Best Aged Fighter --- 1990-2010?

[Goodnight, Irene]

The last twenty years, who stands as the best aged fighter?

I think George Foreman & Bernard Hopkins are the stand-outs, but who to favour as the number-one? There were others, as well --- Lennox Lewis, Ricardo Lopez, & Juan Manuel Marquez were all excellent at advanced ages. To a lesser extent, Kostya Tszyu & Evander Holyfield should also qualify as two of the better ones.

Who's the greatest?

[Deno1986]

Probably not the greatest but deserves an honourable mention - Micky Ward was an 'old' 36 going into the first Gatti fight in which many described as a final paycheck defeat for Ward. He had a very tough career and probably should have packed it in for the final time after the Leija defeat but said he would give it one more lash against 'Thunder' Gatti. He fought the best he ever did that night and it was the start of three epic battles between the two warriors - Micky eventually retiring at 37 years old after the third fight of the trilogy.

[dempseyfire]

CLEARLY you'd have to give #1 to Bernard Hopkins. No other guy was dominating top PFP comp throughout his early-mid 40s.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Probably not the greatest but deserves an honourable mention - Micky Ward was an 'old' 36 going into the first Gatti fight in which many described as a final paycheck defeat for Ward. He had a very tough career and probably should have packed it in for the final time after the Leija defeat but said he would give it one more lash against 'Thunder' Gatti. He fought the best he ever did that night and it was the start of three epic battles between the two warriors - Micky eventually retiring at 37 years old after the third fight of the trilogy.

Good choice. I guess the reason he didn't occur to me is that, by & large, great fighters (which Ward was not) are obliged to fight greater opposition, proving themselves more visibly than men like Ward. Still, in the sense that Ward was still very good so late-on, & that he didn't seem to lose a whole lot of ability between his pomp & the last few years of his career (partly evidenced by his being one-half of Ring Mag's Fight Of The Year in the last three consecutive years of his career) makes him a definite mentionable

[Goodnight, Irene]

CLEARLY you'd have to give #1 to Bernard Hopkins. No other guy was dominating top PFP comp throughout his early-mid 40s.

What sets Hopkins & Foreman apart is that, while the former had the advantage of being in his pomp between the ages of (roughly) 34-39, he continued to fight, hang, & beat the best around, long after his punch output & reflexes had faded, while the latter fought the whole period he was active during this timeframe past the age of forty, & in varying stages of way washed-up, but, somehow, remained deadly.

That's why I give the top spot to Hopkins, but not over Foreman by all that much. He's a clear winner, but not by that big a margin, IMO. There's no question Trinidad, De La Hoya, Taylor, Calzaghe, Pavlik, & company heavily outweigh --- collectively --- the likes of Cooper, Holyfield, Moorer, Morrison, & Cooney, but Foreman got his work done shockingly overweight, & anywhere between fifteen & twenty-plus years past his prime, shortening up the distance between he & Hopkins dramatically, IMO.

[PPLLUVTHIS]

Bernard Hopkins for sure, but let us wait and see how Mosley would fair this year.