Fighters who skip the downward slope!
By this I mean who seemed to be pretty much on top of their game (or at least their opponents) one fight and then the next without much warning just seemed to have lost all their zap? I mean normally you can see that a fighter isn't quite the same anymore and then he gets beat up but now and again you get a sudden shock!
The best two I can think of are Erik Morales and Roy Jones. Morales beat Manny Pacquiao and then fought a lesser opponent in Zahir Raheem and got beaten quite comfortably. At first I thought he had just underestimated Raheem but then Pacman kicked his ass twice and then David Diaz beat him and it was clear he had just lost it.
Roy Jones dstroyed Clinton Woods in his last LHW fight before moving up to claim a HW strap against the greatest HW fighter ever John Ruiz (I am joking). But when he dropped back down to 175lbs he had a real hard time with Antonio Tarver who had already been beaten by a former Jones victim in Eric Harding. At the time I once again thought that it was just Jones underestimating Tarver and I thought he really would school Tarver in the rematch, but when Tarver KO'd the once "untouchable" Jones and then Glen Johnson repeated the feat it was clear that the former p4p #1 had lost it.
Can you guys think of any other fighters who fell from grace as violently and suddenly as these two?
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Roman Karmazin comes to mind. He seemed to fight the fight of his life against Kassim Ouma then his next bout against Spinks it seemed he barely had a pulse. I know that's an odd pick but in recent memory he comes to mind.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Jones had a tough time in the first Tarver fight, but looked reasonably sharp in the 2nd fight. Maybe not at his best, but not totally "lost it" either. He just got caught. It happens. Against Johnson he looked horrible though.
Good question and surprisingly tough. Maybe Tszyu. Taylor didn't really impress after Hopkins. Trinidad maybe. He looked OK agaunst Mayorga, but was a basket case against Wright.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Good twist,usually its the ones never the same after a toughie/after getting ko'd but to be at the top one day and then just fizzle out??Agree with CGM,tough one.I was thinking Taylor as well but he kept it real tight with Pav in 2nd.What about a Aaron Pryor,Off 2 huge kos of Arguello and then,not so much afterwards?.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Margarito should be the freshest in our minds.
Nobuo Nashiro wins the title vs. Castillo then loses to Munoz. (To be fair Nobuo had no business wining the title in the 1st place)
Buster Douglas beats Mike then nothing after that.
Foreman blasted Norton in 2, then that same year Ali did a number on him.
Joachime Alcine looks really good vs. Simms then get's blasted by Santos.
Paul Williams beats Margarito then goes on to loose to CQuintana.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
I'd say Kassim Ouma definately fits this bill, he looked phenomenally exciting, he moved up to fight Taylor, and he lost so we figured he was just too small to be effective, but when he came back down and got outworked by K9, something had definately changed his output wasn't even half of what it usually was against an opponent that he could land double his normal workrate against.
Mike Oliver too, he went from really slick to getting caught in his coming out fight against Lopez to looking like a fish out of water flopping out of control.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Spicoli surfs 'Nawlins
Good twist,usually its the ones never the same after a toughie/after getting ko'd but to be at the top one day and then just fizzle out??Agree with CGM,tough one.I was thinking Taylor as well but he kept it real tight with Pav in 2nd.What about a Aaron Pryor,Off 2 huge kos of Arguello and then,not so much afterwards?.
As I recall, Pryor developed some unsavory lifestyle habits not long after Arguello. Drugs I think, though I could be mistaken. I remember he took a bullet from a woman (maybe his wife?) but I'm not sure where his career was at when all this stuff started to happen.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CutMeMick
Margarito should be the freshest in our minds.
Nobuo Nashiro wins the title vs. Castillo then loses to Munoz. (To be fair Nobuo had no business wining the title in the 1st place)
Buster Douglas beats Mike then nothing after that.
Foreman blasted Norton in 2, then that same year Ali did a number on him.
Joachime Alcine looks really good vs. Simms then get's blasted by Santos.
Paul Williams beats Margarito then goes on to loose to CQuintana.
Yeah, Foreman looked like a klutz against Ali.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CGM
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CutMeMick
Margarito should be the freshest in our minds.
Nobuo Nashiro wins the title vs. Castillo then loses to Munoz. (To be fair Nobuo had no business wining the title in the 1st place)
Buster Douglas beats Mike then nothing after that.
