Which fighters legacies would benefit most if they had retired earlier?

If Juan Camero had quit after the Guzman fight he would have retired undefeated! He would have been unbeaten. But he went on to smash into the immovable obstacle that was Pat Rivera and he never really recovered from that loss.

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/6338

 

Agree with all of these but I'm kind of glad they did go on longer.

How many perfectly timed retirements have there been (separate thread idea?). Marciano? Monzon? Mayweather - if he stays retired? There aren't many.

Because we found out more about these fighters and their flaws as well as their strengths we can give a much better informed assessment of their careers.

The losses might knock them down a few places on all-time lists but in some cases - like Duran's - it allowed the opportunity to comeback and probably helped elevate them.

Frazier showed as much greatness in defeat (against Ali in Manila) as he did in his greatest win. I'm not sure we'd want to remove that from the record.

 

Ray Leonard after Hagler.

 

It'd be extremely premmy but one not mentioned yet - what if Donald Curry retired immediately prior to the Honeyghan loss. He had some serious hype and form going on.

 

Sugar Ray Robinson, Sam Langford, and Ezzard Charles off of the top of my head.