BoxRec

i am always surprise how anyone at over age 50 can still able to box, so my question is, whos currently the oldest person to still be active in competetive boxing ??

the only guy i have heard is levi forte who is now 64 year old, the former florida heavyweight champion was also one of george foreman's victims in his early days, resume his boxing career in 99 after 24 years of inactive, but hasnt fought any bout since lost to ike poole on a 4 round decision.

old timers like ron lyle and earnie shavers also made a unassuming
comeback in the mid-90's (i guess due to the effects of big george's
middle age success lolz) and ron lyle actually ko all 4 of his opponents
all within 4 round, but then again call it a quit, i wonder why ??
on the other hand earnie shavers isnt so lucky, at age 50 in his last bout he got ko'ed by some nobody named brian yates in 2 round and call it a quit.


so how many heavyweight boxers you can name who are still active beyond their 50's today or were active during the last decades ?????

I started a simular thread a while ago mate, may have some information of interest to you

http://www.boxrec.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13760


.

So you did.

i think a oldest fighter to date is mike tyson........

Joe Bugner

The Scranton Assassin wrote:Joe Bugner

Joe Bugner retired in 1999.

Yea but only because he was forced into retirement. He wanted to compete in the olympics for Australia a few years ago or somethin like that

The oldest fighters ranked in the top 50 in their respective weightclasses by BoxRec (which implies that they've fought in the past year):

Heavy: #20 Evander Holyfield (41), three at 38 (Tyson, Akinwande, Clay-Bey)
Cruiser: #8 Carl Thompson (40)
Light-Heavy: #45 Troy Weaver (40)
Super Middle: #28 Hector Camacho Sr. (42)
Middle: #1 Bernard Hopkins (39), next-oldest is #19 Maselino Masoe (38 )
Jr. Middle: #7 Rodney Jones, #8 Javier Castillejo, both 36
Welter: #8 Jawaid Khaliq, #25 Frederic Klose, #40 Jan Piet Bergman, all 34
Jr. Welter: #25 Vince Phillips (41), next-oldest is #8 Jesse James Leija (38 )
Lightweight: #39 Ricardo Daniel Silva (42)
Super Feather: #49 Claudio Victor Martinet (40)
Feather: #11 Vuyani Bungu (37)
Super Bantam: #37 Arthur Johnson (38 )
Bantam: #44 Leo Gamez (40), #46 Setsuo Segawa (36), #2 Veeraphol Sahaprom and #3 Johnny Bredahl, both 35
Super Fly: #38 Jesus (Kiki) Rojas (40)
Flyweight: #35 Alexander Mahmutov (38 )
Light Fly: #25 Melchor Castro, #28 Fahlan Sakkreerin, both 36
Minimum: #19 Chana Porpaoin (38 )

Note that age data are missing for quite a few boxers, especially at the lower weights.

If e.g. at heavyweight we look at the oldest guys ranked at all by BoxRec, here's all the guys in the top 500 listed as being 40 or older:

#76 Andreas Sidon (41)
#130 Paul Record (40)
#144 Al Cole (40)
#182 John Sargent (40)
#196 Phil Jackson (40)
#226 David Vedder (40)
#235 Joe Hipp (41)
#257 Aurelio Perez (40)
#309 Juan Antonio Diaz (43)
#357 Luiz Aparecido dos Santos (42)
#389 Kevin Vining (40)
#448 Garing Lane (40)
#494 Armando Rodriguez (40)
#500 Chavez Francisco (41)

Honorable Mention:

#635 Jim Klimkofski 48. JK won his pro debut at age 46 vs. BoxRec legend John Basil Jackson (4-72, 0 KOs), winner of the 1995 "BoxRec yo-yo Diet Award" after going from 256 to 188 lbs. in under 6 months. JBJ is also a strong candidate for this year's BRYYDA, after going from 230 lbs. in October 2003 to just 179 in his last fight, 3 weeks ago. Lead weights in his sweatsuit? What lead weights??

Interestingly, in the fight just prior to his epic war with Klimkofski, Jackson lost a UD6 to young Detroit prospect Rydell Booker, scheduled to face James Toney on September 23rd.

wasn't there quite a hoo-haa in the 80's when that rather good fighter Saoul Mamby fought on into his 40's

Seems almost common place now for fighters to be in their thirties when even 20 years ago people complained that Hagler/Leonard was "two old guys"

Is this a change of attitude ( perhaps caused by Foreman's return ) or is it a real change in the physical abilities with improved training, drugs and nutrition? I really don't know but would be interested to hear the opinions

Slapsie

Slapsie Maxie wrote:wasn't there quite a hoo-haa in the 80's when that rather good fighter Saoul Mamby fought on into his 40's

Seems almost common place now for fighters to be in their thirties when even 20 years ago people complained that Hagler/Leonard was "two old guys"

Is this a change of attitude ( perhaps caused by Foreman's return ) or is it a real change in the physical abilities with improved training, drugs and nutrition? I really don't know but would be interested to hear the opinions

Slapsie

The legendary Archie Moore was still fighting at a world-class level well into his late 40s - in his next-to-last fight in November 1962 (4 weeks shy of his 49th birthday), Moore lost TKO4 to a young Louisville heavyweight prospect named Cassius Clay.

Remarkably, Moore went 44-4-2 after age 40. His only four losses in that 9-year span were to Rocky Marciano (1955), Floyd Patterson (1956), Giulio Rinaldi (1960; Moore avenged this the following year, in what would be the last defense of his World Light-Heavyweight Title, at age 47), and Clay/Ali (1962).

The Scranton Assassin wrote:Yea but only because he was forced into retirement. He wanted to compete in the olympics for Australia a few years ago or somethin like that

How was he forced into retirement? I thought it was his own choice?

Your right about the Olympics, he was talking about trying out for the discus, but nothing came of it.