Whose prime(s) do you see being the greatest collateral loss(es) if 2020 winds up all sunk cost?

I'm not talking about prospects on the rise - no matter what you perceive their ceiling to be; HOF, ATG, whatever - for whom the year would have been spent on developmental steps up the ladder anyway. Nor people in or entering the back-ends of their best days, who might be currently missing the chance of a 'last run' at the big time.

I mean, for whom do you see COVID-19 proving to be analogous to Ali's draft evasion ban, Tyson's jail stint, or any other hiatus where the immalleable circumstances deprived us, potentially, of seeing their absolute best, of those performances that 50 years hence will be mentioned as their most brilliant (with both of those heavyweight legends' being among the most well-known but also somewhat debatable cases).

An obvious pick is Naoya Inoue. His less internationally famous countryman, though - who also didn't happen to lace up in the 1st quarter of 2020 - was also likely poised for an excellent breakout year, especially if unification matches with Soto, Canizales, Alvarado, and/or fellow Japanese world titlist Kyōguchi had been in the offing:

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Amazing Boy lived up to his name to close out 2019 against Petalcorin, damn shame for him to sit on the shelf just as he's coming into his own and perhaps climbing up on that pedestal next to Monster.

I'd say a Lomachenko is already, while not "shot", probably already past the crest of the hill. My expectation is that at 32 he will probably stay elite for a few years, but IMO we aren't going to see much if any continued upward trajectory of improvement. Granted we did just see him put on a lopsided clinic versus a world class fellow southpaw, but I'd be surprised if the Campbell showing in hindsight weren't regarded as being at or near Vasyl's true peak. Yeah, there is the odd B-Hop that defies conventional laws of athleticism's normal decline w/ senescence - but that was a man who started at MW and fought up to LHW, not a natural featherweight...and Loma had quadruple as many amateur bouts on his odometer as B-Hop heading into their respective pro debuts.

Guys like Crawford and Spence, too, are not declining necessarily, but there's no reason to suppose they were going to shine any brighter this year than in recent ones.

 

Shout out some nominations and I'll make a poll of the most reasonable ones.

 

Oh yeah, those guys are both totally ineligible for the purposes of this convo. I love Usyk, and expect big things from him at HW, but no way is he going to get better than he was in his true prime at CW in his early pro campaign.

 

Yep, and JCR will be 28 (perhaps even 28½...) before he sets foot in the ring again.

I don't see losing a year of peak JCR as being quite the same tragedy as losing a year of peak Teraji (let alone Inoue), however. Nothing against him, I just don't see him on the same tier. He's a B+ fighter, while both Japanese fighters are in the A range, for me. (Inoue bordering on + if not already there)

 

You think Saunders hasn't peaked??

 

Eh, to my eyes he very clearly peaked from 2012 until 2014, with that very good run of form against Pryce, unbeaten Fletcher, Blackwell, Hall, unbeaten Spike, unbeaten Gorilla, unbeaten Sioux and unbeaten CEJ all in a row, losing maybe a handful of rounds over eight fights with mostly damn credible opposition. He is hot and cold, yes, but even at his absolute hottest in the half-decade since he never has even approached the same form as from Pryce through Eubank.