Can you name high level fighters who looked out of shape or have come into a fight out of shape? I can only think of a few who, based on their standards, came into the ring not looking 100 percent. Oscar de la Hoya - when he fought Felix Sturm Lennox Lewis - against Vitali Roy Jones Jr. - when he fought above 175 James Toney - the last couple of years of his career Ricardo Mayorga Fernando Vargas Erik Morales You would have never believed these fighters would ever come with a belly into a prize fight but at some point they did. You could argue that this happened late in their career but based on their standards it could be argued is inexcusable. I excluded a few names such as George Foreman, Chis Arreola, Julio Cesar Chavez, James Kirkland to name a few. They were either known to 'look' out of shape or they were known to come into the ring with some weight on. I have NEVER seen Floyd, Manny, Bernard, and many others come into a fight with some kind of belly.
Chad Dawson against Ward, Blades, and his most recent fight too... Dereck Chisora and Tyson Fury have both battled their physical shape/conditioning their whole career but perhaps they are too well known to qualify here.
Only one I can really think of that was out of shape when they were on top is Toney. If youre not in shape then youre no longer a top fighter but he was always the exception. The thing that gets me is a few years back when guys like Camacho jr and Bojado used to come in the ring in their early 20's looking like a 40 year old Duran physically. Aint no excuse for that. Nowadays everybodys on PEDS so we dont have to se that anymore lol
Corrie Sanders and especially Kirk Johnson against Vitali Klitschko. Buster Douglas against Evander Holyfield. You can argue over what is "top tier", but Douglas was the defending UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. Disgraceful. Sanders had just dominated the consensus 2nd best HW in the world and was fighting for recognition (at least by The Ring) as the true HW champion of the world. He wasn't as fat as Douglas, but he was heavy and huffing and puffing as early as the 2nd round I believe. It wasn't fought at a consistent fast pace, there were good spurts of action here and there, and it looked like he spent the rest of the fight doing nothing so he could save his energy for those spurts. Kirk Johnson was a top 10 contender and fighting a title eliminator. As Larry Merchant said, "that whale has just been harpooned". Getting your ass kicked is nothing to be ashamed of, but at least be professional and get in good shape. Rid**** Bowe constantly was heavy for fights, especially against Andrew Golota the first time. Both he and Evander Holyfield had gained 11-12 lbs from their first fight to the second fight. Problem was, Holyfield looked like he mostly put on muscle and water, Bowe looked like he just got extra flabby. Jim Lampley commented that "both fighters are clean livers" early on and George Foreman comments "I don't know, it looks like Bowe's been eating too many pork chops and spare ribs". Still, Bowe showed a high workrate, throwing a lot more punches than Evander, and finished strong, hurting a tired Holyfield in the waning seconds of the fight, so maybe it didn't have an effect. Then again, maybe it did play a big role, being as the fight was so close and decided by the closest of margins on the official cards.
