Looking at some more recent fighters and their interviews some at least in interviews seem to be doing really well. Obviously Foreman who is now also nearing 70 still seems sharp obviously it might be different once he gets really old but he is still holding up and he had tough fights and not a defensive style.
Also Gerry Cooney. he is a bit younger but in his mid 60s and he seem really there mentally allthough he had fewer fights he wasnt a great defensive fighter either.
Another one which is almost suprising is Qawi. He is now 64 and he has been in WARS . His first fight with hoylfield alone would end many fighters' careers and shorten their lives. He had tough fighter for years afterwards up to HW. And he seems sompletely fine no slurred speech, completely there mentally and he speaks really quick and clear.
And the one who really made me go back to this thread: Leroy Caldwell.
I stumbled upon this interview with him
I had no idea who he was so looking at his record: wow. he was a real journeyman. The kind of tough guy who gets beaten up over the years and takes fight after fight. But he shared the ring with ATG HW punchers with the biggest punchers of the golden era. In this video he should be about 70. And he seems completely fine
I have no idea how he is doing so well while guys like Floyd Patterson who and others get dementia early even after they leave the game without any obvious issues. Let alone guys like Bowe and Meldrick Taylor who are obviously punchy in their late 20s already.
http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/403
Malcolm "Flash" Gordon always praised Qawi's defensive skills effusively in "Tonight's Boxing Program," enthusing after Qawi-Saad Muhammad II that, "Like a fabulous José Naples master of defense, he never takes a backwards step...always keeping his lead foot between his opponent's feet..." He wasn't sneering at his opponents in showing his white mouthpiece, but as his trainers Quenzell McCall and Wesley Mouzon made clear, breathing through his mouth was simply too long ingrained a habit to change by the time they began working with Dwight. (Qawi, as he comes out of his corner to begin his rounds indeed has his mouth closed over his mouthpiece for a few seconds, then exposes it as soon as he begins breathing with the action.)
Boxing with an open mouth is an invitation to getting a broken jaw. That nothing like this ever happened to Qawi shows what tremendous defensive skill he had in rolling with rights, blocking hooks, and deploying the best counter jab and ring cutting technique of his era.
Regarding Leroy Caldwell, I hope some of his televised late career wins pop up online. Fans in Las Vegas would be chanting his name as he stood in place slipping an attacker's shots, and his bout with a post Berbick Big John Tate was also televised. Although John, nine years younger at 27, was clearly superior, and Caldwell was no threat to hurt him, Leroy was very clearly having fun in a nationally televised opportunity as his career was drawing to a close. He started boxing professionally when in his mid 20's, greatly improved with experience, and was in the mould of guys like George Chaplin, Bob Stallings, Stan Ward, and reportedly Ted Lowry, an opponent who posed little risk as a knockout menace, but could be counted on to extend somebody who needed rounds of work.
Gerrie Coetzee was his final stoppage defeat. Tate never had him in trouble, despite Big John desperately needing to be impressive in his last major televised opportunity.
Jimmy Young and Goyo Peralta are among the upper weight patron saints of Leroy's ilk. (Whitehurst isn't somebody I include here, because Bert was a runner. Late career Caldwell didn't use his legs to elude shots.)
Fine article on Leroy over a decade back:
http://www.thesweetscience.com/articles-of-2006/4760-leroy-caldwell-subtle-and-quiet-dignity
Leroy wasn't a clutching spoiler, or a runner, but somebody who was fun to watch take lesser opponents to school, got some significant bouts with decent exposure at career's end, and may have finished up performing at the highest level of his potential. Going back to ESB Classic, I've been extolling Caldwell for over a decade. Obviously I'm pleased he's now seen speaking for himself, but I'd sure like to see those late career broadcasts of this sage veteran in winning action as his Las Vegas faithful chant his name. When you see him box, you realize he was no kind of punching bag.
Bert Whitehurst died of a heart attack at age 49. Boxing had nothing to do with that. It appears to have been a surprise, like Max Baer at age 50, three days after energetically refereeing Zora Folley and Alonzo Johnson for ten rounds in his clownish way (playing to the crowd and athletically vaulting over the top rope after it was over, according to Jimmy Cannon). There's likely a congenital issue with early deaths like theirs. (Maxie had let himself get flabby, but he certainly wasn't a 500 pound Buster Mathis. Clean living and a daily three mile jog like Jack Sharkey's wouldn't have saved the Larruper from an early grave. Even today, a marathon champion turned cardiologist like Norbert Sander, Jr. can die suddenly of a heart attack in 2017.)
Tiger Ted Lowry was good and happy to receive salutations to the end of his life at 90. Just how good was his functioning and condition at age 89? Take a look!:
Of course the way he moves simply means he dodged the crippling arthritis bullet, but walking downstairs in the completely unimpaired way he does is nonetheless remarkable, the way a physically unimpaired retired athlete might be expected to. 1176 professional rounds over 143 bouts covering 16 years against his level of opposition does not typically result in the clarity of speech and quality of mind Ted demonstrates here. (Archie Moore boxed 1473 professional rounds in 220 bouts. The Mongoose's less than 300 more rounds reflects his record knockout total. Pep had 1955 rounds in his 241 bouts, and news reports attributing his death at 84 to dementia pugilistica is presumptuous. Plenty of people were guided around the IBHOF by Willie or otherwise met him there, and he was perfectly fine well past an age where he can get a free pass for mental decline. Joe Rein said Pep would have sold his left nut for an erasure, but in a televised interview, Willie contradicted this, cautioning, "I could hurt you!" His second round left hook body shot knockout of Jimmy MacAllister is a filmed textbook example of how to properly execute this blow to produce a full count out, and his jaw fracturing right cross to take out Bartolo in their third bout to consolidate all FW Title claims was the only time Sal was laid out for ten in 98 bouts. Pep boxed frequently for the money, and used the tactics he did to permit that. Bartolo III and MacAllister show he could be extremely dangerous when going for the kill prior to his plane crash.)
