Sonny Liston vs Riddick Bowe Who Ranks higher

Bowe had brain damage after the third Holyfield fight. I get the feeling none of you have actually watched the Bowe-Holyfield III PPV postfight or the postfight coverage for Bowe-Holyfield III on ESPN.

Do that, and let me know. Did he fight like he was the #1 heavyweight in the world after that?

And who cares if he lost the decision against Holyfield in the rematch. And it was a great performance by him. Bad decisions are bad decisions.

Take away Buster's THREE best performances and let me know how "similar" their careers are.

Or, better yet, take away Bowe's three WORST LOSSES, and Buster's THREE WORST LOSSES and show me how good they look side by side.

You sure put a lot of weight on a stoppage win over Mike Williams.

Yeah, take away Bowe's three fights with an all-time great, and that draw with Steffan Tangstad by Douglas sure looks pretty good.

 

Well that's just an assumption on your part there was no indication from anyone that Bowe was eroding or had damage.

Golota was seen as a cherry pick Bowe in his own words said "why do i have to train so hard to fight a bum" and he got schooled by a skilled big man who out fought him and out jabbed him.

Because your bringing up the 3 Holyfield fights he looked very impressive in fight 1, lost fight 2, and then almost got KO'ed in fight 3 by a Holyfield with Hepatitis. Just take away 1st Holyfield fight for example then instead of all 3.

It's not just Mike Williams Douglas beat Greg Page, Trevor Berbick, Oliver McCall, decisively. Again as i said all these wins are on par and some even better than some of Bowe's best secondary wins.

Bowe had the better career and was more consistent overall, but both fighters have similar traits in that they were only good for a short period and they lacked discipline to stay in shape.

 

Bey didn't have any pro fights when he stopped Buster. Six is better than zero.

Okay, well, in his 20th fight, Buster got stopped by Mike "The Giant" White. Had he grown into it yet, then? White hadn't won in his last four outings.

Tony Tucker stopped him in Buster's 26th pro fight. Had he grown into it then?

Holyfield stopped him in Buster's 34th fight. Had Buster grown into it then?

Louis Monaco blew him out in his 39th fight. Had Buster grown into it then?

 

Of course, there was.

Foreman spoke to Bowe about if after the Holyfield fights.

You guys must not have been around then. ESPN was interview Holyfield after their third fight, and Bowe walked up behind Evander, put his arm around him, and started talking, and it was kind of gibberish. Everyone was looking at him awkwardly. That third fight ruined him.

HBO execs had the blinders on. 'Bowe is an attraction,'' Abraham said. ''I won't equivocate. He's a smaller attraction. But he's still one of the biggest in boxing today. If he's healthy and recharges himself, I'd do more fights with him.''

Yeah, if he could only "recharge" himself from the brain damage ... he's still under contract and he's still "an attraction."

After Golota II, they said:
"If Evander wants to fight him again, I'd put it on TVKO,'' Abraham said.

Great job, HBO.

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/17/sports/yes-money-still-talks-bowe-only-mumbles.html

 

I think Douglas started to show his potential when he beat Greg Page in 86, between the Greg Page fight and the Mike Tyson fight Douglas only lost 1 fight in 4 years to Tucker in a fight in which he was leading.

After Tyson fight he just seemed to let it all go and not really care.

 

Foreman was also worried for Holyfield's health during 3rd Bowe fight, in Foreman's own words i believe he said "he's going to end up in a pine box". And there was calls for him to retire after with hindsight that was proved false.

 

With hindsight, it was proven right with Bowe.

Since you clearly haven't watched the TVKO postfight interviews or the ESPN postfight after Holyfield III, watch it. You don't need to be a brain surgeon.

There's no point in digging in your heels over it. Bowe was a mess in the Holyfield postfight interviews and thereafter.

 

I've seen the post fight interview Bowe and Holyfield were very friendly from memory, i remember Bowe saying something like "I love you man anyone got a beer for him" or something like that. I don't remember any glaring signs from that interview, but i'll rewatch it to refresh my memory because i haven't seen 3rd fight in a long time.

 

True, Liston gets waaay too much love on here.

 

This is after the Golota fight the following year.

It was similar to this after Holyfield III on the ESPN postfight coverage.

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Perfect analogy.

 

Yes i'm well aware Bowe's speech was bad after the 2nd Golota, but you was claiming after the 3rd Holyfield fight which i didn't see anything glaring like it was here from memory.

Yeah i would think Bowe would have brain damage, after getting hit 650 times by a 240 pound Heavyweight.

I actually give Bowe alot of credit for the heart he showed in 2nd Golota fight it was brutal fight.

 

It was. Watch the ESPN postfight.

 

I will i'll watch it later tonight i might even rewatch the whole fight.

 

Golota beat the crap out of a prime Bowe which among many other reasons is why many don't rate him highly. Sorry you don't like people pointing that out. But yeah he rates at least slightly higher than Douglas