Most overrated aspects of a heavyweight?

Holyfield 1

 

Holyfield was 35lbs lighter...

 

Holyfield might be one of the best inside fighters in heavyweight history reguardless of size. He shredded Holyfield at his own game, round after round. There aren't many others I'd pick to out slug Holyfield in the pocket.

 

But Bowe had every advantage imaginable. On top of being 3 inches taller with the reach advantage, 30 lbs weight advantage, 6 years younger, having the edge in punching power, and (according to his fans) a granite chin.

What makes it worse is that the much smaller holyfield went the distance witj him standing right in front of him and didnt get knocked out. Now obviously KOing a tough SOB like holyfield is an incredibly difficult task but at the very least youd expect all those advantages to come into play and bowe simply overwhelms him and at least controls the action throughout the bout. He won fair and square and credit to him but it was a prettt even fight in many rounds with back and forth action.

The other reason Bowe's inside fighting is overrated is because he got hit A LOT. Practically zero head movement, no rolling with the punches, no bending at the waist and knees to generate power as he slipped, no parrying, he was no expert in the clinch or manipulating his opponent and setting up shots the way you see with Frazier/Duran/etc.

How impressive is it in that context? If someone the size of Tyson fury beat for example, jersey joe walcott at his own game fighting on the outside and using tricky footwork, how impressive would that be honestly?

 

Fairly. Because Valuev probably couldn't do that. Carnera probably couldn't, hell a lot of good fighters would lose to Jersey Joe. A ton of heavyweights would have lost to that Holyfield. It's not his fault he's bigger and good. Most fighters are usually one or the other but there are some freaks out there.

 

There's a few. But that's not important the important thing is that if Bowe was some master infighter then he shouldny have been dropped by a man 25lbs less than him or hurt by some one 35lbs less than him, he should've absolutely crushed him

 

Chin is debatable, I can't see any version of James Toney KOing a past it Bowe and Power heavily favours Bowe. I'm not putting down Evan he's an ATG at infighting and my second favourite to watch. Bowe should've blown him away if he was so good at infighting

 

My head's spinning

Bowe to me had enormous potential...I thought with more discipline he could be the next Foreman. But it was weird seeing struggle against certain fighters, especially since at the time I saw him as an obvious contender for ATG. I don't rate him above Tyson, Holyfield, or Lewis...was he mishandled, mistrained? I should probably look up more on this, forgive my ignorance.

 

When he finished people, he could look truly Monumental. But most of the time watching him seemed like a bizarre affair.

To me, had Bowe done what needed to be done, would have dominated 90s boxing, at least until Lewis got with Steward. I think he might have actually turned out to be the Foreman of the 90s. As it is, I just can't rank him ATG.

 

Well I don't think Bowe is going to be improving his legacy anytime soon

 

Although the early losses to Flynn and Meehan are not so easily brushed aside, I don't see chow any serious case an be made that Wills was ever a credible threat to Dempsey. Certainly not so credible that to ignore him tarnishes whatever legacy Dempsey has. It's like if Holyfield had never given a title shot to Foreman. I'd have been deeply disappointed, but I'd never dream of insisting Foreman was in any position to demand one.

 

I get the feeling on this site Bowe was kind of a waste of apparently immense talent. I don't think I have to tell you that sucks.