Boxers Who Started Late and Became Champions

Many of the world’s boxing elite started late, usually after pursuing other career paths, or as their redemption stories. After all, it’s not unusual for a boxer to have had it rough and turn to combat sports in a way to soothe the soul and surprisingly – heal the body.

For many of the boxers on our list, boxing proved to be the life-altering choice that would put them on the straight and narrow. Today’s list contains some interesting stories, and it demonstrates that it is never too late to start boxing.

But unlike the guys on this list, it might be safer to pick up boxing as a hobby, and not as your calling and career path. Anyway, we are sure that you will find inspiration in the boxers who started late down below.

Deontay Wilder

• Starting Age: 23
• Record (W-D-L): 43-4-1
• Division: Heavyweight
• Notable Fights: Tyson Fury, Luis Ortiz, Bermane Stiverne

Deontay Wilder is one of the most firebrand boxers of recent years. Although he is approaching the twilight years of his career, he has been distinctly memorable. He has been an aspiring professional athlete his entire life, and his pursuits always gravitated around the opportunity to exploit his physical prowess.

After trying to make it as a basketball and football player, Wilder finally settled for boxing, which he discovered to be surprisingly good at. Spanning of career of 43 wins 4 losses and 1 draw, Wilder’s biggest defeats came at the hands of Tyson Fury, a heavyweight boxer of remarkably quick wit and to Wilder’s bitter disappointment – legwork.

Wilder has had a brilliant career, nevertheless. Starting at the age of 20 he quickly made it into professional boxing and went undefeated for many fights. His decision to switch to boxing – other than his natural aptitude – has to do with his daughter developing a condition known as spina bifida, which required expensive treatment.

Rising to the occasion, Wilder fought harder and harder to ensure that his daughter would get the best treatment and stood by his family.

Rocky Marciano

• Starting Age: 24
• Record (W-D-L): 49-0-0
• Division: Heavyweight
• Notable Fights: Jersey Joe Walcot, Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore

Rocky Marciano is another late bloomer in the boxing scene. He started at 24 and became an immediate success. Over his 13 careers of competitive boxing, he amassed 49 fights and lost none of them. He finished 43 of these fights with a knockout.

Interestingly, Marciano’s decision to start late with boxing was again occasioned by the fact that he had tried his hand at baseball first. Marciano was a natural athlete who thrived on competition, and he took his passion for baseball and infused it into his boxing career.

To this very day, he remains the only undefeated heavyweight champion in the history of professional boxing. You may be familiar with the man from the movie Rocky, which tells his story, and although you may find some of the vigorous training scenes a little exaggerated, it’s good to know that this is how it happened.

Marciano would run 15 miles every day and punch a 300-pound bag in his training sessions. He raised some questions about his diet and focused on raw eggs and pasta as his go-to energy meals to maintain training stamina, but apparently – it worked. Marciano died a day before his 46^th birthday in a plane crash.

Anthony Joshua

• Starting Age: 24
• Record (W-D-L): 32-0-4
• Division: Heavyweight
• Notable Fights: Wladimir Klitschko, Andy Ruiz Jr., Oleksandr Usyk

Anthony Joshua is another celebrated boxer who has made it far into his career, and he started fairly late – he fought his professional bout at the age of 24, and he was celebrated as one of the most promising young aces in the sport.

AJ, as he would come to be known, would quickly amass one win after another owing to his sublime physique. Before rediscovering himself as a boxer, he would work as a bricklayer, but his physical attributes were too hard to miss.

Anthony would soon be discovered to possess a superb constellation of attributes that enabled him to pursue boxing greatness. He won the Olympics competing for the United Kingdom in 2012 and fought to defeat Wladimir Klitschko, in a staggering triumph in his career.

He would then face several difficult bouts however, fighting and losing to Andy Ruiz, an overweight and seemingly lethargic Mexican boxer who threw a surprise punch forcing AJ to quit early into the fight. He also lost to Oleksandr Usyk, a Ukrainian fighter whom he was supposed to have the edge against, but who defeated him twice.

All in all, Anthony Joshua fits the description of one of the boxers who started much later than most professional fighters. His ability to reach the higher echelons of the sport comes from the fact that he has a superb physique and was discovered very early by great coaches who invested heavily in his training. AJ too showed great dedication to shaping himself as a fantastic fighter.

