Or is he? Bowe has a very slender resume outside of the Bowe fights, and he left a lot of questions unanswered.
Marciano UD via workrate and inside fighting. Marciano's chin has always been comparable to Holyfield's imo. Holyfield fought the bigger punchers but was hurt more often. The difference is that Marciano's hands are nukes and Holyfield was an average puncher
Yep , he has a very slender resume but he showed so much in that fight against an ATG . Look at Holy s stats ,in his prime he never really Lost so conclusively as he did against Big Daddy in 92 .
I felt that way about Bowe's talent before ever reading Futch's high regard for him. When he first won the title I thought he was the MAN. His Achilles' heel (one of many for him, unfortunately) was what I suspect a was a pervasive fear of Lewis. I want to throw something out there, and please anyone school me if I'm wrong. I think Bowe looked up to Lewis as an older brother, originally. I think he greatly respected and admired him. Sometime Lewis fell off that pedestal in Bowe's eyes, and the fact that he looked up to him so much in the beginning made witnessing the fall extra devastating for the latter. I think the Olympics stoppage might have been a bit after Bowe had already felt betrayed. Again I could be completely wrong, and to Mr. Bowe if you're reading this: love you, Champ.
Not a deep resume true ,but he beat a top ten ATG heavy ,[imo] in Holyfield 2 out of 3 so he also answered some questions for me.
I s I actually have Holyfield over Bowe, Lewis, and Tyson. 1) Ali 2) Louis 3) Holmes 4) Rocky Marciano 5) This content is protected 6) This content is protected 7) Lennox Lewis 8) Mike Tyson 9) Joe Frazier 10) Sonny Liston
I have a lot of respect for Rocky (I believe I placed him 4 in ATG), but there's immutable truth there.
I've got him at 5 , respect for what he achieved but in a realistic view I don't think he'd stand much of a chance at all here . There's only so far that Fighting on pure heart gets you . And Rocky had plenty of heart I'll say that .I don't see a come from behind type game here from him , just a painful beating over the course of the fight . True , you can't totally rule out a puncher but Bowe didn't suffer in the whisker s dep .
I don't like hypothetical fights like this because it's pretty much the size argument. One think I'll say though: we've seen elite small fighters beating elite big fighters. I won't say who I prefer here, but it's not out of possibility for Rocky to beat Bowe. Especially if you give him around year to prepare, spar with huge fighters and decide whether he wants to bulk up for more power or stay at his weight to have quickness advantage. Saying things like "Rocky from Moorer fight vs Bowe from Holyfield fight" isn't reasonable because they worked to beat certain type of fighters. Many people would back up Frazier over Bowe and Rocky wasn't smaller than Joe at all. Most people would back up Tyson to beat Bowe and he's like 210 lbs at his best weight? Marciano could gain muscles up to 205 lbs without any problems, especially with 1990s methods.