Favorite 5 Fighters Who Knew when to retire vs Who Overstayed

[TitoFan]

Good thread.

Overstayed (or ill-fated comebacks)..... yeah. That's a crowded list.

My poster child for overstayed will always be Ali. What the HELL was anyone thinking letting Ali get humiliated by Larry Holmes... and THEN... to add injury to insult... allow him back in the ring against Trevor Berbick. Madness!

SRL isn't far behind. For as great as he was (TBE candidate for me)... he allowed himself to get whacked around in humiliating fashion. Shameful.

RJJ is definitely on that list. Not only did he get starched horribly when he was way past his prime. But then he compounds the circus atmosphere by playing paunchy punching bag to a fit, bigger Mike Tyson who was clearly holding back in their recent exhibition. Mike was laughing about it afterwards... but Roy was serious when he claimed he didn't like draws.

Yeah, @SlimTrae . As a Trinidad fan, I also thought he fought one or two fights too many. Roy could've taken him out had he wanted to.



The thing is..... the greater a fighter has been throughout his career..... the tougher it is to see him overstay his welcome and get beaten by opponents who otherwise would have no business being in there. At least Trinidad's last fight and loss was against RJJ. It would've been devastating to me to see him get crushed by some journeyman type fighter.


About retiring at the right time... I'm not so sure I agree on Hagler. He left on a LOSS and arguably still close to his prime. He just got pissed off at boxing and left.

[SlimTrae]

Agreed on the Hagler reason he was pissed. Maybe that saved him overstaying.


@TitoFan the one thing we can take solace in is that every sport has ATGs that overstay.
#1 Has to be MJ... Jordan... the dude walked away with a last minute shot in the championship (that the ref could have called him for that ever-so-soft push)
And what did this dude do? he came back to play for Washington was it?


Shaquille O'neil the dominant one...found himself being benched the last season...damn Shaq!

Brett Favre in football. He had to comeback one more time and finished what? 4-12 with Minnesota? I think even Randy Moss played...for a few games and they just told him to GTFO!!!





Sven ottke has to be a top choice for leaving at the right time...one can only win so long on their home turf. His hometown fans even questioned his victories. 34-0 yet next to nobody knows who he is.


I'm on the fence with Andre Ward. I think he left too soon.

[Master]

Ward struggled with Kovalev and would have not been able to unify at the higher weight. There was no obvious big fight for him so he was probably right to call it a day.

[imp]

As above, Andre Ward.

His first fight against Kovalev was a draw at least and he must have realised he was lucky to get that win.

Too many injuries and he retired at the right time.

I still think Canelo will call him out in 2022.

[Master]

As above, Andre Ward.

His first fight against Kovalev was a draw at least and he must have realised he was lucky to get that win.

Too many injuries and he retired at the right time.

I still think Canelo will call him out in 2022.

Ward is like Jazz, the better he is the less he is appreciated, Andre will never make a comeback and ruin that immaculate record of his. He has never lost a fight since he was 12 years of age.