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Legendary Fighters Who Made Shock Retirement U-Turns
By Glen James May 07, 2020 OpinionHere are legendary fighters that came out of retirement after Mike Tyson recently hinted at an incredible return to boxing.The fighting doesn’t come to an end when a professional boxer retires from the sport. Once the gloves are hung up, each former prize-fighter immediately begins a battle against the urge to get back in the ring.
While many do win the war of the mind and resist the hankering to climb through the ring ropes again, there are others who eventually give in to temptation.
Throughout history high-profile combatants have returned to the squared-circle despite having previously called time on their careers at the top.
A lot of the time this has gone against calls opposing such a move along with widespread concerns over their health. But, as the saying goes, once a fighter always a fighter.
More recently former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has amazingly become the latest legend to hint at ending retirement, in spite of being 53 years of age.
With that in mind here are other legendary fighters that surprisingly came out of retirement late in their careers.
George Foreman
Starting off with what ultimately proved to be a historic retirement reversal. George Foreman was a monster in his prime, with his devastating power seeing off Joe Frazier, Jose Roman and Ken Norton during his world heavyweight title reign.
He suffered his maiden defeat in a monumental ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ clash with Muhammad Ali at the age of 25 in 1974, losing his crown as he was dropped and stopped in eight thrilling rounds.
Years later after a shock loss at the hands of Jimmy Young and being unable to secure another title shot, Foreman retired from the sport in 1977.
But ‘Big George’ would make a remarkable return a whole decade later, coming back with a complete new look to his former muscle-bound presence.
The Texas-native racked up a host of heavyweight victories but setbacks to Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison threatened to derail his ambitious title hopes.
Though at an incredible 45 years old Foreman was able to knock out Michael Moorer to reign supreme once again and secure a sensational comeback story.
Larry Holmes
Another heavyweight legend Larry Holmes was involved in a reversal of retirement plans back in 1988, when he was lured back to the prize-ring for a big-money showdown with Mike Tyson.
‘The Easton Assassin’ had been an underrated heavyweight king at the height of his powers, earning wins over Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers, Gerry Cooney, Mike Weaver, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams, Trevor Berbick and Leon Spinks.
It was his one-sided pummelling of an aged Muhammad Ali that is widely remembered and it’s that triumph over his idol that Holmes admitted he hated every minute of.
That should’ve been enough to keep him away from going on too long like a faded Ali but, after a three-year retirement beginning in 1986, he eventually returned for a four-round thrashing to ‘Iron Mike’.
Holmes wouldn’t fight again until 1991 when he racked up plenty more admirable victories to add to his legacy and suffering points losses to only Evander Holyfield, Oliver McCall and Brian Nielsen.
Sugar Ray Robinson
Widely hailed as the greatest fighter ever to lace up a pair of gloves, even the iconic Sugar Ray Robinson couldn’t resist another shot at glory (and prize-money).
While his peak years are believed to have been during his welterweight reign, Robinson retired in 1952 as the middleweight king and on the back of a failed light-heavyweight venture against Joey Maxim.
But two-and-a-half years later he waltzed back into proceedings and eventually became boxing’s first ever five-time divisional world champion.
He achieved that impressive feat when overcoming long-standing career rival Carmen Basilio in 1958.
Robinson reclaimed the middleweight crown and incredibly went on to fight a further 50 times across seven more years before drawing the curtain for good on a legendary career.
Eder Jofre
One of Brazil’s finest ever athletes, Eder Jofre was a devastating puncher during his bantamweight championship reign.
The Sao Paolo legend is one of the best ever from the 118lbs division’s history and managed to prevail at featherweight upon his retirement U-turn as well.
Jofre retired in 1966 following a second loss to Japanese foe Fighting Harada and returned three years later to begin a shock crusade at a higher weight class.
He amassed 25 consecutive wins upon donning his gloves again, beating Jose Legra to become featherweight world champion and defending his belt over one of Mexico’s all-time greats Vicente Saldivar.
Jim Jeffries
While the aforementioned names rallied to some success in their late ring returns, Jim Jeffries is an example of a high-profile name failing to achieve past glories.
Jack Johnson is a cultural icon and his world heavyweight reign paved the way for future generations of African-American fighters in the sport. But at the time of his heavyweight prowess, his blackness was deemed unforgivable by White America.
Jeffries was the man chosen as their ‘Great White Hope’ and came out of a six-year hiatus to contest then kingpin Johnson in a scheduled 45-round showdown.
‘The Boilermaker’ was a shell of the man who beat legends Bob Fitzsimmons, Tom Sharkey and James J. Corbett though, suffering a brutal 15-round beating in one of the most significant fights in the sport’s history.
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