Fighters who were never the same after losing once

[THE THIRD MAN]

Zab stands out for me here, never recovered from that KO by Tszyu. He has had some good wins but generally has been disappointing since his first loss.

Meldrick Taylor comes to mind and Roy Jones Jr just couldn't come to grips with Tarver and has been average at best since.

George Foreman went awol after the Ali loss, had a good second win over Frazier but the invincibility was gone within two years and he retires at age 27?

I will be interested to see how Cotto comesback after his first loss, many fighters comeback better than ever such as Whitaker, Tszyu and more recently Darchinyan. I think the jury is still out on Hatton. A lot of this fight game is pyschological and it all depends on how you prepare yourself physically and more importantly approach your next fight mentally. Zab for example just hasn't coped well at all.

Agree a bit on Taylor and Roy, but can't agree at all on Zab, Hatton & Foreman. Yes, it was a shocking KO for Zab, but its not like he didn't become the real welterweight champ of the world after that, which doesn't identify a fighter who was 'never the same'. Same with Foreman, he would have the win over Moorer and he beat Frazier badly again. I think saying he folded is going way too far, it's just Ali exposed how to beat him. Also Ricky has more than enough excuses in his own mind for his loss, even if they are mostly bollocks, for him to be over it. Should Pac batter him than I think he may well be finished, because the welterweight, Joe Cortez & 'it was Floyd Mayweather' lines won't work any more.

The one fighter who really sticks out is Don Curry, and of current fighters who I think it may have got are the obvious ones like Cotto & Pavlik, and also Katsidis, I think the Casamayor fight may have screwed him up in the sense of knowing he can't simply outslug the best fighter. He's still an exciting fighter, but he's no longer as dominating as I thought he'd be

Let me reply by saying that Zab was the favourite going into the Tszyu fight and to be blasted out in 2 rounds was extraordinary, he then barely gets past Pineda ( i had him losing that fight by a point) He then loses to Spinks and then has to win a rematch to save his career, but then loses to journey man Baldimir and was never going to beat Cotto, or PBF, he gets another chance at Clottey and loses that too! With the start that Zab made to his career he should have done better, i blame the Tszyu KO for that.
Foreman retired in 1977, my question is where did the invincibility go? at age 27 he gives it away after another loss to Young? He folded like a paper plane. The Ali loss definitely affected him. Moorer was 14 years later when big George had finally exorcised his Ali demons.
As i said the jury is still out on Hatton, the Pacman fight will determine where he is at.
We will know about Cotto in June. I also forgot about the biggest of them all...the Prince who turned back into a toad after his first loss..HAMED!

[Andre]

Istivan Kovacs Koko comes straight to mind.
22-1-0 WBO Feather weight title holder 2001.


István Kovács - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[brocktonblockbust]

this turned out to be a very great thread. thanks to all!

[TheChosenOne]

tito trinidad
Roy jones (not counting the dq loss)
Michael Grant
Mike Tyson
Shane Mosley (until recently)



just to name a few in the past few years

[Spicoli]

Tyrell Biggs...was he really all that good in the first place or did Tyson just make a mess of him for good?They seemed to throw him to the wolves after.

[Britkid]

Tyrell Biggs...was he really all that good in the first place or did Tyson just make a mess of him for good?They seemed to throw him to the wolves after.

Biggs got busted open a couple of times pre Tyson, indeed I think he was in danger of losing the Bey fight, because of a horrific cut.

That said, going in, this fight was given all the hype, with the American Magazines calling it the Ali/Frazier of the 80s.

As it turned out, Tyson was better than Frazier and Biggs was better than.... Lorenzo Boyd!

[Spicoli]

Tyrell Biggs...was he really all that good in the first place or did Tyson just make a mess of him for good?They seemed to throw him to the wolves after.

Biggs got busted open a couple of times pre Tyson, indeed I think he was in danger of losing the Bey fight, because of a horrific cut.

That said, going in, this fight was given all the hype, with the American Magazines calling it the Ali/Frazier of the 80s.

As it turned out, Tyson was better than Frazier and Biggs was better than.... Lorenzo Boyd!

I always got the feeling that they had so many fish in the kettle coming out of the 84' Olympics,they had to focus on the best of the best and sort of cut bait on Biggs.Saw he was not up to par.He tried the jabbing off bit but Tyson just put it on him harshly.Great Team that was with Holyfield,Sweet Pea,Taylor,etc.

Ive seen Tyson come off sounding like he carried Biggs so he could prolong the punishment.Sounds like they had a genuine dislike for one another.Brutal.