Was Riddick Bowe's wins against Ferguson and Dokes underrated?

They weren't good defences but I don't think they were that bad either.
Dokes was on a decent winning streak and a former champion ; Ferguson had just upsetted Mercer. Bowe did what he had to do and destroyed them quickly.
Also, it's not like they were the lone defence of the year : Bowe fought Dokes just three months after winning the titles and Ferguson three months after too.

Of course, fights against Lewis or Morrison would have been better and team Bowe share the blame for those fights not happening.

 

Dokes had been a champion a decade ago in a different era and he'd already been blown away recently by Ruddock.

Dokes had won a few consecutive fights after that yes but against no real notable names.

I can't blame Bowe for the Ferguson fight as that's Mercer's fault for having a terrible performance.

But all in all they're not underrated wins no.

Ferguson was a fringe contender/journeyman for example Tyson beat Ferguson when he only had 1 loss before he become champion and it wouldn't even be a top 15 win for Tyson to put it into perspective.

Dokes was a former champion in a different decade and was shopworn and there's absolutely no reason he was deserving of a shot against Bowe.

 

Mercer went through a strange period during this time in regards to his weight and overall form.

Between 1993-1996 his weight was going up and down from 223 to 246 with good performances vs Holyfield, Lewis, then other strange below par performances vs Ferguson, Wilson.

It's baffling to me how Mercer can go life and death vs journeyman like Marion Wilson, Jesse Ferguson. Then not long after have very competitive fights vs Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield.

 

Just for clarifying, I didn't say those were wins were underrated, I said that they weren't that bad.
And Dokes was rated inside the top 12 of the WBA/IBF, which made it possible to face him as a voluntary defence. The fact that he was a former champion made him a "name" opponent.
And nobody destroyed Ferguson the way Bowe did (except Bruno in a fight where Ferguson was clearly out of shape).

 

Dokes wasn't really a name opponent though.

He held a title 10 years ago and his last win against a top 10 ranked Heavyweight was in 1982 11 years ago.

I don't really pay much attention to sanctioning bodies because they are always manipulated.

Realistically Dokes was a shopworn fighter and not a top 10 ranked Heavyweight at that time and there's no reason he should've been getting a title shot.

 

The thing is that you have to go by the sanctionning bodies' ratings to keep your titles, and Dokes was not the worst out there.

 

You couldn't have got alot worse it was a weak title defence considering the vast amount of 90s Heavyweights available.

 

There were plenty of weak titles defences in the 90's, so a voluntary defence just three months after winning your title against a 50-3-2 opponent on a winning streak is not much worse than others.
But I agree that there were better opponents obviously.

 

The issue is you can overlook a weak title defences if the fighter in question has a vast resume.

But outside of the Holyfield fights Bowe's resume isn't really that vast if we're being honest. So the weaker fights get highlited more than someone like Ali for example having a weak title defence here or there because of how vast his resume is.

 

Agreed.

 

Nobody had ever dispatched The bogeyman like that before.

 

Possibly, Lewis was kinda green then,and had a few things going on that Bowe could have capitalized on.

 

Neither had fought a top ten contender in years and neither was highly rated at that time, It may be said that by this point Ferguson's heart was no longer fully in the game. By the time he fought Oliver McCall in 1991, he had only had one fight in three years, a 6-round kayo of Terry Armstrong in 1990. Although rusty and overweight, Ferguson appeared to get the better of McCall. However Ferguson had been relegated to 'trial horse' status and McCall was given the decision. Three years later in 1994, McCall would knockout Lennox Lewis in two rounds to become heavyweight champion of the world. In 1992 he took on Bruce Seldon where an indifferent Ferguson retired after five rounds with an eye injury. Three years later, Seldon would win the vacant WBA heavyweight title.

 

In 1994 Ferguson travelled to the U.K. to fight Frank Bruno, who was returning after his loss to Lennox Lewis. The overweight Ferguson collapsed in one round in a passionless performance.