What Are Some Of The Saddest Endings To Careers?

LOL..... Bro, you've just described the happenings during Tyson vs Douglas and Golota vs Bowe 1.

 

Do we count this as "sad" or CRIMINAL? (Criminal as in people being jailed for premeditation.):

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The closeup footage taken by the cameraman from the ring apron has been suppressed, but was he among those who should have become convicted felons?

Even if Jerry had retired after wiping out Shavers, his fate was already long sealed. Either he or brother Mike expressed that they weren't old enough to validly consent to what they were being made to do when they were made to pick up gloves as toddlers by their father Jack. As the human brain continues growing and developing up to age 20, I do think there should be a limit on how old one must be before validly consenting to be punched in the head.

It does merit mention that Bobby Quarry only began boxing at 19, then quickly deteriorated into retirement at age 29 after only eight amateur bouts (going 6-2) and a 10-12-2 pro career. (He did provide at least one lucid interview when he was 56, in February 2019. That could well be the last thing ever publicly known of Bobby until he passes.)

Mike Quarry did permanently walk away from boxing at 31, and died 24 years later, where Jerry took on Cranmer at 47 and died half a dozen years later.

Jack Quarry predeceased Mike by a month, fully aware of what he'd done to Jerry and Mike.

Setting this post up, I did pick up something I found interesting. It should be noted in all fairness is that aside from father Jack and mother Arwanda, the Quarry's are not a long lived family, so boxing may not have shortened their lives, but it certainly wrecked the quality of their lives. Jerry and Mike were probably geniuses, but Jack having forced boxing on Jerry and Mike certainly prevented that from ever being affirmed.

Regarding genetic longevity, non boxing eldest brother James (who ran the online Jerry Quarry Foundation until he died in 2002) died at age 58, sister Brenda died at age 55, and an exploration of Quarry brothers family history on both sides shows that the ages Jerry and Mike died at are about par for the course in that clan. Jack living to be 83, and Arwanda 84 is in fact much more anomalous. Bobby is the only one of the four Quarry siblings to live into his 60's.

Wilfred Benitez is now 66. His a$$hole father Gregorio was 67 when he died. Muhammad Ali was 74. His parents both died at 77, his father without warning, his mother a few months after a stroke. Sometimes genetics are genetics, longevity is simply hard wired.

 

Holyfield and Mosley askin to Tyson and De la Hoya to close the "trilogy"

Also:

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Muhammad Ali, before the fight with Holmes, showed signs of illness, so in my opinion that fight should not have taken place, after that the defeat by Berbick, a sad end to Muhammad Ali's career.

 

I actually watched the entirety of Frazier-Cummings for the first time after Joe's death. Prior to that, what was on YouTube cut off after nine rounds.

With 20/20 hindsight, this to me is one of the most uplifting finales ever by an ATG who did not win. First of all, that was no gift draw to Frazier, but an accurate verdict. He won round nine on all cards, and at the final bell, the 6,500 spectators in Chicago applauded. They put everything into it and were spent by the end. Joe was never close to going down, and it was no clinch fest of stalling and spoiling or posing.

Two and a half years later, it was almost, CUMMINGS KO 3:09 FRANK BRUNO at the Royal Albert Hall. Bruno admits that round ending right is the hardest punch he was ever hit by (something to contemplate when looking at who some of Frank's other opponents were). It he had touched down (and it was almost a face plant), Bruno would've dropped to 18-1 and boxing history would've changed. He failed to recover during the rest period. About two minutes after that punch landed, Harry Carpenter said, "If Bruno recovers from this, it will be a miracle!," and that's the moment Bruno came to. But Frazier proved in Chicago he had a MUCH better chin than Frank Bruno.

Joe originally took up boxing to lose weight, as he was starting to have trouble fitting his legs into his pants. With son Marvis already competing in the professional ranks, Joe began training alongside him and decided to attempt a comeback at 37.

He certainly didn't need the money.

What happens if Joe has no sons and no involvement with boxing after Foreman II? He had severe and progressive arthritis. Does he become morbidly obese like former rival Buster Mathis and likewise died in his early 50's or even earlier, suffering strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure or who knows what else?

Around 15 years after Cummings, he was asked by Jim Clash if he was rich. He cheerfully replied, "Aww, I'm rich, man! I got my health!" That was no small achievement.

Frazier's mental acuity and fine motor functions never left him. Arthritis and a back injured in a car crash hindered him physically, but boxing allowed him to live a full life until liver cancer nailed him at 67. (Liver cancer also got Dokes at 54, and Corbett at 66.) Among deceased HW Champions who died of disease, Sullivan was 59, Fitz was 54, Hart was 55, Carnera was 60, Baer was 50, Braddock was 69, Louis was 66, Charles was 53 (his ALS may have actually been CTE induced, and it's been suspected that Lou Gehrig likewise may not have died from the disease named for him) and Liston at around 40 (his lungs were clearly bad, and Cosell noted his huffing and puffing late against Henry Clark, right after Sonny had gone seven with Joiner and should've been conditioned for that distance), and Leon was also 67.

One of his older brothers died at 65, another at 68. His father died at 53. You can certainly shorten your life with bad habits like the gorging Mathis indulged in, but extending lifespan remains very much in doubt.

 

Great post, changing the perspective for sure!

 

If Ali hadn't clandestinely double dosed on his Thyrolar, he'd have definitely gone the distance (and probably would have as it was, if Dundee hadn't stopped it), but then Muhammad definitely called it quits rather than going on to Berbick. Ali did train hard for Holmes, and took the weight off over a six month period, so he wasn't weight drained.

At 217 pounds on his prescribed dose of Thyrolar, he'd probably have been outscored by Larry along the lines of Charles-Louis, 12-3 to 10-5 in rounds.

He could never look good in training after what Shavers did to him, and even if Earnie was his final match, the rest of his life deteriorates exactly as it did, no better or worse. Henry Cooper knocked him silly with that hook in '63, Frazier really clobbered him in round 11 of the FOTC, hammered him in round ten at Manila, but the only time he was repeatedly wobbled like that with singular shots was when Shavers did it to him, and Larry Holmes has said on camera that Shavers is what really ruined Ali's post retirement quality of life. (Keep in mind that Larry was close friends with both Frazier and Shavers. If you take a good look at Ali-Dunn, Muhammad's timing is completely intact after Manila. But Inoki ruined his legs, setting Ali's head up for Shavers to ruin his brain.)

 

You’re confusing him with someone else. Pavlik got beat by Hopkins and is alive, it’s not even debatable, it’s all on record.

 

And for a fan of Barkley...

 

Oh, okay, smart guy. I live there.

 

AlwaysFirst, meet Boxed Ears. BE, AF.

 

My forty-year psychological experiment to figure out why people bother over the Internet is nearly complete, but the mystery remains unsolved.

 

Mike Tyson comes to mind.

 

Ok, I have no idea what that has to do with Hopkins beating Pavlik easy and that he’s alive but good for you I guess.

 

Oscar v Pac
He underestimated the task and looked ill making weight

That wasn't Oscar, but he still had his famed toughness

As mentioned,Roy Jones post HW

David Haye was never a favourite of mine, but again he was way better than losing to Bellew back to back