Which great fighter would have benefited more from their ring absence

ali or tyson for me

 

Floyd, louis already had legacy but ali's postfight accomplishments added greatly to his legacy.
Tyson was already on a self destructive path, he would have been beaten down by bowe or lennox/holy earlier.
Floyd ruined his legacy greeatly by retiring and not creating a welterweight fab 4 with mosley,cotto and margarito.
He also retirement also allowed pac to take control of the scene and l;eapfrog him in legacy making him even more fade away in the shadow.

 

the title of the thread is different from the question you ask. anyway, definitely tyson. in my opinion, tyson needed to stay busy to stay on top. if not, his athleticism would decline, and it did, and his diminishing skills post cus' death, would surface. ali and mayweather both had sublime skills, and dimensions (especially in the case of ali), that would keep them on top. in the case of mayweather, you'd have to really analyze to pinpoint where his athleticism has even diminished. Louis had the blessing of a certain level of opposition that made it a non factor if he took such a long hiatus. he could come back and reclaim glory, which he did.

obviously, my answer is in terms of ability. you can answer the question for legacy as well, but that's tougher to consider. most would probably say floyd.

 

no. you were thinking mayweather all along.

 

Vitali or Leonard but they arent on the list

ill say Floyd because he actually can still perform pretty close to his pre retirement form

 

ali beniffited in the sense that it made him the larger than life figure he is today. but those years he stopped fighting were clearly his prime years. and he'd might have even had a more impressive titel reign with the way he'd beat oppoents with his dazzling speed and ability. but i believe if he continued to fight during those years he'd only be a legend in boxing. because he stuck to his beliefs and paid for it, he has become a legend and citizen of the world.

 

yeah it's a good question.
Ali was noticeably slower after his break. Tyson wasn't the same either, but he was already on the downslide.
Floyd seemed to benefit from it, but he also missed out on some fights that could have defined his career.

I choose Ali

 

foreman came back nice after a long layoff. actually became a better boxer with more pateint.

 

Ali

 

As a boxing fan and a huge Ali fan I would love to see more footage of Ali doing his thing at his absolute peak. It's also a great what-if scenario because there are so many things that could have been different. What if Frazier's people tried to rush him into a fight with Ali, and sent him in before he was ready for a fight like that, say in '69 or '70? Would the rivalry between the two fighters still be as personal as it was? What about Foreman and how his people handled him? What would it be like if Ali kept his speed and didn't have to make some of the adjustments he did after his exile? Would Ali have ever fought Norton at all? Remember that in the first ali-Norton bout, Norton was a nobody Ali fought while trying to get another title shot after his loss to Frazier in '71. If things turn out differently, do the two ever meet? Does Ali possibly remain champion for a decade or more from when he won the title from Liston without a loss?

I agree with a lot of other people that Tyson was already beginning a downward spiral during his exile. His athletic gifts were still there, but his focus, mind, and personal life were already going badly and I don't think he was ever going to recover what he was at his best.

Louis' legend was already set, I don't think he had too many opponents knocking down his door and he'd already fought at his absolute peak. About the only thing that would have been good was rematching Conn sooner.

Mayweather really could have stepped his career up by taking on top fighters while he choose to be on vacation, so for me he's second behind Ali. However, given the way that Mayweather seems to prefer bouts where he has a distinct advantage and his difficulties in making fights with top opponents, who can say if it would have happened anyway? Also, even if he'd fought Cotto, Margarito, or before his exile, Kostya, I don't really think he would have suffered a loss, so while it would have solidified his record, it's not as juicy and interesting for me as what Ali's career would have been like.