Photo: Pavel Terekhov – By Zubair Ali: Recent fights have had me thinking that the definition of an ‘old’ fighter needs revising.
A fighter in his 30’s no longer seems to be all that old. Danny Williams, who sensationally knocked out the ferocious Mike Tyson, successfully defended his British heavyweight title against John McDermott aged 35. ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley rolled back the years with a stunning knockout of the seemingly irrepressible Antonio Margarito.
Juan Manuel Marquez became a 3 weight world champion with a 9th round knockout of former undisputed lightweight champion Juan Diaz, 25, in a pulsating contest to be crowned the WBO and WBA lightweight champion and the worlds best at 135lbs.
At 35, Marquez looks as good as ever and will move up in weight to take on Floyd Mayweather Jr in September. The evergreen Bernard Hopkins produced a devastating performance at the age of 43 when he dismantled the undisputed middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik to win a lopsided unanimous decision. Hopkins, who is 17 years Pavlik’s senior, has recently revealed he is looking to face off against the winner of the Chad Dawson VS Glen Johnson rematch on November 17th.
Vitali Klitschko, 38, regained the WBC heavyweight title after an absence of 4 years from the sport when he pummelled Samuel Peter into retiring on his stool at the end of the 8th round of there fight. Vitali is now searching for an opponent after David Haye opted out of there proposed bout which was set to take place in September. Haye will now challenge Nikolay Valuev for the WBA heavyweight title on November 7th.
The big 3-0 is no longer a sign of the end of a fighting career. It’s all in the lifestyles. Plus how many wars a boxer has had. Aged 30, Ricky Hatton cannot be considered too old by any stretch of the imagination. The former 2 weight world champion was arguably the worlds best in the 140 lbs division. He boasts impressive wins over Carlos Maussa, Luis Collazo and Jose Luis Castillo with perhaps his best performance coming against 4 times world champion Kostya Tszyu.
After 11 tough, grueling rounds, Tszyu was forced to retire on his stool. Some however believe that Tszyu, who was the first champion to unify the light welterweight division in over 30 years, was past his best at the time of the Hatton fight. Since this impressive string of wins, Hatton has been on the decline. In December 2008, Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs) challenged undefeated 5 weight world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (38-0, 25 KOs) for his WBC welterweight title.
Hatton was out boxed and out foxed for the majority of the fight, and was eventually stopped in round 10. Hatton has not been the same fighter since, struggling against Juan Lazcano in what was an unimpressive. He then produced a good performance to stop Paul Malignaggi, but then went on to suffer a second round destruction at the hands of Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs).
Consequently, Hatton is contemplating retirement. Hatton’s habit of ballooning up in weight between fights only contributed to his downfall. The abusing of his body at his own and his opponents hands, have all played there part in the shortening of his career. Many people within boxing, as well as his close friends and family are urging him to hang up his gloves with the belief his best days are behind him. Another example is Erik Morales, who many consider one of the best fighters of his generation.
The 3 weight world champion has defeated 15 different world champions throughout his career. Morales was undefeated in 41 fights when he faced modern day legend Marco Antonio Barrera for the second time, aged 25. Morales had won the first fight via split decision in what was a toe to toe war throughout the full 12 rounds. Some consider it to be one of the best fights in the history of the sport.
Morales lost the second fight by unanimous decision. The pair then fought a rubber match which Barrera won by majority decision. All three fights were brutal and punishing for both fighters. Next Morales fought and defeated current pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao. He then lost to Zahir Raheem in a fight that was named The Ring magazine upset of the year for 2005. He then locked horns with Pacquiao twice more and was stopped in both fights before moving up to lightweight and facing the then WBC champion David Diaz in a bid to become the first Mexican born fighter to win world titles in four different weight divisions.
Morales lost the fight and announced his retirement at the age of 30. Morales lost 6 of his last 13 contests slipping from 41-0 to 48-6. The tough fights Morales was involved in most certainly took there toll on the legendary warrior which led to his decline.
There are many factors which determine how long a fighter can continue. As far as I’m concerned a champion in his 30’s is a common feature in world boxing today, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future!
Comments are closed.