Past Your Best.

[THE THIRD MAN]

There are so many.

Johnson
Leonard
Armstrong
Robinson
Mosley
Hearns
Ali
Tyson
Louis
Comacho
Duran
Benitez

Roy Jones jr has embarrassed himself and when he lost to Danny Green i think it was one of the saddest moments i have seen in boxing.

Smokin' Joe Frazier should've retired after the Thriller In Manila, but he continues on and fights Foreman...again!

Maybe Hagler did the right thing and retired when he did? Maybe he thought he couldn't beat Leonard in a rematch? Think about that for a minute, if Hagler fights Leonard again and loses again his legacy is chopped in half instantly.

Aaron Pryor was crazy to fight again 1985

There are so many, but all fighters have huge ego's and they all think they can still do what they did at 24 or 25 years of age when they are 34 or 35 or pushing 40?

Most fighters are on the decline post 32 years, you do have exceptions, but the peak years are probably 25-30, it's all down hill after that.

We tend to forget that someone like Duran was already a 70+ fight veteran by the time he lost to Leonard in 'No Mas'. He was past his peak the moment the bell rang in Montreal!

That is a really good point although it was the first fight that was held in Montreal but nevertheless you can certainly make the case that he did start his decline during that six month period and two fights.

Yes, i believe the moment he beat Leonard in Montreal and that final bell sounded we had already seen the best of Roberto Duran, the rematch was too soon and he was never the same after No Mas. Duran was at his peak as a Lightweight, he gave us one last glimpse of his real greatness in that 1st Leonard fight, but after so many battles and a decade long career the truly great Roberto Duran was no more.