Has Riddick Bowe ever commented on his ducking of lewis

I have never heard nothing from him but then again i wouldnt talk about it if i was him either

 

That part where Bowe got his title shot ONLY on the premise that he'd defend against the winner of Ruddock/Lewis, and then dropping the belt in the garbage can to avoid facing someone who stopped him in the finals of the Olympics and just destroyed Ruddock in 2, sure was a sick piece of propaganda to brainwash us into thinking Bowe tried to duck Lewis.

 

So Bowe didn't fight Lewis at the time & we got to see what instead? Ferguson--Bowe. Anyone out there that picked Jesse to win that one? Anyone?

Other pedigreed up and comers--aside from Lewis--were Mercer and Morrison. And Ruddock was still around. Did we see those bouts? Nope, next it was Dokes--Bowe. And that was another one nobody thought Dokes had any chance of winning. This was a page out of the Floyd Patterson opponent selection for title defenses. A guy like Alex Stewart probably had a far better chance of getting in the ring with Bowe than a Lennox Lewis.

 

Leonard was busy fighting guys in his own weight class. Who were bigger names, and also bigger challenges.

"Oh my god, he was calling him out, that means he must fight him!!". As if big names don't get called out on a regular basis. :roll:

Bowe and Lewis is a completely different case. Bowe was obligated to fight Lewis.

 

I don't think he ever did, to be honest.

 

Gay Ray offered Pryor a fight, but Pryor wasn't happy with half a mil.

 

amen! i'm tired of hearing bowe is afraid of lewis, its total bull****, bowe wasnt scared of ****, only a hardass would say a man like bowe feared lewis, the belt toss was a ploy to make bigger money, newman knew what he was doing, making alot of money for himself and his fighter with low risk bouts that brought in a higher reward, lewis/bowe was inevitable, but lewis and his manager outpriced themselves the first opportunity to fight bowe and then he thought he could walk thru mccall and we all know how well that turned out, they would have fought when the money was right

 

news to me and you just said he didn't challange him cause he was busy fighting his own weight class fighters...so which is it ? ... did he challange him or didn't he?

 

Leonard fought bigger names/bigger challenges in his own weight division, and also apparently offered Pryor a fight, but Pryor (or his team) wasn't happy with half a million.

For some reason, people make a big deal out of guys "calling out" big names, but it means ****. The real calling out is in negotiations. Managerial decisions prevented Pryor from getting big fights with Leonard and Duran. He was more avoided by the champs at lightweight, where was the #1 ranked (Ring Mag) contender, but never got a title shot, and the best of my knowledge, didn't get offers either.

 

Yeah, agreed. Bowe even showed some skillful ducking before he took the title from Holyfield. Razor Ruddock publicly challenged Bowe to a fight more than once in order to pick a rightful number one contender to Holyfield's throne; Bowe blew Ruddock off and opted to face Pierre Cotezer to "earn" his number one ranking instead. I watched an interview with Bowe explaining that he opted to fight Coetzer in order to adequately prepare for a tough fight with Holyfield. I remember thinking, "Gee, Razor Ruddock wouldn't have given you a tough fight?"

 

I seem to remember that the whole strategy behind dumping the belt was wholly based on the assumption that Bowe would beat Holyfield in they're re-match and then a seriously mega-dollar fight was arranged for him to take on George Foreman in China .. Dropping a belt has never been a huge deal in negotiating for 'money' fights, i dont know why Bowe made such a big deal about it by calling a press conference, if he'd of done it on the quiet like everybody else nobody would remember it .. Tyson did exactly the same thing of avoiding Lewis before he fought Holyfield, the difference being, he paid off Lewis with millions .. I have no sympathy with Lewis, he could have got these fights if he'd truly wanted them. Rightly or wrongly, Lewis wasnt with a bigtime promoter and his team couldnt come up with the money required for Bowe and Tyson ....

 

Bowe and his team are unfairly critisized .. Lewis wasnt a major deal in the early 90's, he was a dangerous fighter that couldnt draw any money in the states, it was a no win situation for Bowe.
As Undisputed champion his strategy was for 30 million dollar paydays against Foreman and eventually Tyson.
Why take on Lewis and risk all that ? Its totally understandable. But then Bowe underestimated Holyfield in the re-match and the rest is history .. Not fighting Lewis at that particular point was a business decision, it was nothing to do with being scared and i can totally understand it ....

 

Avoiding, or "ducking", fighters is pretty much always a business decision and "understandable", but not admirable.

The fight probably would've happened if both guys kept winning, but they didn't, and fans missed out. Because Bowe/Newman broke away from the original agreement that they'd face the Lewis-Ruddock winner.

 

What is he going to say...he did not fight Lewis or Tyson but he fought Golota 2 times

 

Thread you've nailed it .. Totally agree that they would have faced each other had they kept winning. Holyfield did Bowe and McCall did Lewis .
I wouldnt discount the amount of money out there for a Foreman fight at that particular point and the positioning for a future Tyson fight are all factors in why Bowe/Lewis didnt come off.