Foreman blasted Norton in 2, then that same year Ali did a number on him.
Joachime Alcine looks really good vs. Simms then get's blasted by Santos.
Paul Williams beats Margarito then goes on to loose to CQuintana.
Yeah, Foreman looked like a klutz against Ali.
Yes but to me Ali fought the perfect fight against Foreman rather than Foreman not being the same!
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rjj tszyu
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CGM
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CutMeMick
Margarito should be the freshest in our minds.
Nobuo Nashiro wins the title vs. Castillo then loses to Munoz. (To be fair Nobuo had no business wining the title in the 1st place)
Buster Douglas beats Mike then nothing after that.
Foreman blasted Norton in 2, then that same year Ali did a number on him.
Joachime Alcine looks really good vs. Simms then get's blasted by Santos.
Paul Williams beats Margarito then goes on to loose to CQuintana.
Yeah, Foreman looked like a klutz against Ali.
Yes but to me Ali fought the perfect fight against Foreman rather than Foreman not being the same!
Foreman may have looked like a klutz but i'll be danged if that wasn't the most beautiful pirouette he did on the way down to the canvas when Ali ko'd him.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CutMeMick
Margarito should be the freshest in our minds.
Nobuo Nashiro wins the title vs. Castillo then loses to Munoz. (To be fair Nobuo had no business wining the title in the 1st place)
Buster Douglas beats Mike then nothing after that.
Foreman blasted Norton in 2, then that same year Ali did a number on him.
Joachime Alcine looks really good vs. Simms then get's blasted by Santos.
Paul Williams beats Margarito then goes on to loose to CQuintana.
Was it just me, or did Simms look very unmotivated in that fight? I remember having an all in bet on Simms, and he looked lazy from the start and never got up for the fight. It was very dissapointing because he had just dismantled Rivera and seemed to have momentum on his side going into that fight.
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rjj tszyu
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CGM
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CutMeMick
Margarito should be the freshest in our minds.
Nobuo Nashiro wins the title vs. Castillo then loses to Munoz. (To be fair Nobuo had no business wining the title in the 1st place)
Buster Douglas beats Mike then nothing after that.
Foreman blasted Norton in 2, then that same year Ali did a number on him.
Joachime Alcine looks really good vs. Simms then get's blasted by Santos.
Paul Williams beats Margarito then goes on to loose to CQuintana.
Yeah, Foreman looked like a klutz against Ali.
Yes but to me Ali fought the perfect fight against Foreman rather than Foreman not being the same!
That's true. Ali was brilliant, but still, Foreman did not fight smart. He just wailed away at Ali, with little though to tactics or picking his shots. Even Frazier said during the commentary that Foreman was fighting foolish, that he needed to slow down and take his time
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Morales, Jones & maybe Margarito are the ones who really stick out for me
Although I haven't seen much of him as it was before I was born, Don Curry was apparently a candidate for this after the Honeyghan fight
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rjj tszyu
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CGM
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CutMeMick
Margarito should be the freshest in our minds.
Nobuo Nashiro wins the title vs. Castillo then loses to Munoz. (To be fair Nobuo had no business wining the title in the 1st place)
Buster Douglas beats Mike then nothing after that.
Foreman blasted Norton in 2, then that same year Ali did a number on him.
Joachime Alcine looks really good vs. Simms then get's blasted by Santos.
Paul Williams beats Margarito then goes on to loose to CQuintana.
Yeah, Foreman looked like a klutz against Ali.
Yes but to me Ali fought the perfect fight against Foreman rather than Foreman not being the same!
True but then didn't Foreman struggle with Ron Lyle straight after he lost to Ali? That was a great fight for as long as it lasted. Both men knocking each other down multiple times. I think I remember the commentators mentioning he may have lost something in the Ali fight. He didn't look the same...he won eventually though
Re: Fighters who skip the downward slope!
I think the most famous of all was Sonny Liston, invincible monster one year to embarrassing chump the next. He continues to fight for five more years yet he is not a contender to fight Ellis or Frazier for Ali's vacant crown? I know Liston had his problems but his invincibility vanished after the Ali fights.
I think Foreman to a lessor extent in the 70's, he was only 28 when he retired the first time around, very young for a heavyweight to finish.
