The most successful comebacks of all time?

Who came back and actually achieved something?

Foreman obviously snatched a HW title and wasn't "embarrassed" by any highlight reel KO defeats or anything like that, but who else has had a successful comeback of sorts?

SRL? FMJ if you truly count them as retirements.

Morales hasn't been a disaster either, gave a great perrormance against Maidana and snapped up a charity belt, better than what most felt he'd do.

SRL yes. Don't count Floyd really tho Alex. Vitali's has been successful but really hasn't seen him achieve anything

Sugar Ray Robinson retired after losing to Joey Maxim. He came back and won the middleweight title twice.

Also, Muhammad Ali. After his ban was over he came back and added to his legacy.

Eder Jofre. Ruled the bantamweights for years and then retired in 1966 after his two defeats to Fighting Harada.

Came back 3 years later as a featherweight and remained unbeaten and took the featherweight title from Saldivar (knocking the champ out in 4) in 1973. He reaimed unbeaten at the higher weight until his final retirement in 1976.

To my mind, only Ali's comeback is better. Foreman's was great but there were also some low points.

Only two that were totally successful; Foreman's has already been mentioned.

The other was that of the incredible Eder Jofre, who had retired after losing to Fighting Harada (at bantamweight) for a second time at the age of 30. Returning as a featherweight more than three years later, Jofre kept winning, and landed a WBC title shot at Jose Legra in 1973, aged 37, which he also duly won. Jofre made one successful defence against the faded Vicente Saldivar and was then stripped of his old title for no good reason, but this didn't deter him. He fought on until he was 40, and finally retired in 1976 with an overall ledger of 72-2-4.

Jofre's record during his comeback was 25-0 (13)! Truly, one of the greatest of all time.

Great minds think alike, superfly.

Jofre's comeback, already mentioned, is the pick of the bunch, I think. Featherweights just aren't supposed to be that successful from their mid thirties upwards.

Not really retirements per sé, but there were a number of good boxers throughout the forties who lost their best years to the War (or what should have been their best years, at least) but then had their greatest success when they returned; Tony Zale, Gus Lesnevich etc.

Jersey Joe Walcott had retired and come back more than once before he found the form necessary to push Joe Louis all the way twice and then, aged thirty-seven (the oldest until Foreman), take the Heavyweight title. Not surewithout checking how lengthy his biggest lay off was, but I'm pretty sure there was at least one which was pretty substantial.

Great minds think alike, superfly.

Albeit, I appear to have had some kind of memory lapse and completely forgotten that he had won the title from Legra and not Saldivar.

Me, when i came back to these boards, it was dynamite. Boo ya!

And SRL did good up until he didn't.

Mayweather, too.

SRL hands down for me. After a 5 year lay-off and taking on the divisions best and one of the best ever. Nothing has come close.

SRL's would have been the best ever comeback if he'd had the wit to stop then, or at least after he'd gerrymandered the Lalonde fight to suit himself.

Being Leonard, though, he had to go on and get outboxed again by Hearns, spanked by Norris and ultimately, humiliated by Camacho. The win against Hagler was a single superb chapter, but I'm not sure that his comeback overall can be regarded as an unalloyed success.

I wouldn't hold those against him. I'm sure no-one holds the Holmes and berbick fights against Ali.

I'm not saying that I hold them against him, but as the second Hearns fight and the Norris fight at least were part of the same comeback, then it's only fair to judge them with the Hagler fight for the purposes of this thread. Leonard was very good against Hagler, so-so against Lalonde, pretty poor against Hearns and out of his depth against Norris.

Overall grade for the comeback: at best a B, and that's with due deference to Ray's status in the game. A B- for anyone else, even if beating Hagler was quite an achievement.

No disgrace in being outboxed by Hearns. Probably all WW in history would have been outboxed by him.

You think the Norris and Camacho fights were part of the same comeback? I tend to erase them from my memory.

Still think Hagler won, but to fight in the way he did was exceptional whatever the result.

No, I didn't say the Camacho fight was part of the same comeback (it was six years after Norris), but Norris was the last in his series of five fights in four years from 87-91, which saw Ray getting progressively worse.

In some ways, he was helped by starting against an opponent who had only fought 14 rounds in the preceding two and a half years himself. Marvin was inactive, slowing down and not the force he had been, a point acknowledged by Leonard himself, who said that Hagler's showing against Mugabi was what had encouraged him to mount the comeback in the first place. Fine performance by Ray, though, full of chutzpah and pep, and a tribute to his nerve.

Can quite understand why you'd want to erase the Norris and Camacho fights from your memory - they weren't easy watching. Always horrid when a great fighter turns to dust like that.

Hearns-Leonard II was an odd one. It tends to be painted as a sad and mildly embarrassing affair (in part due to the generous raw given to Ray) for both men; two once great fighters trying to relight that flame which had long since blown out.

But it was actually a very good fight.

Leonard's performance in Hearns I is largely lauded, while his showing in Hearns II is often derided - but you could actually make a claim that in twelve rounds of their second fight, he scooped up more rounds than he had done in the first twelve rounds of their 1981 bout.

In terms of rounds won, I actually think that Hearns-Leonard II was very competitive. 6-5-1 or perhaps 7-5 to Tommy, although those two knockdowns he scored should have put the result beyond any doubt, of course.

All things considered, still not a patch on their first fight, but the more I think about it the more I feel that maybe Hearns' performance deserves a little more credit than it receives - and that maybe Leonard's performance doesn't quite deserve the stick it gets.

Ricky Hatton anyone?

Um, unlikely...

David Hayes triumph over Chisora since his dramatic retirement?

AlexHuckerby wrote:David Hayes triumph over Chisora since his dramatic retirement?

HAHAHA

Think the Captain's gerrymandering comment should be put on Rodney's catchweight homage thread...

VINNY PAZIENZA....

Was in a car crash after losing his IBF 135 crown to Haugen..and was told he'd never walk again....then he was told he'd never fight again....

Not only trained like a beast through his recovery but won titles all the way up to 154 when he came back....

Tough tough character................great comeback.....................