An undefeated record in boxing is undoubtedly impressive ... but it can also be misleading.
Rocky Marciano and
Joe Calzaghe are two of the few modern fighters who retired having won every single fight of their professional career. Both are Hall of Famers with wins over Hall of Fame caliber fighters on their resumes ... but both Marciano and Calzaghe scored their biggest wins against stars who were well past their primes.
Marciano stopped a 37-year-old Joe Louis in Louis' final fight; twice stopped a late-thirties Jersey Joe Walcott in Walcott's final two fights; scored two wins over a mid-thirties Ezzard Charles; and stopped a 38-year-old Archie Moore. It's also worth noting that Walcott, Charles and Moore all started their careers as light heavyweights. Marciano certainly never ducked anyone, he just happened to come along too late to face a prime Joe Louis and too early to face Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston or Muhammad Ali.
Calzaghe scored solid wins over Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler at their respective peaks, but didn't come to the United States to test himself against the biggest names in the sport until the final two bouts of his pro career: a split decision win against a 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins and a unanimous decision - after surviving a first-round knockdown - against a 39-year-old Roy Jones Jr. who was no longer an elite fighter.
Sven Ottke and Ike Ibeabuchi are two other recent fighters who won each and every one of their pro bouts ... but both of those undefeated marks merit an asterisk next to the zero.
Ottke went 34-0 in a pro career that spanned from 1997 to 2004. He won the IBF super middleweight title from Charles Brewer in only his 13th pro bout and defended that title an amazing 21 times! So what's the problem? He never left Germany to defend his title. He never tested himself against the best in the world during his era. His prime coincided with the primes of Joe Calzaghe in his own weight class, Roy Jones Jr. and Antonio Tarver just above him at light heavyweight, and Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad just below him at middleweight. Boxing politics can be brutal so this is not to suggest that Ottke was intentionally ducking anyone. However, without a signature fight on his resume, it's impossible to consider him an all-time great ... despite the undefeated record.
Ibeabuchi is another case entirely. Ike went 20-0 during his meteoric rise through the heavyweight ranks from 1994 to 1999. At just 26, he had already scored memorable wins over David Tua and Chris Byrd and seemed poised for greatness. Yet Ibeabuchi would never fulfill his vast potential as he proved to be a ticking timebomb outside the ring. Following a series of bizarre incidents characterized by violent behavior, Ibeabuchi was imprisoned on charges that he attempted to rape a woman in a Las Vegas hotel in July 1999. He has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and been denied parole multiple times. He is next eligible for a parole hearing in May 2012. He will be 39 at the time and is unlikely to be released, so the possibility of him someday resuming his ring career is extremely remote.
What are your thoughts on undefeated records? Do they impress you? Who among today's crop of undefeated fighters has the best chance of retiring undefeated? We'll take a look at that subject in an upcoming article.
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