I would say Johnny Tapia, he went thru somuch outside the ring that he only found peace while fighting. Same thing with Miguel Cotto, Melissa Guzman was talking to him about quitting, he replied "I don't know how to do anything else". Same thing with Jameel mccline he said when he retired what was he gonna do? He said idk this is all I know. Then there are guys like Antonio Margarito who would literally die in the ring instead of quitting. I'm guessing Jake lamotta was pretty crazy too, judging from the raging bull movie. I once heard Jake say that it was good for a young fighter to take a **** kicking without the ref stopping it because that would tell them whether or not they were cut out for the business or ready to be pro. Sadistic eh? I know... Then what do you think about gym fighters? Fighters who look good in the gym but can't fight? I once heard Kassim ouma was hitting the pads and he looked terrible, so his coach told him to start sparring, it was then showing how good he was. Crap on pads, but the goods on fighting. Plus the thing with Kassim the dream, is that he spent so much time as a soldier in war that he was reliving his childhood in the ring. After all it was stripped from him (child soldier). The perfect gym fighter I could thing of is Mario Lopez, he has a solid relationship at the gym of wildcard, I've heard he spars with the regulars, he just went through the phase without a fight. Mike Tyson, once said, there is nothing wrong with being a gym fighter, it just means they have not found their calling yet lol. Other boxers who live for this blood and guts stuff: Erik Morales, Marcos Maidana. Who else do you think found peace while fighting? Also who else have you heard who is just a gym fighter? I'm also gonna guess Audley Harrison is a gym fighter, a guy with his skills? Suspect, regarding his legacy lol.
Mayorga has fought a who's who of everybody. I felt bad for his money making purposes that he couldn't secure a Floyd fight
Johnny Tapia was my first thought when I read the title. His demons had demons, but he seemed to put that away when he got in the ring. It was his happy place. I think that Michael Gomez was a guy who's life depended on boxing. Imagine what he'd be getting upto if he never started?
James Toney comes to mind. He hated roadwork or cutting weight. He trained for fights by just sparring for the most part. The guy just loved to fight and as he got older, he avoided guys that were movers. He simply wanted to stand in the pocket and counter punch bangers.
