Where does Rid**** Bowe rank as a HW ATG

Discussion in 'World Boxing Forum' started by andrewa1, Apr 17, 2016.


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  1. andrewa1

    andrewa1 Boxing Addict banned Full Member

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    I did one on Vitali yesterday, and thought it might be interesting to do a few thread polls on a number of great HW's and see where the people were. I'll use guys who are mostly consensus (excepting crazy haters etc) top 30 HW's, and use the same polling criteria for each one. I'm not going to do Ali or Louis, as they are basically the only consensus top 5 HW's, and nearly consensus top 2 hw's. I might do a wrap up thread posting the consensus opinion of the fighters at the end.

    For me, Bowe proved himself better H2H against Holyfield, but his resume apart from that is much worse. In the same way that I still rate Tyson better than Holyfield despite Holyfield being better H2H, I rate Holyfield better than Bowe (which is hard to do, you really need a much better resume for that when you lose to someone else definitively). But Bowe's best untarnished wins apart from Holyfield were probably Hide (who nearly ko'd him) or Donald. Very bad resume, and I'd probably only rate him as the 4th best HW of his era, behind Lewis, Tyson, and Holyfield.

    Still, since it was such a deep era, I'd rate him around #25, basically over about any other HW who was 4th best of his era.
     
    andrewa1, Apr 17, 2016
    andrewa1, Apr 17, 2016
    #1
  2. madballster

    madballster Loyal Member Full Member

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    i would put him somehwere around 20-35, a notch behind Vitali.
     
    madballster, Apr 17, 2016
    madballster, Apr 17, 2016
    #2
  3. Staminakills

    Staminakills Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    No way is bowe top twenty ****ing five !!!!
     
    Staminakills, Apr 17, 2016
    Staminakills, Apr 17, 2016
    #3
  4. lufcrazy

    lufcrazy requiescat in pace Full Member

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    Number 14.
     
    lufcrazy, Apr 17, 2016
    lufcrazy, Apr 17, 2016
    #4
  5. Pugilist_Spec

    Pugilist_Spec Hands Of Stone Full Member

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    Anywhere from 11-20 is fine by me.

    Don't think he makes the top 10.
     
    Pugilist_Spec, Apr 17, 2016
    Pugilist_Spec, Apr 17, 2016
    #5
  6. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    #26.
     
    McGrain, Apr 17, 2016
    McGrain, Apr 17, 2016
    #6
  7. Inspector

    Inspector Well-Known Member Full Member

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    He could have been right up there is he had the discipline and desire. It's a shame we never got to see him and Lewis go at it. Still, he went life and death with Golota twice, who was blown away by Tyson and Lewis.
     
    Inspector, Apr 17, 2016
    Inspector, Apr 17, 2016
    #7
  8. Big Ukrainian

    Big Ukrainian Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    This
     
    Big Ukrainian, Apr 17, 2016
    Big Ukrainian, Apr 17, 2016
    #8
  9. Outstock

    Outstock PBR Full Member

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    Almost ko'd by Herbie Hide?:huh

    Hide ran for his life and still was dropped about 10 times. He was battered from beginning to end. He didn't come anywhere close to stopping Bowe.

    Bowe also has good wins against top undefeated prospects of the time -Jorge Luis González and Andrew Golota. Those guys were never the same after they shared the ring with Bowe.

    He beat Jesse Ferguson after he had just beaten Ray Mercer and took his position as #1 mandatory contender.
    After Bowe utterly destroyed Ferguson , Jesse fought Mercer again and beat him again only to get robbed.

    Bowe has a very respectable resume from arguably the second greatest HW era of all time.
    Virali's resume does not come close.
     
    Outstock, Apr 17, 2016
    Outstock, Apr 17, 2016
    #9
  10. Outstock

    Outstock PBR Full Member

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    Who is Vitali's best win?
     
    Outstock, Apr 17, 2016
    Outstock, Apr 17, 2016
    #10
  11. lufcrazy

    lufcrazy requiescat in pace Full Member

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    Who do you think his best win is?
     
    lufcrazy, Apr 17, 2016
    lufcrazy, Apr 17, 2016
    #11
  12. jdw2000

    jdw2000 Active Member Full Member

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    Yes, but he was also CLEARLY better than Holyfield, which neither Lewis nor Tyson were.
     
    jdw2000, Apr 17, 2016
    jdw2000, Apr 17, 2016
    #12
  13. Rumsfeld

    Rumsfeld Moderator Staff Member

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    An absolutely terrible oversimplification of things.
     
    Rumsfeld, Apr 17, 2016
    Rumsfeld, Apr 17, 2016
    #13
  14. Rumsfeld

    Rumsfeld Moderator Staff Member

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    Strongly disagree on this front. Bowe was vastly superior to Vitali in my mind.
     
    Rumsfeld, Apr 17, 2016
    Rumsfeld, Apr 17, 2016
    #14
  15. Stallion

    Stallion Son of Rome Full Member

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    Definitely wouldn't call him an all-time great.

    He had a brief reign in the 90s and secured 2 very good wins over Holyfield, but besides that didn't really do anything of note.

    Didn't seem to have that true champion mentality.
     
    Stallion, Apr 17, 2016
    Stallion, Apr 17, 2016
    #15
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