Lewis-Bowe was a done deal for March 1995, but fell through when Lewis lost to McCall. The fight didn’t happen in 93 when it should have done, and was probably more to do with Newman than anyone else. There were offers made to Lewis at the time, but they were bad ones. Newman was a notoriously difficult guy to deal with when Bowe was champion. If you take Newman (and Maloney) out of the equation and insert more savvy and realistic negotiators, and the fight probably gets made when it should have done. I really don’t buy that Bowe was afraid of Lewis and didn’t want to fight him. He had the better form as a pro, and the Olympics fight was in the distant past and far from conclusive anyway. Gonzalez beat Bowe far more decisively in the amateurs, and Bowe jumped all over him in the pro ranks.
It's a nice line for Lennox to hold onto regarding Bowe being scared of him, but I agree with you. I just don't buy the idea that a guy like Bowe, given what he did, who he fought and the career he had, somehow decided that he'd never go near Lennox and was terrified of him.
Lewis was Bowes mandatory challenger and Bowe publicly binned the WBC belt at a press conference in London. If I remember correctly Maloney had people dressed in chicken suits to greet Bowe at the airport. My interpretation of the incident was Bowes team had lost patience. If anything it was Lewis holding out for a better deal which stalled the fight which is almost exactly what AJ and his team are doing with Wilder.
The dynamics are always complex with big fight negotiations. All things considered, I think the primary reason for the fight not happening was Newman being a tool. The mistake Maloney made though was overestimating Lewis’ worth. The “final four” showdowns between Bowe-Holyfield and Lewis-Ruddock were billed as virtual semi-finals in the UK, but this was really a smokescreen. Bowe was the champion, and in the Mecca position; the win over Ruddock didn’t really matter, and the olympics didn’t matter. Bowe didn’t need Lewis, and could conceivably sit on the title for a couple of years and wait for the Tyson fight. Maloney seemed happy enough with plan B, which was to snap up the vacant belt, publicly embarrass Bowe, while Lewis legitimatised the title with dominant performances in the ring. It obviously didn’t quite work out for either party.
Lewis sounds contradictory, bias and agenda driven in my opinion when talking about AJ, it's all a little see through and it's now getting slightly embarrassing for Lewis. Firstly, Lewis says it's up to the "Champ" to make fights, errr Lewis seems to be forgetting Wilder is also a "Champ" and therefore by Lewis' own logic should be pushing to make this fight. Yet Wilder is openly saying he won't fight AJ, Wilder is saying AJ had his chance and is now begging for the fight but won't entertain AJ. But somehow it's all down to Joshua, it's all AJ's fault this isn't happening? GTFO. So maybe Lewis should be on twitter messaging Wilder and trying to put it on him, but we all know what this is really all about. Also Lewis says "At some point Legacy is more important than money".. I 100% AGREE, problem is Mr Lewis your "legacy" fight with a faded Mike Tyson was your 43rd fight, let that sink in Mr Lewis, 43rd fight, by then you had made your money, done what you wanted to do and you were actually looking for "legacy" fights. Also the first fight against Holyfield was your 36th fight and never unified ANY world titles until your 37th fight. Joshua has already achieved in 21 fights what took Lewis 37 fights to achieve, Lewis is starting to get on my nerves with this constant picking at AJ. AJ is already starting to steam through Lewis' achievements and Lewis just can't accept he may well end up the second best heavyweight the UK has had. Also Lewis is way down the list of "popular" Heavyweights in the UK and that's why he had such a problem with Bruno back in the day (never had a problem with Gary Mason who wasn't popular but unbeaten) and I don't think Lewis likes the popularity and fanbase AJ has built, it's a very large and loyal fanbase, something Lewis never really had.
As the great Tyson Fury would say, Dave Coldwell is what is known as a ''boum''. What I would give to see Tony Bellew knockout his former trainer.
Let’s compare them at the end of AJ’s career. The 90s was one of the best eras in heavyweight division history, today’s era is among the poorest...
To be fair I think this happens all the time. I remember people in the 90's laughing at the idea that it was a great era. Bruno, Seldon, Morrison, Hide, Akinwande, Bentt and McCall winning versions of world titles, Lewis Bowe never happening, Tyson arguably a shell after prison, Lewis Tyson and arguably Lewis Holyfield not happening until too late. There are plenty of points where you're able to criticise it.
Why is emphasis soley of AJ to make the fight according to Lewis? Its quite clear that Matchroom are the ones attempting to make this fight however Wilders management don't seemed interested unless its for a ridiculous 50/50 split. Lewis has turned into the PBC mouth piece.
If Wilder is the man he says he is he should not be considering Joshua. If I was champ and my own fans were telling me I've been gifted a draw against Fury I'd sort out a rematch straight away. Joshua is basically locked out of a Wilder fight till late 2019 at the earliest. As for Lennox Lewis, I know his loyalties have always been questioned but he really has gone out of his way to put it on Joshua recently. Maybe he's just excited to see his old division spark back to life?