Top 5 fighters who should call it a day:
Boxing and Father Time make for a cruel couple, especially for those who stick around in the sport too long. Not everyone has either the lifelong personal discipline or the excellent skill base of a Bernard Hopkins, and B-Hop needed both those things to extend his time at the top of the sport to age 50. A lot of fighters are past their best after their mid-30s.
When you can’t compete, you can’t compete, and it’s time to hang up the gloves. With that in mind, there are five fighters I would like to see retire in 2015.
1. Virgil Hill
Hill had been retired for almost eight years, but is now back in the gym and has a hometown (Bismarck, North Dakota) fight date set for February 28. Like Bernard Hopkins, Quicksilver is 50 years old, but he hasn’t looked anywhere near as good in recent memory. His previous closing year of 2007 saw him lose to Firat Aslan, as well as what was supposed to be a nostalgia rematch against long-retired German rival Henry Maske. His closing years were also marred by failing a pair of anti-doping screenings.
Mr. Hill, you were part of the golden 1984 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team. You enjoyed two distinguished stints as a light heavyweight champion, grabbed a cruiserweight title, and are already a Hall of Famer. Your son is a Major League Baseball player, and your wife a boxing promoter. You have plenty to be proud of, and whatever is motivating you to get back in the ring, it just is not worth it. Your fans, and I count myself among them, want you to stay retired.
2. Jose Luis Castillo
I imagine your response to seeing El Temible’s name is “WTF? Didn’t he retire years ago?” The fact is that Castillo should have hung up the gloves sometime shortly after his crushing 2007 encounter with Ricky Hatton, but didn’t, and has been active ever since. He has been little better than a club fighter ever since, and his last outing was as a welterweight against Ruslan Provodnikov, which saw him trashed. It’s a low place to be for a guy who, in the opinions of some, narrowly defeated Floyd Mayweather so many years ago.
3. Michael Katsidis
Like a lot of all-action fighters, this 34 year old Australian lightweight burned himself out ahead of schedule. He returned to the ring after a two year lay-off last year, and although he has done fairly well against journeymen he simply isn’t showing enough of his old verve to believe he can make another run at the top of the game. Katsidis might turn into a decent gatekeeper but I doubt he has more in him than that, and working as a gatekeeper at 135 lbs is a lousy way to make a living.
4. Roy Jones, Jr.
RJJ is still out there, but you can be forgiven for thinking he had finally called it a day. Jones effectively relocated his boxing career to Eastern Europe, and has fought four journeymen in Poland and Russia over the last couple of years. He even won the prestigious German version of the WBU Cruiserweight Title!
Can you detect my sarcasm? In all seriousness, Roy’s laughable circumstances are the biggest statement that could possibly be made that the phenom of the 1990s should call it a day.
5. Shannon Briggs
Shannon the Cannon took 3 1/2 years off after getting decapitated by Vitali Klitschko, but had a busy 2014. He smashed six tomato cans in venues all across America, in what amounted to a national tour. Along the way he accosted World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko in a restaurant, and was almost decapitated again for his hubris.
Either the 43 year old Briggs really needs the money, or else he is angling for a place in the post-Dr. Steelhammer sweepstakes. He shouldn’t bother. He will be even older when Klitschko departs the scene, so he is only keeping himself warm to serve as a feast for the winners of the World After Klitschko.
