Max Schmeling or Riddick Bowe: who wins head to head? Who ranks higher all time?

The Bowe of the first Holyfield fight destroys any Schmeling ... likely a stoppage in five or so ... way too big , fast , strong and too good ...

 

Prime Bowe would have too much for Max h2h but all time ranking Schemling is higher for sure.

 

Schmeling takes bowe apart

 

Schmeling ranks higher. Got Max at #14 and Riddick at #24.

H2h, I voted on instinct for Bowe. He has the size and offensife skills to win in good fashion. But then I started thinking, Bowe had troube with the similar sized Holyfield, even when brawling with him. Schmeling wouldn´t brawl with him, he would try to avoid the infight and is faster on his feet than Bowe. He also has faster hands and is a better puncher than anyone Bowe faced - even Holy, Max´s right hand was better than any punch of Commander Evander. Bowe´s chin was never really tested, could he take the Uhlan´s right hand as often as Louis did? I don´t think though. Schmeling would go in there with a plan and execute it, he´d pick Bowe apart and stop him late. Just better proven and more experienced at that level.

 

The answer to that is "No". Bowe was easier to hit than a peak joe louis.

 

Bowe on both counts ,even though schmeling has the better win at heavyweight he won the tittle on a suspect foul and lost it in a rematch . Even if you take into consideration the alleged dodgy decision in which he lost it . Bowe comes out better although he himself is a underachiever . Head to head he would stop schmeling

 

Schmelling wouldnt know what hit him if he fought Bowe. Too big.

 

That wasn't true of a certain other similarly sized lineal champ. OK, it was true one time out of three. :yep Still, it isn't as though Bowe was some explosive juggernaut who'd put any smaller man to sleep with just a hamhock jab.

...and are we absolutely sure of that certain other similarly sized lineal champ lasting more than two minutes himself against the highly motivated '38 Louis? :think

I'm not against supposing that Bowe wins in some form due to a combination of size and skill, but am against assuming it would have to be by concussive knockout due to his size.

 

Louis was proven against dismantling giants though IB, he shined a lot against those types because he enjoyed a huge dexterity/speed/skill advantage, as he would over Bowe as well. Schmeling on the other hand got destroyed by Baer and we never saw him fight Carnera or any of the other big uns, so it's hard to say there. Schmeling would do a fantastic job of neutralizing Bowe's jab and looping right hand, but i have doubts about how well he'd do in an infight being weighed down by a man that size. He would not lose by devastating flash ko. He'd be ground down and tired out.

 

Collated results at a glance so far:

Of 28 respondents,

11 feel Schmeling wins H2H (39%)
15 feel Bowe wins H2H (54%)
2 feel H2H is too close to call (7%)

18 feel Schmeling is greater (64%)
7 feel Bowe is greater (25%)
3 feel that the greater HW is too close to call. (11%)

So majority opinion seems to be that Bowe comes away victorious in a time machine, but that Schmeling's pound for pound abilities or legacy (or both) outshine his. :think

 

Bowe wins in the time machine. Too big with too much skills; Outside fighting and inside fighting with decent power and the jab to keep him off.

Schmelling I think has the superior resume/legacy

 

I would not say Bowe is a great outfighter apart from a well-trained jab, he let holyfield dictate the distance frequently and fought his game in almost all his fights despite enjoying a large size and weight advantage, he was not a superb techician when it came to fighting tall. Which is probably why he knew Lennox would break him.

 

For me the resume of the two isn't even close.

Bowe's legacy is entirely based on his victory over holyfield and max can better that significantly.

H2h you can put bowe in a time machine and noone is gonna have a greater than 60% chance of beating him. Like vitali he has all the tools needed to be super competitive with anyone. But we're not just talking about anyone here, we're talking about a man who knocked out joe louis. Bowe was easy to hit and max couldn't miss him. The question is can bowe take out max first? Considering the success that the not too elusive holyfield had in making him miss, i'd say max is a touch more clever than the real deal. Bowe is a huge mofo and has all the tools necessary but I pick max to outthink him and top him late on.

 

He had a great jab and threw a nice right hand over it. I mean yeah a lot of the time he liked to slug on the inside with that uppercut but just the jab would give schmelling a lot of problems imo not even taking into consideration the fact that schmelling would be fighting a guy with superior strength and weight

As for Lewis I think Bowe would've beat him if it was early 90s but Lewis would absolutely beat him if it was in the mid-late 90s

 

Bowe destroys Schmeling head to head, but I believe that Schmeling should also be ranked higher in terms of resume.