When Derek Jeter and Kobe Bryant announced their impending retirements, they were greeted with a warm welcome at each visiting stadium, a farewell tour for two all-time greats.
Boxing isn?t so hospitable.
Fighting, more so than any other athletic endeavor, is a drug. Boxers try to leave, but the siren call of the ring always keeps them coming back for more.
Bernard Hopkins retired at age 42 after a billed farewell fight with Antonio Tarver in 2006. The Philadelphian was the underdog, but he gave Tarver a shellacking, and the performance was so good, he simply couldn?t walk away.
Hopkins returned to defend the lineal light heavyweight championship he won, and found great success well into his late 40s.
It all came crashing down Saturday, following a two-year layoff, when Hopkins, 51, had his second farewell fight, this time against Joe Smith Jr.
Like most sequels, this one didn?t come close to achieving the success of the first.
Hopkins was competitive with the 27-year-old, but in Round 8, he was laying on the ropes when Smith blasted him through them and out of the ring for a knockout.
It?s a humbling way for Hopkins to leave the sport, but he can take solace in the fact he?s far from the only legend to meet such a grim ring fate.
Mike Tyson
The Baddest Man on the Planet was knocked out by Lennox Lewis in a super fight for the heavyweight title in 2002, and it wouldn?t have been the worst way to go out, even if Tyson wasn?t competitive.
After all, Lewis is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.
But then Tyson returned with a KO of journeyman Clifford Etienne, before consecutive stoppage defeats ? 2004 and 2005 ? convinced him to hang up the gloves for good.
First up was British fringe contender Danny Williams. Tyson suffered a torn meniscus in Round 1, and when he rocked the towering heavyweight and couldn?t put him down, the tide turned.
Williams began to pummel Tyson, and eventually dropped the 38-year-old in Round 4. Tyson received the referee?s count with blood streaming down his face, and that was it.
But Tyson wasn?t done just yet.
He returned one year later against an even less heralded fighter in Kevin McBride, another behemoth.
Like Williams, McBride was slow, but Tyson seemed uninterested in the fight.
He was eating shot after shot when finally, he quit on his stool following Round 6, an ignominious conclusion for a man who rose through boxing like a comet.
?I do not have the guts to be in this sport anymore,? Tyson said after the fight. ?I don?t want to disrespect the sport that I love. My heart is not into this anymore. I?m sorry for the fans who paid for this. I wish I could have done better.?
Muhammad Ali
?The Greatest? received less than encouraging results from a medical examination at the Mayo Clinic on July 23, 1980, but he fought twice more anyway.
In 1980, Ali was defeated by former sparring partner Larry Holmes, considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Ali, 38, was completely dominated from the opening bell (he lost every round on every scorecard) and his corner halted the mismatch after Round 10.
Ali had an alibi, though: the thyroid hormone Thyrolar.
His doctor prescribed it after determining Ai had a thyroid imbalance, but it?s dangerous to compete athletically while on such a drug. It can cause fatigue, sluggishness and a host of other issues, and following the bout, it was found Ali in fact never had a thyroid problem to begin with.
Able to blame his performance on the drug, Ali returned 14 months later ? December 1981 ? and faced a far lesser fighter in Trevor Berbick. It was a competitive affair over the first seven rounds, but Ali, whose speech noticeably slurred before the matchup, was beaten up over the last three rounds, and the legend dropped a decision.
He retired for good following back-to-back defeats.
Joe Louis
?The Brown Bomber,? the greatest heavyweight to walk the Earth not named Ali, met a most vicious end.
He was actually the favorite when he met Rocky Marciano in 1951 at Madison Square Garden, but the fight didn?t play out in such a way.
Louis was down on all three cards when Marciano belted him with a combination that sent him to a knee in Round 8. Moments later, Louis ate a few more powerful shots, and this time, he went through the ropes and onto the ring apron.
Media members tried to help the 37-year-old to his feet, but Louis was done, and so, too, was his legendary career.
Louis was Marciano?s boyhood idol, and the beating he dished out was too much to handle. Marciano cried as he consoled Louis in the locker room following the proverbial passing of the torch.
Oscar De La Hoya
Unlike the others on this list, no one knew De La Hoya was done entering his final fight. ?The Golden Boy? was even the favorite. After all, it was Manny Pacquiao who was climbing yet another weight class (although De La Hoya was fighting at his lowest weight in 11 years).
But the fight was never remotely competitive. ?Pacman? beat De La Hoya from pillar to post. The speed was blistering. The angels confounding.
Pacquiao turned De La Hoya?s million-dollar face into mincemeat, and finally, after the eight worst rounds of his professional career, the 35-year-old retired on his stool.
In retirement, De La Hoya concentrated his focus on Golden Boy Promotions, his successful company, and rather surprisingly, never made a return.
Sugar Ray Leonard
Perhaps the most gifted athlete to ever lace up a pair of gloves, even Leonard couldn?t stay away from the ring.
He actually retired for the first time on Nov. 9, 1982, after undergoing surgery to repair a detached retina in his left eye.
Leonard, of course, would be back.
He returned in 1984 with a stoppage of journeyman Kevin Howard, but suffered the first knockdown of his career during the victory.
So disappointed in his performance, he announced his retirement at the post-fight news conference.
He would be back.
Leonard returned for a 1987 super fight against Marvin Hagler, and won a controversial decision in one of the best performances of his career.
He fought sparingly over the next few years before meeting Terry Norris in 1991 at the age of 34. Norris dished out a beating on Leonard and knocked him down en route to a wide decision.
?It was a sad victory,? Norris said. ?He?s my idol and I beat him badly. I didn?t want it to be that way. He?s still my idol.?
And Leonard, aware that his ability was gone, announced his retirement ? for the third time ? in the ring following the fight.
He would be back.
Six years later, at the age of 40, he was knocked out by Hector Camacho in five rounds, a sad ending to a special career.
