Sonny Liston vs Riddick Bowe Who Ranks higher

Bowe was never going to fight Lewis in a million years. Not sure how he could’ve made that any clearer than throwing his belts in the trash to avoid him.

The only thing completely false is calling someone a mental midget who preserved through a broken nose, a shut eye, and valiantly fought 6 rounds with a broken jaw, to a SD loss.

 

I agree with the majority, Liston has the deeper record. H2H at their best, is an entirely different matter though! Maybe too close to call.

 

In my opinion Liston showed plenty of heart in his first fight with Cleveland Williams where Williams bloodied his nose and was hitting Liston with some hard shots trying to overpower him. Liston also reportedly went the distance with a broken jaw against Marty Marshall in his first career loss, losing by a split decision in 1954.

 

Well you are the guy who thinks so.

 

1. He only technically won in the sense that Golota was dqed twice. He was otherwise getting battered so bad, to this day he isn't the same man.

2. When you need to rely "solely on heart" to "win" a fight against Golota, it speaks volumes.

 

I like Bowe, but those two “victories” over Golota have a mighty huge asterix next to them! If he would have either outpointed or KO’d him, then Bowe would have deserved all the kudos in the world for it. Golota was a monster back then…or at least he appeared to be. I think only the ultra durable, safety first and pretty hard chinned Marion Wilson had gone the distance with AG by the time Bowe turned up to fight him.
Golota had KO’d or TKO’d everyone else.

Bowe was heading the way of all the others it seemed until Golota’s inexcusable and inexplicable “lapses” led to not one but TWO DQs…both times when Golota was well ahead on points. Strange business. But definitely two fights that Bowe cannot take much credit for “winning.”

Then a year later, Lennox Lewis showed Bowe how to deal with Golota properly by dispatching him in one round!

No…whatever else Bowe did well in his career…and i think for a short time he was top notch….
“beating” Golota twice was not amongst them.

 

"Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play ?"

 

Totally agree I don't really see how ending both fights laying on your back, after being battered from pillar to post can really be called a victory.

In the 16 rounds Bowe fought against Golota he won about 3 rounds, and was hit in the region of 650 times.

 

Michael Grant also won solely on heart vs Golota, but the difference is his win was more legitimate. Due to the fact he floored Golota and made him quit, rather than laying on his back winning by DQ like Bowe.

 

I don't see why it would be though Bowe's record outside of Holyfield fights is seriously lacking.

I mean someone like Buster Douglas only really has 1 stand out name on his record like Bowe does, but also has wins over the likes of Berbick, McCall, Page, Cobb. Is Bowe's record really that much better than Douglas's in all honesty ?

I don't see fighters like a shot Dokes, Ferguson Hide, Gonzalez, being any better than the fighters above.