I put Big Daddy in my top 20 ATG heavyweights. However, I wanted to focus on flaws that kept him from being even greater. Foreman pointed it out well: whenever Bowe was super excited to finish, he would shamelessly (ineffectively) loop the hell out of his right hand. Had he been able to control himself (i.e. listened to Futch), I think Riddick would have been the young Foreman of the 90s. This inability to land the right due to careless wantonness was (besides his ridiculous easiness to hit) was his Achilles' heel imo. Had he shortened up and kept closer to his body the right hand then we would have seen Holy, Herbie, Gonzalez, etc. finished rounds earlier (and yeah, I believe the abovementioned predilection kept him from kayoing Holy in both the first and second fights). Now, we're not talking about politics, Lewis, Bowe's possible personality defects, etc. Just his fighting skills.
Bowe was far from perfect fighter but he was huge and well trained. Tough obstacle to overcome for any ATG but I don't rank him as top 15 HW ever, maybe not even in top 20.
He beat Holyfield decisively twice (and not decisively once imo), the first time when it seemed Holyfield couldn't be beat by anyone. He knocked out Holy before the latter knocked out Tyson. Stunning achievements imo. That said, those truly were his high points, and it's hard to compare against Ali, Holmes, Frazier, Foreman, Lewis, Holyfield overall, Louis...Tyson. I rank him above Liston though (prepared for the hate). Liston beat Floyd Patterson twice (who was easily a top 20 heavyweight; compared to Holy who might be top six or seven material). Besides that...not really that impressed with LL.
It could get embarrassing to watch how many times Riddick missed with those wide rights. Certainly Golota would have been out of there earlier had he landed more of them. It remains bizarre to me that Futch didn't break him of the loops. He would have been a much more effective fighter. Or perhaps Bowe's resistance was what led Futch to take off.
His defence wasn't the greatest. He was susceptible to a good jab. The looping punches have been addressed. I used to think he had no heart but Golota proved me wrong so scratch that flaw. His chin was OK but not great. His tendency to fight dirty could see him DQ'd with stricter referees.
He was great for a big man in the pocket but he didn't slip or block that well. Sometimes he did, but he caught a lot.
His footwork was not good. Mobility? 1 step kind of fighter. A plodder & even moreso as his career went along. Cannot imagine his legs by the time he was say 31 if had continued boxing. the legs had turned into steinway piano legs already and his balance had deteriorated even moreso.
Looping right hands were a massive flaw in Lewis`s game before Steward took over and straightened it out, his right hand and 1-2`s became his biggest strength, that`s why I feel Lewis would have beaten Bowe after Steward started training him.
What do you mean keep his right hand closer to his body? Holy would have a lot harder to stop early in the rematch he had v Bowe, he was harder to hit and rode punches well, his movement had improved also.
His biggest flaw, obviously, was Defense. Also, he didn't fight tall. Put those things together and you have a relatively short, but exciting career.
