I have Bowe pretty high as well. He was a mean mother in there. With Futch pulling the strings I think he beats Lennox anytime before January 1, 1996.
yes I agree with this. most of how Bowe gets over rated has to do with what fans think he "could of done" if he had put it all together,, not on what he did do like all the others.
Yeah, he only beat the hell out of then undefeated Holyfield in an all-time great fight, lost a razor close decision controversially with some help from fan man and the friendly judges the second time, and rose from the canvas to score a knockout the third time in another war. What a horrid resume against a guy who amongst others went on to KO Tyson and Moorer, and lose close to Lewis. Cause beating Holyfield twice is nothing to brag about. Of course, I'm being sarcastic. Too much revisionist history. Bowe has a lot of good names on his resume, a lot of them undefeated or one loss at the time. Oh, and he also suffered some of the worst beatings of all time against then undefeated Golota and showed his heart and toughness, kept fighting hard, and still won both fights. Bowe would not be an easy out for anyone.
Good points, I wonder how the likes of Tyson would have faired after having 3 wars with the Real Deal.
Tyson had two wars with Ruddock. Went to prison for 4 years. Was beaten up by Douglas, Holyfield and Lewis And still had a better career than Bowe. Not to mention longevity as well. Tyson was beaten up by Holyfield twice, was banned for two years and then came back and still kicked the **** out of Golota.
So Tyson's career post Ruddock was better than Bowe's entire career? I don't think so somehow, he lost every big fight he was in barring Bruno who he'd already beaten before.
This forum does love them some Ridd/ck Bowe. Never understand it. Vastly, terribly overrated. He could fight well inside, but didn't have a lot else. Made a reputation beating an inconsistent Holyfield two of three. Not sure why he gets the attention he does.
Stewart, Ruddock x2, Bruno, Golota, Botha, Savarese, Seldon, Etienne. You really want a resume comparison?
I'll say it. He was American and from New York. He was from the same neighbour as Mike Tyson. Don't discount his, or the fact the USA based media viewed Lennox Lewis as partly feminine, based on the way he dresses and talked. I view Bowe as a top 12-16 All time great. He had many flaws, some of which were his own fault. Without Futch, he would go down several notches. On the other hand, you could say he fought in very talented time for the division. Bowe at his best was great, we just only saw his best for a very brief period of time.
bowe is in my top 5 hw's h2h...the other 4 are ali, holmes, lewis and foreman. maybe tyson could squeeze in. but bowe could very well beat all of them. klits and louis don't have a chance against bowe, let alone boxers like dempsey, walcott, charles etc
I think he is underrated on here. He twice beat a prime or close to prime Evander Holyfield - he even stopped him. The trilogy with Holfield clearly took a lot out of Bowe. But, from 1992-1994 he was an outstanding fighter. His relative lack of defense made the Holyfield fights very exciting, but that, combined with lack of dedication to training and blowing up between fights, led to a short prime. The Bowe who was twice punished by Golota was not prime Bowe, and those "wins" need to be placed in context. He gave us some truly exciting moments and he should not be easily dismissed. Bowe/Lewis would have been very competitive in 1992-1994. Bowe had attributes to greatly trouble Lewis - fast hands for his size, a good jab, very good right hand power delivered from long range, a solid chin, and good infighting abilities. Neither Bowe nor Lewis were smooth movers so they wouldn't have much trouble finding each other. It's a shame they never fought because they were the two best heavyweights in the early 90's, with Holyfield in the mix.