Riddick Bowe?

Eddie Futch sure thought so. There's a bit to process tho. There's a school of thought that he was kept away from punchers. Is it true? The waters a bit murky.

I mean if he kept his Holyfield form for longer he'd drop a number of spots. He and Tyson were never going to fight each other so a lot depends on how he goes with The Lion. I'm thinking more 10-15.

 

I definitely think he could have been, but his discipline let him down, his manager was strange although got him 2 easy defence so both good pay days, but think he was part to blame about throwing the WBC belt away.

Also a few mental problems he had with family and friends.
He also had the loss to Lewis eating at him and I think Lewis would have beaten him again.

But without this he would / should have been a top ten, he is still in the top 20-30 as he is which is still a great achievement in itself.

 

Maybe. He was almost flawless offensively and even with his defensive lapses he could have been much better than he was in reality. But at the end of the day - humans aren't perfect and he just wasn't that guy. Fights are not only won in the ring, they are won also outside of the ring.

 

His peak was higher than guys like Foreman, Holyfield, Liston, Tyson and Usyk who we ( depending on the person) say are top HW’s? He beat an in prime ATG in the fight of his life, for historic value it’s up there with the FOTC and the Schmeling master plan win over Louis… Foreman, Holyfield, Liston, Usyk and Tyson didn’t have that sort of untainted H2H GREAT win. Is he overall better than those guys? I think he’d lose to quite a few guys in and out of the top ten but his heights are undeniable and for a short period before he went off the rails and ghosted Eddie Futch Bowe was a special HW in a H2H way. Easily could’ve been top ten, all the pieces where there… Tyson, Lewis and a mixed bag of contenders were all viable. Did you know Toney called out Riddick Bowe at one time?

 

No. He was overrated in his own time. Shoddy defense, mentally unstable, poor work ethic, a penchant for brawling when boxing would do better.

 

For me in a prime for prime/head to head sense purely, he is already one of the very best ever.

A shame his legacy is nowhere near that.

 

In addition to more discipline he needed to tighten up his defense and get some of the bigger fights sooner while he was still fresh . 1993 was a wasted window of opportunity for him . Beating Lennox Lewis and winning the Holyfield rematch was something doable had he walked the strait and narrow. Then maybe follow up with bouts against Morrison and Moorer and his legacy would have been sealed. But he slacked off on training and wasted precious time fighting Dokes and Ferguson. But to answer the thread question, yes. There was once a pathway to all time greatness for Riddick Bowe.

 

He didn't really like facing punchers. That was no great mystery. And there were a lot of punchers in the offing.

 

This is what I think too. Although to give him his due, I always thought he was a chickenheart but he proved that he could take a licking and keep fighting against Golota.

 

Riddick Bowe was a special fighter.

 

Bowe lucked out in facing perhaps the absolute greatest fighter he possibly could who had an easy style for him to deal with.

There is a reason why Bowe somehow missed out on every puncher in 90s HW division and got steered away from a young Lewis by his team, he had talent and flash but he was too limited both skill-wise and mentally.

 

Special Ed, maybe.