best career comebacks

[margaret thatcher]

yordenis ugas was 16-3 with losses to not very great opposition, never even made it to fringe contender level. retired for 2.5 years, then took a late notice comeback fight vs jamal james

he won that, now is world champ and has a win vs huge named pac on ppv

what other examples are there

[gregregegg]

off the top of my head

Fury coming back from being a 400 lb adict.

Spence coming back from a pretty gnarly car crash (although the extent of his injurys have never been clear)

George forman winning a world championship 17 years after retiring...

And after googleing and stealing a paragraph of someone...

Eugene Crique: A name you may have never heard, I didn't know who he was until yesterday. Crique was a French fighter who was a top flyweight contender before WW1. In 1914, he was asked to join the French army and fight for the French military. In 1915, while he was on guard duty in Verdun, he was shot in the face by a German Sniper. The bullet shattered his jaw, sliced his tongue in two and knocked his teeth out. Surgeons reconstructed his jaw using silver plates, wire, plastic and a goat leg; this procedure earned him his nickname "Mâchoire de fer" (Iron jaw). Eugene couldn't speak for several months and even towards the end of his treatment (1917), he had difficulty chewing solid foods. Eugene returned to boxing in 1917, but as a featherweight this time. Over the next five years, he compiled a record of 57-2-1. In 1923, Eugene finally got a shot at the great featherweight champion Johnny Killbane and won by knockout. (Killbane had been the champ for 11 years)

[margaret thatcher]

off the top of my head

Fury coming back from being a 400 lb adict.

Spence coming back from a pretty gnarly car crash (although the extent of his injurys have never been clear)

George forman winning a world championship 17 years after retiring...

And after googleing and stealing a paragraph of someone...

Eugene Crique: A name you may have never heard, I didn't know who he was until yesterday. Crique was a French fighter who was a top flyweight contender before WW1. In 1914, he was asked to join the French army and fight for the French military. In 1915, while he was on guard duty in Verdun, he was shot in the face by a German Sniper. The bullet shattered his jaw, sliced his tongue in two and knocked his teeth out. Surgeons reconstructed his jaw using silver plates, wire, plastic and a goat leg; this procedure earned him his nickname "Mâchoire de fer" (Iron jaw). Eugene couldn't speak for several months and even towards the end of his treatment (1917), he had difficulty chewing solid foods. Eugene returned to boxing in 1917, but as a featherweight this time. Over the next five years, he compiled a record of 57-2-1. In 1923, Eugene finally got a shot at the great featherweight champion Johnny Killbane and won by knockout. (Killbane had been the champ for 11 years)

damn eugene, you da man!

[Foggy]

David Haye 2021

[Coco]

off the top of my head

Fury coming back from being a 400 lb adict.

Spence coming back from a pretty gnarly car crash (although the extent of his injurys have never been clear)

George forman winning a world championship 17 years after retiring...

And after googleing and stealing a paragraph of someone...

Eugene Crique: A name you may have never heard, I didn't know who he was until yesterday. Crique was a French fighter who was a top flyweight contender before WW1. In 1914, he was asked to join the French army and fight for the French military. In 1915, while he was on guard duty in Verdun, he was shot in the face by a German Sniper. The bullet shattered his jaw, sliced his tongue in two and knocked his teeth out. Surgeons reconstructed his jaw using silver plates, wire, plastic and a goat leg; this procedure earned him his nickname "Mâchoire de fer" (Iron jaw). Eugene couldn't speak for several months and even towards the end of his treatment (1917), he had difficulty chewing solid foods. Eugene returned to boxing in 1917, but as a featherweight this time. Over the next five years, he compiled a record of 57-2-1. In 1923, Eugene finally got a shot at the great featherweight champion Johnny Killbane and won by knockout. (Killbane had been the champ for 11 years)

damn eugene, you da man!

Eugene is the winner

[dookus]

Willie Pep's record after the plane crash wasn't too bad at all

[skanksta]

John Ryder - especially if he’d “gotten” the decision he so clearly deserved.

[bigjack]

off the top of my head

Fury coming back from being a 400 lb adict.

Spence coming back from a pretty gnarly car crash (although the extent of his injurys have never been clear)

George forman winning a world championship 17 years after retiring...

And after googleing and stealing a paragraph of someone...

Eugene Crique: A name you may have never heard, I didn't know who he was until yesterday. Crique was a French fighter who was a top flyweight contender before WW1. In 1914, he was asked to join the French army and fight for the French military. In 1915, while he was on guard duty in Verdun, he was shot in the face by a German Sniper. The bullet shattered his jaw, sliced his tongue in two and knocked his teeth out. Surgeons reconstructed his jaw using silver plates, wire, plastic and a goat leg; this procedure earned him his nickname "Mâchoire de fer" (Iron jaw). Eugene couldn't speak for several months and even towards the end of his treatment (1917), he had difficulty chewing solid foods. Eugene returned to boxing in 1917, but as a featherweight this time. Over the next five years, he compiled a record of 57-2-1. In 1923, Eugene finally got a shot at the great featherweight champion Johnny Killbane and won by knockout. (Killbane had been the champ for 11 years)

damn eugene, you da man!