Dwight Muhammad Qawi

• Starting Age: 28
• Record (W-D-L): 41-1-11
• Division: Light Heavyweight, Cruiserweight
• Notable Fights: Evander Holyfield, Michael Spinks, Matthew Saad Muhammad

Dwight Muhammad Qawi had a rocky early life, but it would be his eventual incarceration that would set him on the path to becoming one of the most accomplished boxers of living memory. He was introduced to boxing in prison and embraced the sport with unflagging zeal.

Despite only getting started at the age of 25, he would go on to achieve much in the years to follow and after his release from prison. He was also one of the fighters that Evander Holyfield, another venerated fighter, would go on to develop a bitter rivalry against.

Recognizing their respective skill and prowess, both fighters were keen to prove to themselves and the other man that they were better. Notably, Holyfield secured the fight by split decision, but he admitted years later that he was barely able to keep up with Qawi and had considered quitting during it.

As to the fight’s reception, it was dubbed the best cruiserweight fight of all time. Qawi himself would go on to defeat Piet Crous and Matthew Saad Muhammad, the Cruiserweight and Lightweight Champion respectively.

He admittedly did not have an unblemished track record, but when Qawi fought, he gave it his all and faced some very tough opponents who, despite their triumphs, knew that the man was a fighter.

Bernard Hopkins

• Starting Age: 23
• Record (W-D-L): 55-2-8
• Division: Middleweight, Light Heavyweight
• Notable Fights: Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Jean Pascal

Bernard Hopkins is another legend of a boxer who stands out by virtue of his track record, personality, and status in the competitive scene. He too started rather late – at the age of 23.. He would quickly go on to earn cool monikers such as “The Executioner” and “The Alien” throughout his career, resulting in 55 wins, 8 losses, and 2 draws in a career spanning more than 60 fights.

Hopkins had a rough childhood, growing up in a tough Philadelphia neighborhood and getting sucked into the local criminal vortex, leading to multiple arrests. He ended up in prison at the age of 17, where he discovered boxing and threw himself into the sport with passion.

Upon his release in 1988, Hopkins said that he would never return to prison again and embraced the sport to forge his path ahead in life. Starting fairly late he would suffer multiple setbacks, but having saved up some money, and reached out to a network of boxing coaches, he was quickly discovered as a promising talent worth supporting on his journey to the top.

The fact he started late in life most certainly had an impact on his career, and he did end up losing a fair few fights, but always gave it his all. Overall, Hopkins is one of the true boxers to have started late and succeeded.

Sonny Liston

• Starting Age: 30
• Record (W-D-L): 50-0-4
• Division: Heavyweight
• Notable Fights: Floyd Patterson, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) 1 & 2

If you are looking for boxers who started even later than their 20s, the name Sonny Liston comes to mind. He made his professional debut at the age of 30, although he had been training since the age of 22. Regardless, the consensus is that Liston only made his first serious effort in boxing 10 years later.

Much like other boxers, he would have a troubled past that made him struggle throughout his teen years. He would eventually end up in prison, an experience he felt terrified about later in his life. However, similar to other success stories, he would pick up boxing in prison, and the sport would become his sole and unwavering focus.

Liston served a five-year sentence and was eventually released. He went on fighting professionally almost from the start and was dubbed “The Big Break” pointing out his late professional career, and solid track record. He won 50 fights and lost four of them, missing out on holding the world’s heavyweight title.

Liston was a singular talent who is one of the most memorable fighters in living memory. Despite his success, he faced a tragic end, with the boxer dying at the age of 38 at his home in Las Vegas from what authorities concluded was a heroin overdose. Some rumors about possible foul play continue to persist. Either way, Sonny Liston is one of the few boxers to have started at the age of 30.

Heather Hardy

• Starting Age: 28
• Record: (W-D-L) 22-0-3
• Division: Super Bantamweight, Featherweight
• Notable Fights: Christina McMahon, Amanda Serrano, Shelly Vincent

As to female boxers who started late, the name Heather Hardy comes first. The boxer became professional at the age of 28, making a rather late debut on the scene, which did not stop her from becoming the two-time world champion in the featherweight division.

Heather Hardy’s tale of the tape isn’t too big, which is fairly normal in female boxing, with the fighter clocking in 22 wins, and only three losses.

Hardy has also been a passionate advocate and role model, and although not espousing and encouraging fighting, she has spoken highly of the combat sport, and also the issues that arise from trying to balance a career, family life, and fighting.

In a sense, boxing as a career path has been tougher on women who still seemed to be overly involved in their family lives, unlike most men-fighters who have been able to more or less focus on their fighting entirely.

Regardless, Hardy is an inspiring fighter and despite the fact that she started when she was nearly 30, she went on to have a fulfilling career of one success after the next!