Which former great fighter ended up the worst?

Which former great champ ended up with the worst situation after retirement? Boxing is full of stories of former greats ending up broke or even worse.

And before anyone says "Poor Tyson" I recently saw him on "The Soup" hanging out with some celebrities eating Frozen Yogurt so I don't think he quite qualifies to be listed among the worst...at least not yet.

 

I say Tyson..I recently saw the poor guy, hungry and broke, on a low rent tv show eating frozen yoghurt..how the mighty have fallen

 

There are other former champs who, to be on TV eating Frozen Yogurt, would be quite a step up.

 

Any "Punch Drunk" Former Great would Qualify, but Some of them (Like Ali or Frazier) R @ Least Financially SECURE...REED'll Nominate Bobby Chacon, who had the Punch Drunk Symptoms Himself, yet is Basically BROKE...

If REED's Not Mistaken, Chacon Basically Lives N a Basement where he OCCASSIONALLY Teaches a Boxing Class...REED Read a Clipping on Chacon Several Years Ago...

Not Sure if he's Considered "Great", but it's Hard to Imagine Being MORE Fucked Up than Gerald McClellan is...


REED:hammert:

 

Sure, Tyson's Fallen QUITE Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar, but he's NOT PunchDrunk & he Still has his CELEBRITY...

Think of the BROKE, Punch Drunk, Former Greats that Can Walk Down a City Street & Go UNrecognized....


REED:dunno:

 

meldrick taylor.

ali still has his celebrity status, but physically, i'd much rather be taylor than him.

bobby chacon is also in pretty bad shape.

i forget which wilfredo (it might be both) but benitez or gomez (who's really fat now) didn't look too good either.

 

If we're going to list fighters that are in bad shape physically (punch drunk and what not) we could have a 10 page thread.

As far as ending up in a bad situation for other reasons i suppose Joe Louis deserves a mention.

Former champ of the world and American hero and the guy was dead broke and had to do menial jobs.

 

what about ray robinson? wasn't he broke too? but yea, louis got fucked by the IRS big time.

 

Former Lightweight Champ Beau Jack ended up shining shoes for a living after all of his money was gone.

 

I'm just curious 'cause I don't know the answer...but did Louis somehow get mistreated by the IRS or did he just not pay his taxes as he was supposed to and suffered the same fate that anyone else did who did the same?

 

Things turned out pretty bad for Benitez by many accounts

 

I think part of what happened is he gave money away to charities and the IRS still wanted a chunk of the cash or something. I don't recall the details but i'm pretty sure it was more than just not paying taxes.

 

Iran Barkley

Sonny Liston is a great case too.

 

Barkley is probably a heap better off than he would of been without boxing, IMO.

 

He wasn't a great, but former heavyweight title claimant and 1976 Olympian "Big" John Tate hit the skids in a big way, and then ran his pickup into a tree and that was all she wrote.

Matthew Saad Muhammad is in a bad way now, lives in a ghetto in A.C. called "the inlet" and paints houses or does labor whenever he can find work, and this guy once "Had it all".

 

Muhammad Ali

Yeah sure he's still got money and is well loved...

but who would want to be a walking vegetable in the final years of their lives.....

 

Jerry Quarry, as he died in a vegetative state, and was destitute.

 

I'd rather be poor than end up like Ayala Jr.

 

I saw Pernell Whitaker dancing with an organ-grinding monkey for money the other day....

 

Are you saying Whitaker was formerly a great fighter?

 

During World War II Joe Louis signed up for the military. While in the military he boxed dozens of exhibition bouts and donated almost all proceeds directly towards the governments WAR BOND effort. When the War was over the IRS decided to come after him for taxes on those proceeds he had already given to the government.

They blasted him with late fees and penalties in the process and essentially bankrupted him in a matter of only a few years. Only reason he fought Marciano was to try and pay the government off. He ended up working wrestling matches in his post-boxing retirement years. He was never able to break even and they constantly garnished any wages he made until the dogs were called off him, I think in the early 70's or so.

 

Beau Jack was another WAR BOND fighter the IRS bankrupted but we don't hear about like Joe Louis.

 

I forgot the details but this is similar to what i read.

Fucking dispicable.

 

I know he's not considered even close to a 'great', but I used to see Mitch 'Blood' Green all the time when I'd go to the fights in A.C. He always seemed off his rocker, claimed he was the Heavyweight Champ of Poland, and all the top heavyweights were too afraid to face him.

He even asked to borrow $20 from me one time.


Another one is Bobby Czyz. Former champ, had a good gig announcing with Showtime, but a few DWI's and other alcohol related incidents, and nobody's heard from him since.

TFK

 

I'm sure Czyz isnt destitute.

 

Stanely Ketchel.

 

jeff "hitman" harding fell on some bad times,i know he's not a great, but his first fight with Andries is a classic comeback, one of my favourite fights
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/06/1091732086992.html

 

Salvador Sanchez

 

His Boxing Hall Of Fame ring was up for sale on Ebay less then a couple years after he had been inducted. Some pawn shop in Philly or something was selling it off.

Real nice guy though. I see him up in Canastota, New York every year and he truly loves mingling with the fans. I think it's the one time of year he gets to relive that old glory again.

 

Word.
Wilfred Benitez: the youngest champion ever at 17, the first latino three division champion and first three division champion in decades when there were only two boxing organizations, a great boxer, a legend, made millions of dollars, lost all of it. Ended up broke, punch drunk and depending on government charity to survive. His current situation is even worse now that he has no one to take care of him after his mother died and supposedly the government financial help was cut too. Very sad indeed.