Career-ending/changing fights

Or, at the very least, fights where one or both fighters were never the same again afterward: brutal wars of atrition, one sided-beatings, big KO's, injuries, etc

 

Trinidad-Vargas

 

Neither Corrales nor Castillo was ever the same after their war.

 

Jones-Tarver 2. Although Roy losing all that weight played a major role

 

Trinidad-Reid.
That Tito fight took out more from Reed than it did to Vargas, since Reid fought like 3 more times, lost again and retired young.

 

Chavez-Taylor
Pacquiao-Margarito

 

Hopkins-Tito
Hopkins-Pavlik

 

jones tarver 1 makes more sense.

ward kovalev 2

 

Mayorga Spinks...was career ending, even though the Nicaraguan didn't take a beating. He was lined up to face Mosley and that loss changed all of that. He was never a big name again. Without that loss he would have never faced Tito at 160 and suffered the true career ending beating in terms of his ability to take a punch and his belief on himself

 

Manilla ruined Ali. His brain was probably doomed after that fight.

Had he retired after the Foreman fight, I think he never gets Parkinsons.

 

Castillo/Casamayor?

 

The Fight Roy WON???...

agREED on Ward-Kovalev 2...





REEDo_O

 

I think Jones-Tarver 1 was more career changing also. Roy had been so dominant, that having a close fight like that was mentally the equivalent of being beat down for him. Its the fight that left Roy spooked, knowing he had lost a step and set him up for the KO in their next fight.

 

Lol at ward kovalev 2. How about we see the rest of kov carreer before making such bold statements

 

Disagree. Roy had had close fights before...most recently against Eric Harding (Previously against Griffin in the first fight). he was as confident as ever in the 2nd fight...that one left hand destroyed his career forever.

 

agreed.

 

Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo 1 was the first to come to mind.

Meldrick Taylor wasn’t the same after the first JC Chavez fight as it started his decline. He was still a world class fighter and had the 2nd best win of his career a year after Chavez when he beat Aaron Davis, but the writing was on the wall that he was starting to slip, especially when he had to gut out that win over Glenwood Brown. The Terry Norris fight made Taylor go from an elite fighter on the slide to just a shot one.

Fernando Vargas was never the same after Tito Trinidad. He looked shitty against Wilfredo Rivera and not too good in the Shibata Flores fight after that. He fought well against Oscar De La Hoya but lost, and then the back injuries messed him up too. Trinidad messed up David Reid too. His team probably cashed out on him as they saw he was vulnerable with the droopy eye, and figured he might as well get a big fight before he lost to a lesser fighter. I think Taylor’s team did the same when they put him in there with Norris.

I don’t think Trinidad wasn’t ever the same mentally after losing to Bernard Hopkins, and likewise for Naseem Hamed after losing to Marco Antonio Barrera. Hamed was already getting notoriously lazy in training but the loss took out a bunch of his desire.

 

Nah,

In Roy's Mind, he'd just Squeaked By Tarver on his WORST Night...If Roy were SPOOKED by the 1st Fight, There'd have Been No RE at All, Or he'd Have Made Tarver Move Up in Weight for the RE...

Instead, Roy Did an IMMEDIATE RE at the Same Weight he'd just Struggled to Get Back Down to Previously...Roy was CONFIDENT for Sure, and Even Fought w/Confidence in Round 1...







REED

 

Agree. That is one reason the outcome of the rematch was such a shocker. Most expected RJJ to win even easier than the first fight.

 

Bowe. To think he RETIRED at 29 is craaaaaazy

 

I expected Roy to win, but I wasn't as shocked as I should have been when it happened because of the first fight and how competitive it was. If Tarver had stopped Roy in the second round of the first fight it would have surpassed Tyson-Douglas for me.

 

On the surface, these two fights will seem rather obvious; Eubank vs Watson and Benn vs McClellan.

Both Watson and McClellan sustained life changing injuries, as everyone here is aware. Posters here will also be aware that Eubank and Benn have talked numerous times, on the record, about being traumatised by the respective knowledge that they almost killed the aforementioned opponents and ruined their lives. It is evident that in some of their later fights, the ruthless streak which had helped them snatch victory from the jaws of defeat was greatly diminished.

 

Maybe mancini experienced the same thing.

 

Roy lost rounds and got hit, alot, against Tarver in the 1st fight. It was the beginning of the end, thus the ‘career changing’ turning point. Before that he looked invincible in every fight up to and including a heavyweight title fight. Roy had 2 sides to his career and side B started that night against Tarver, walking away with a shaky ‘W’.

 

No doubt

 

yea the first fight jones jr won. he looked like shit though. weight drained and was hurt a few times. the invincibility was gone at that point and he was never the same.

 

Any British fighter who was undefeated, that wound up losing their first fight by KO. So Frank Bruno, David Haye, Ricky Hatton, Nigel Benn, etc. their career was in TATTERS when they suffered their first loss

 

Roy Lost Rounds and Got Hit in the 1st Griffin Fight Too...Hell, He was Arguably TRAILING Prior to the DQ...But What Happened in the RE?

After the Harding and Harmon Fights, REED Knew Roy was Slipping...For the 1st Time EVER, He Had Back to Back Lukewarm Performances...

Again, Roy BEAT Tarver the 1st Fight...And was FAVORED to Win Easier in the RE...& The 1st Round of Tarver II was Arguably BETTER than Any Round Roy Pocketed in the 1st Bout...Roy Jones was Still ROY JONES That Round...

But After Round 2, we Never Saw ROY JONES Again...

Clearly, Tarver 2 CHANGED Him...







REED