage he is in his career, has “found his level”, especially when he’s on the decline, he should really be saved from taking fights above and beyond where he’s at.

Sad for any fighter who thinks they have to go out “on their shield” each time after they already found their level. It’s like a slow suicide

 

Oscar De La Hoya.

He did well but not enough.

He in some ways was a real “what could’ve been”

Despite his success.

 

He fell off a cliff. He just walked into a crack house and the fighter never came out.

 

One guy that I felt for was Simon Brown. He was a fine Welterweight Champion. Humble and proud but when he lost it watching middleweights KO him kinda sucked. Hopkins 1 punched him and I think David Reid did as well.

He did have his 1 night when he was supposed to be already finished in Mexico against Terry Norris. That was one of my all time favorite upsets. At that time Terry was a little full of himself from beating up past it smaller boxers. Brown still had some pop if you stood in front of him.

 

I remember his loss to Buddy McGirt. Simon Brown was courageous in that one but out of his depth.

 

At that time Simon was champion at 47 and he was a hot fighter. I think he was coming off a KO of his friend Maurice Blocker which unified 2 of the belts.

Buddy just put in a masterpiece boxing lesson. True boxing, not running or holding excessively but he kept Brown off balance.