The "took his soul" argument

You've gotta love what Alvarez did. Jab straight to the belt, pause, overhand right...Kovalev got drilled becuase his hands dropped after the jab.

 

definately loved alvarez...it was beautiful

 

Yes , its either physical or mental damage , not much more to it than those two factors.

 

Took his soul is just another way of saying took another fighters confidence when things get rough.

..and it's true. Some guys after a loss can bounce back like it never happened or come back stronger.. others whither when things get rough again like that prior loss is still on their mind.

It's really no different from guys with bad hands being scared to crack again as they fear they will break them again. It's just a way of saying a guy questions himself... in this case because of a prior loss or beatdown.

 

Lot of sensitive feelings on here today it seems

 

It's about breaking confidence and the sense of invincibility. It's a thing.

 

You can add Mosely after the first Forrest fight and Jones after the Tarver konkckout to that list. Both fighters had great instincts and once their instincts failed them, they just were never the same fightrs.

 

Reckon it's Marciano old.

Fun fact, something like 25 of Marciano's 49 wins would retire five fights or less after facing Marciano.

 

My day has been made.....

 

Yes, this is kind of bull****. Because even now, for example, after the loss to Alvarez, Kovalev is in denial — that means his soul is quite ok. Ward just showed a way how to beat Kovalev.

 

I agree, some fighters never seem to recover from a certain loss whether it be losing to a master class performance or a brutal KO. Also punch resistance can be damaged from certain KO losses for future bouts.
Sometimes these fighters can be impressive before the loss and I guess could have possibly gone further if not having had that loss to that opponent at that time

I think also a loss can sometimes cause a temporary dip in form as history has shown, maybe before the psychological scars have healed

 

Without confidence a boxer is nothing.

 

Some fighters come back stronger after a loss. They take the loss so hard they never want to feel that again.

Some fighters learn to live with losing. They lose, get over it, and they learn that losing is no big deal. So, next fight comes and when they going gets too tough, they know it's ok to give in to defeat.