Eugene is the winner

That will take some beating,Pazienza's broken neck was also a hell of an achievement to come back from

[oogiebe]

Ali. 3 1/2 years of prime lost. Comes back and regains the title at 32 during the golden age of HW boxing.

[Nightmare Roy]

off the top of my head

Fury coming back from being a 400 lb adict.

Spence coming back from a pretty gnarly car crash (although the extent of his injurys have never been clear)

George forman winning a world championship 17 years after retiring...

And after googleing and stealing a paragraph of someone...

Eugene Crique: A name you may have never heard, I didn't know who he was until yesterday. Crique was a French fighter who was a top flyweight contender before WW1. In 1914, he was asked to join the French army and fight for the French military. In 1915, while he was on guard duty in Verdun, he was shot in the face by a German Sniper. The bullet shattered his jaw, sliced his tongue in two and knocked his teeth out. Surgeons reconstructed his jaw using silver plates, wire, plastic and a goat leg; this procedure earned him his nickname "Mâchoire de fer" (Iron jaw). Eugene couldn't speak for several months and even towards the end of his treatment (1917), he had difficulty chewing solid foods. Eugene returned to boxing in 1917, but as a featherweight this time. Over the next five years, he compiled a record of 57-2-1. In 1923, Eugene finally got a shot at the great featherweight champion Johnny Killbane and won by knockout. (Killbane had been the champ for 11 years)

damn eugene, you da man!

Eugene is the winner

absolutely, some man he was,what a story

[My Name Is Earl]

I doff my cap to Danny Jacobs.

[JamesPhilips]

yordenis ugas was 16-3 with losses to not very great opposition, never even made it to fringe contender level. retired for 2.5 years, then took a late notice comeback fight vs jamal james

he won that, now is world champ and has a win vs huge named pac on ppv

what other examples are there

Yes but having said that Pac is 42 and hadnt boxed for 2 years….. But yes a great CAREER comeback

[JamesPhilips]

I suppose Ali needs to be mentioned, it would be the standard ‘cazzy’ answer

[oogiebe]

I suppose Ali needs to be mentioned, it would be the standard ‘cazzy’ answer

I disagree. Can't understate the significance.

[JamesPhilips]

I suppose Ali needs to be mentioned, it would be the standard ‘cazzy’ answer

I disagree. Can't understate the significance.

Well I get it, he was only 2 years out and came back to serious money and fights. But it’s a story that gets flogged endlessly

[oogiebe]

I suppose Ali needs to be mentioned, it would be the standard ‘cazzy’ answer

I disagree. Can't understate the significance.

Well I get it, he was only 2 years out and came back to serious money and fights. But it’s a story that gets flogged endlessly

That may be, but it doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

[JamesPhilips]

I disagree. Can't understate the significance.

Well I get it, he was only 2 years out and came back to serious money and fights. But it’s a story that gets flogged endlessly

That may be, but it doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

I just don’t think it’s comparable to Foreman.

[oogiebe]

Well I get it, he was only 2 years out and came back to serious money and fights. But it’s a story that gets flogged endlessly

That may be, but it doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

I just don’t think it’s comparable to Foreman.

In terms of length of time off I'd agree. But Ali came back in arguably the greatest era of HW boxing.

[coghaugen11]

Benn rebuilding twice after devastating losses to win titles abroad (and defend them, dramatically, against men expected to legally murder him.)

[Stevieaber]

Vinny Paz after his car crash

[jlh]

Mike Tyson. Broken back - spinal

[JamesPhilips]

Vinny Paz after his car crash

Great one. Criqui I knew about but had forgotten. These two will take some beating.

Craig Bodzianowski deserves a big mention too. Lost his leg in a motor cycle accident (wasn’t his fault, a car reversed into him and he later joked when asked why he didn’t take the other guy to court “I can’t. I don’t have a leg to stand on.”)…. Less than a year and a half later he was back in the ring….6 years later he lost on points for world Title. That’s some comeback I hadn’t realised he has passed, young at 52, heart attack in his sleep.

RIP

[stujones]

Leonard vs Hagler.

Does Mayweather's comeback after his "retirement" count.

Hopkins post Joe Calzaghe pretty impressive also.

[bennie]

Daniel Zaragoza made a million incredible comebacks in in one career.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Mike Tyson. Broken back - spinal

I believe it was Thpinal..