Quote Originally Posted by Taeth
I have heard many times over the past years about how shot fighters will pull out victories when its pretty obvious they are done. Here are some examples IMO.
Jones reaching the level he was at before Tarver II
Morales vs. Pacquiao
Gatti vs. Mayweather or Baldomir
Judah vs. an opponent who can endure four rounds of one of the best boxers in the business.
Hopkins vs. heavyweights(Hopkins never had great footspeed, and I think these guys could easily walk through his punches).
Evander vs. heavyweights best
Toney going down to 220 and thus being able to move

It just seems people are so infactuated with the fighters they love or at least admire that they can't see how far their fighter has fallen.

Yeah in some ways people some times have a hard time seeing the truth about their fighters but you've gotta look at each of those by a case by case basis. Some of these guys aren't shot or done.

Jones was too much of a speed and reflex based fighter to really age well. I agree on that. Unlike Hopkins or Toney, even Floyd I think will age better cause of better technique.

Morales I think is definitely on the downside, whether he's totally shot or not I don't know. I assume that he's extremely motivated for the Pac fight and he does seem in better condition earlier but the safe bet is Pac.

Gatti's shot. Its funny to remember how many people on here thought he would beat Mayweather. Hes not a fighter that would age well either, not for the same reason as RJ, just cause of his lack of defense and taking so many punches.

Judah's not shot, except for maybe mentally. Judah's always faded as fights go on, well exception being Spinks 2, it was really no surprise that he would fade against Floyd when he faded against guys like Baldomir, Pineda, Weiss, and Corley.

Hopkins is not in his physical prime but he's not shot. Cause of his technique and not taking that many punches he's still a good fighter. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he beats Maskaev, he more than makes up for his not elite footspeed with great footwork and smart movement.

Evander's shot. Too many punches taken over the course of his career.

Toney's not shot, he just outboxed Peter, but I do wish he would retire, if not now after one or two more fights cause his speech is so slurry these days. But he's still so slick that he can beat young heavyweights.

Its pretty simple, the guys who don't take a ton of punches, who have good technique usually last longer.