If Ruddock had of beaten Lewis would Bowe have still of thrown the belt in the trash or would he have faced Ruddock? And if Holifield had of beaten Bowe would he have fought Lewis Thoughts......
Bowe wanted nothing with Ruddock before the Lewis fight ever happened. Holyfied /Lewis would have happened. Bowe would have fought Ruddock after his Tyson fights, he saw what Lewis did to Ruddock and they walked.
May depend on how Ruddock looked, if he struggled maybe Newman would have agreed to a Ruddock fight, if he looked impressive he probably ducks him. Bowe never really tested himself outside of fights with Holyfield, you only have to look how thin his resume was outside of the Holyfield fights to see that.
Bowe was just lazy. Newman was the one not wanting to take chances. Guy tried to make Bowe into an Ali figure.
bowe was ruddocks sparring partner for ruddocks fight with james bonecrusher smith , janks morton told me bowe lacked heart in 89 already at that point ,and ruddock had no problem with bowe in sparring ,you can actually see bowe coming in the ring to congragualte ruddock after kod bonecrsher after the fight .
Back then I had hoped that a Ruddock vs Holyfield meeting would result from that series of events. I'm glad I didn't bet money on razor over Lewis because I absolutely would have lost my ass. I was Positive ruddock was going to take it. As for bowe vs holy I was up in the air but pulled for Evander. I'm guessing if razor had beaten Lewis, depending on the nature in which he did it, rock Newman would be less hesitant about making a bowe vs ruddock fight. In that instance bowe would have to be favored.
If Goliath had beaten David, or whatever fairy tales you choose to believe.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
What was the rationale behind throwing the belt in the trash anyway? Wouldn't it have been a far better pr move to have quietly been stripped?
That's what I don't understand. I don't think Bowe dumped the belt to avoid Lewis. But history is always written by the winners and Lewis went on to have the greater career, so I guess his word is gospel.
It was Rock Newman Bullshlt. Rock wanted to establish this authoritative image that he and his fighter were going to do what they wanted regardless of what Judge, jury or God almighty dictated.. He even stood by his actions when he clawed Lou Duva in the face at the end of the Bowe vs Golata fiasco. He was a brilliant manager but his PR tactics did Bowe no favors... And frankly had he opted to have Bowe fight Lewis it would have likely been the biggest pay day Bowe ever received and could have warranted instant retirement had they been victorious...
Rock Newman didn't like the WBC's dictating to him, with Don King as the puppet master. Yes, the publicity stunt was ill-conceived, a misjudgement. The actual refusal to an immediate match with Lewis doesn't seem particularly unreasonable though, compared to what most other champions have been allowed to get away with. Bowe had just gone 12 hard and admirable rounds in wresting the title from Holyfield. He was perhaps 'entitled' to an easier first defence? I guess they didn't want to bother paying all the fees to arrange that and keep the belt. Cheaper to dump it.
Ruddock winning, was a highly unlikely outcome. I attended that show at Earls Court and Razor, along with Meldrick Taylor, another loser that night, were damaged goods from their fights with Tyson and Chavez.
Ruddock was heavily favored to beat Lewis that evening and most people ( including myself ) expected him to do it. He was in stellar shape, confident and had looked good in easily dispatching Phil Jackson ( albeit a limited fighter ) in his last outing.. Taylor was damaged goods by late 1992 as you say. But I think it was his outing with Terry Norris that finally wrecked him and not so much the Chavez bout. I remember watching Meldrick move up to welterweight and easily school WBA champ Aron Davis almost a full year after losing to Chavez.. He looked magnificent in that fight.