Evander Holyfield vs Ridck Bowe - the second fight

I actually had Bowe a 1 point winner. But I have only ever scored it once. You have to give Holy a lot of credit I think.

Based on the first fight, Bowe seemingly would trounce him again, only more easily because now he had Evander's scalp already.

But all credit to Holy because whilst Bowe was basking in the glory of being champ, he went back to the drawing board and had a rethink. He changed trainers, bulked up a bit, and came into the second fight determined not to get sucked into fighting Bowe's fight.
True, Big Daddy came in 11 pounds heavier than in their first fight ( never a good sign) but still, he was the betting favourite and rightly so.

Very good fight, maybe not quite as good as the first but still very entertaining. I thought both fought well and showed a lot of class in the post-fight interview.

 

Good ****ysis. I scored this fight a couple times and had Bowe ahead slightly or a draw, but really tough fight to score. A champ should not be scored the loser in those types of fights, Bowe really got screwed by the judges.

And its another reason Holyfield is massively overrated, he really just wasn't that good. Bowe showed himself to be considerably better h2h, Holyfield often struggled with his top challengers, and his main claim to fame is beating a post prime Tyson. His resume is better than Bowe's, but Tyson's resume is better than his, so there's really no rational argument that doesn't have him as the 3rd best fighter of his era behind Lewis and Tyson (or Lewis and Bowe, if you prefer h2h). I don't understand how anyone can rank the 3rd best fighter of his era in the top 10, someone who never dominated, as a top 10 ATG, it just make no sense.

 

Well it depends, I think. Most rate Smokin' Joe in their top 10 and he was probably the third-best heavy of the 70's (behind Foreman and Ali) and he didn't dominate an era either.
The 90's was a deep, competitive era that for much of it, was not dominated by anyone.

 

Frazier is the ****ogy, I have him rated as the best 3rd best fighter of his era and Holyfield as the 2nd best 3rd best fighter. I have Frazier around 12 and Holyfield around 15. I agree they were deep and competitive, which is why I have them ranked above a bunch of #2's, but that's really a subjective, unprovable determination, and its not fair to put them above clear #1's like Holmes, Wlad, Marciano's who were the best of their era, but who sometimes put below the #3's.

 

I had Bowe winning this fight. Jip decision

 

Rid**** Bowe outlanded - not threw, landed - 100 more punches than Holyfield did in their rematch.

You'd be hard-pressed to find any fight in any division where the defending champion outlanded his challenger by 100 punches and lost his title.

Add to that the fact that there was a long delay MID-ROUND due to fan (man) interference, a riot at ringside when the guy was being pummeled, and Bowe's pregnant wife passed out and had to be escorted from the arena.

I thought Bowe won, too. If he'd walked out of the ring during the delay to escort his wife out ... and said, "Let's do it again another night" ... what would they have done?

The fight was stopped at that point. They were worried the light rigging above the ring was going to get pulled down with people tugging on the parachute.

It was chaos.

And then they gave the decision to Holyfield on top of everything else.

You'll never see anything like that again.

 

Actually I believe Holyfield ranks ahead of both Lewis and Tyson, in terms of legacy.

 

A well thought out piece, and I agree it was very close.

Just a pet peeve is the even rounds:

No round of boxing to my knowledge has ever seen both fighters mirror each other exactly, thus someone should edge it and be judged the winner, as that is your 'job' in this instance.

If it really is that close, that you cannot split them, give the Champ the benefit of the doubt.

 

I felt Holyfield edged it. Many of the rounds were close. Holyfield had fate on his side in addition to a far superior corner. Manny Steward trained Holyfield, and Holyfield actually followed up with the game plan.

The fan man incident allowed an often gassed Holyfield 21 minutes to re-fuel. Essentially this was two six round fights. Bowe corner was a mess. His wife pregnant passed out, and his psycho manager Rock Newman was more interested in protecting the nation of Islam leader than keeping Bowe focused. Newman later admitted he felt the fan man was there to assassinate The nation of Islam leader.

Judge: Jerry Roth 113-115 for Holy
Judge: Patricia Morse Jarman 114-115 for Holy
Judge: Chuck Giampa 114-114 - Draw

Unofficial Associated Press scorecard: 115-113 Bowe

Unofficial New York Times scorecard: 117-112 Holyfield

 

it was real close but i had it 115 to 113 for evander ....

 

Watching it live I thought it was a draw. I think Bowe should have retained his title.

 

Watched it last week on ESPN on demand. I had Bowe by 3 rds

 

Yes, but the judges have done their job and judged who has won the round, the fault in that instance is with the fighter.

My point is anyone can score a round even, but as a judge you are supposed to live up to your name and give an opinion as to who won the round.