Why did Bowe fight Ferguson and Dokes?

Didn't we do this 3 years ago lol

 

Yeah, we did . I just realized I didn't explore some useful avenues in my argument years ago.

 

So long story short, Bowe blatantly ducked Lewis setting off a chain of events that ruined HW boxing for a huge chunk of the decade. This was made worse by Newman not knowing what he was doing, and Mercer losing a relatively easy fight that would set him up for a clash with Bowe, which led to Bowe facing mediocre opponents.

 

Well in the case of Jesse Ferguson that wasn't Bowe fault, he was supposed to fight Mercer but Mercer got upset by Ferguson in a lifeless performance so Bowe was forced to fight Ferguson.

Dokes was a bit of a soft defence though he wasn't ranked in the top 10, and had already lost to Ruddock, Holyfield. At that point Dokes seemed like more of a test for upcoming Heavyweights, rather than being a title challenger for the supposed best Heavyweight in the world. I know Dokes did go on a bit of win streak but IMO he definitely wasn't a deserving title challenger and there was certainly much better options at the time.

I remember Bowe/Bruno being on a show together talking about a possible fight, that would've been a good opponent for Bowe who never really fought any punchers.

 

I initially though this thread was made under the assumption Bowe had ducked Lewis. As stated, the four-man tournament had been agreed and Lewis-Ruddock was a WBC Final Eliminator. But Bowe knew Lewis would knock him out and crapped out. His reputation never recovered.

Yeah I always thought the same - this was the start of the bs politics which crippled the division for pretty much the rest of the decade. By the mid '90s the rankings were just a mess.

 

I am here to defend them all!!!

If a guy has put himself in position by the rules of the day, he is eligible for a title shot. Not every contender is nor has to be the best available challenger in all the world.

In times past, being the best of a country or continent or even a part of the U.S. could put you in position. The best Euro heavy, the best UK light heavy, the best West Coast welter … you had kind of risen to the top of your particular pond and thus were considered good enough to challenge if the arrangements could be made satisfactory to both sides.

Ferguson beat Mercer, who was in line for the title shot, so he took his place. He hopped him and got to the front of the line. Dokes had beaten a couple of contenders. Seems legit to me.

 

I actually do a good Rock Newman impression and when I do i'm typically saying "Jesse Ferguson the real Rocky story"

 

The difference is that Ali also defended against Bugner, Lyle and Frazier that very year. Bowe dropped a belt to avoid Lewis.

And absolutely no one is defending Foreman's **** show of second reign.

 

Don't think anyone would have complained much had he also faced Lewis.

 

Dokes was nearly 20lbs over weight ,and hadn't beaten a ranked contender for 8 years! A technical dec over Cobb.
Dokes, as far as I can see was never Ring ranked in the 90's.
Bowe was entitled to defend against Ferguson though it was a really a gimmee as Ferguson had won just 4 of his last 12 . Soft touch Dokes as a one off, was not awful. Newman was a total *****.

 

Yes, fair enough. It was the Ferguson fight that made it a bit of a farce i thought, moreso than Dokes, as winning the title in such a grand effort, the champ deserved that soft touch and Dokes had got back into the top 10

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, so became a 'ranked named, who hasn't got much left' low-risk category, so an ideal first defence. The 'Real Rocky Story' (and yes, I'm doing my Rock Newman voice as I typed that) was what made it questionable (2 soft touches in a row) the fact that he beat Mercer didn't mean much, other than a nice win for Jesse, as Mercer wasn't mandatory or anything, it was just an oft-promoted fight that people wanted to happen (two ex-Olympians, whose careers ran parallel, etc).

George has more than enough fanboys around here to defend that surely. Then again, Tony Tucker being the #1 mandatory 'yet again' was another farce.

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No prizes for guessing who was Bowe's mandatory early 1993, yep, our mate Tony Tucker 'again'!

 

If I hadn't just boarded a plane I'd might just have started a thread to see if any are bonkers enough to do that.

Dokes would be an acceptable defence if Lewis was next.

Many have taken a soft touch after winning the title, it was comes next that makes the difference.

 

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Thats also what happened with Bowe vs Lewis. Newman made Bowe drop the belt because Don King was pulling the string on the backend.

Don told Lews if Bowe gives up the belt , he'd get him a vacant title shot against Tony Tuckers ghost for a whopping 10 million. So Lewis kept making unreasonable demands / dragging his feet in negations

He'd have only gotten 2-3 million vs Bowe in a fight he would have lost at that time.

Does this conniving and deceitful behaviour sound like Don King?? Of course it does because that's exactly how it went down.

Bowe ducking Lewis is the biggest lie ever told in boxing.

 

Dokes had won 24 of 26 since losing the title, with losses to Holyfield and Ruddock. I’m not saying he was a juggernaut at that stage, but we’ve all seen worse.

As far as Ring rankings, as you well know if you’re defending IBF/WBA titles then their rankings are what matter.

Heck, Floyd Patterson defended against an amateur with zero pro fights. And managed to get knocked down.

 

As a single defence there are many that aren't better. I think it's solely because he ducked Lewis that it is remembered.

Wouldn't have a problem with Chisora if Fury faced Usyk next, like he promised to. Even the N'Gannou fight will look much better in hindsight if Usyk comes next.