The Riddick Bowe who beat Holyfield in their first fight vs Lennox Lewis who beat

Mercer busted up Lewis badly and many people felt he won the fight. It was very close. Gonzalez, Dokes, Hide, Cooper, and Golota were all fairly big punchers. I would also add Holyfield to that list, not because of power but because of accuracy and his ability to counter and drop guys with iron chins. Bowe proved he could take it pretty good to dish it out. Lewis's power was good, but not out of the stratosphere of anything Bowe had faced.

 

Many people are wrong on all manner of things, no way Mercer won more than 4 rounds. Lennox busted Mercer up too, thats what happens when you fight the top contenders

The biggest/best punchers of the 90s were Lennox, Tyson, Rudduck, Morrison, Bruno, Tua. Bowe fought some heavy handed opponents but they werent real punchers.

Bowe relied on taking a punch to land a punch, against a lighter hitting Holyfield thats fine, against Golota it didnt work, against Lennox, forget it

Yes Lennox's power was off the strasphere of what Bowe had taken, plus he was faster/more accurate

 

Sorry disagree. Bowe fought Holyfield that way because he could. He didnt always rely on taking a punch to land one. If Mercer won four rounds in your opinion, that would be a fairly close fight wouldnt it, considering it was only a 10 round fight and most rounds were close?

 

The problem is aside from Holyfield, Bowe's competition is just weak so he could toy with them and not be punnished

It was a close fight but doing a number on someone implys a KO. Lennox wasnt in too much danger of losing it, he was landing the better bigger shots and eating shots because he was looking to brawl/fight. He fought the wrong fight and was in with a tough contender putting forward a great game plan, still the right man won. Plus who knows maybe he underestimated Mercer, Lennox did need to be focused and sometimes thought he could switch off against lower tier opperators

 

Riddick Bowe in 1992 he was very skillful before the rot set in, but he never had great defense even then.

Holyfield played into his strengths, unnecessarily. Holyfield's fault is he loved a fight too much.
Lewis would have beaten Bowe.

 

Yes he did. Watch the fight: during the first four rounds, Holyfield outlands Bowe by 2:1 or even 3:1. It's just that Holyfield couldn't deal with the size/strength/power difference and gradually started to wear down, whereas Bowe got stronger by comparison.

Still, Bowe's outside fighting skills are below average and his defence was downright ****. An old Tubbs made him look foolish and had him miss almost all his jabs. Riddick not really having much a straight right hand left him even more powerless there.

Lewis is a far bigger puncher than anyone Bowe ever faced, and outside of Holyfield (and Golota who destroyed him twice) a giant step up in class, as well. Even journeymen had 50%+ connect rates with the him; against them, he could get away with it. Not so against Lewis, who is one of the hardest hitters of all time.

 

Riddick Bowe was a fairly polished big man before he started throwing wide sloppy shots as a result of poor dieting and training habits. He'd give Lewis, any version of Lewis, a very tough fight. He has the size that Ray Mercer lacked, and the skills that Oliver McCall lacked, to give Lewis a tough fight, even in a return match if required. I still go with Lewis by decision.

 

Over the course of 12 rounds, Bowe either outlanded Holyfield, or he landed the more significant blows. Bowe was the better man that night, Holyfield expected Riddick to lose stamina as the fight wore on, he was notorious for it, but he never did in that fight. Bowe wanted that title so badly, and had kept that sort of hunger going afterwards, he'd have developed into a great champion.

The version of Holyfield that Bowe beat was significantly superior to one Lewis would go on to fight twice.

I don't think Bowe lacking a real textbook straight right hand is all that detrimental to his abilities as a top prize fighter. He did have a terrific right hand, even it was somewhat wide most of the time, but it knocked plenty of foes out. Bowe was a multi-dimensional fighter, he could fight on the outside and on the inside, both effectively. I think everything Mercer and McCall did, Bowe did better. :good

Riddick Bowe was never knocked out by journeyman though, and Golota got Bowe when he was nothing like the fighter he was. Don't take my word for it, you sound quite observant, go back and look at a Bowe of '92 and then Bowe of '96. Light and day. His shots got wider and sloppier, his stamina deteriorated, and he couldn't take as good of a shot as he could.


I agree that Lewis would beat Bowe, but you seem to be shitting on him here when you're describing his abilities. He worked his way up to the top on merit, and he beat a much greater version of Holyfield than Lewis ever did. In fact, the win in '92 was a better win than anything on Lewis' resume. Bowe gets hit, and that will be why he loses to Lewis. He can't take too many flush shots from a big hard hitter like Lewis, and I think that's what it boils down too. The Golota fights are complete non factors here when discussing prime for prime.

 

Do you have the punch stat numbers to all his fights? You like most posters point out three fights. The Tubbs fight in which it wasnt his best performance and the two Golota fights which were basically when he was a shot fighter.
Bowe had very good technical skills and at one point had an excellent righthand behind his equally effective jab. As his conditioning deteriorated he became more of a looping righthand puncher, sort of like Lewis pre Steward.
If you dont think Bowe could do to Lewis what Mercer and Bruno could do, you're crazy.

 

Good points, but I believe Bowe's inside fighting ability turns it into a war of attrition and basically takes away's Lewis ability to maintain distance from the outside. Bowe outclasses Lewis in a tough brawl to come out with the late KO. Bowe at his best was always a better "fighter" than Lewis ever became.

 

I disagree about Bowe outclassing Lewis, but I don't think I'll change your mind on that.

Bowe was a terrific fighter at his best, and with everything that's proceeded his reign at the top, some people seem to forget that.

 

Yeah thats what these forums are for, so all of us can state our opinions. Lewis in my opinion was somewhat sloppy as a brawler, and Bowe was very good, and I just could never see this fight being an outside chess match with Bowe's pressure.

 

It's true that Bowe was able to knock out Lewis. I just think a 1992 Bowe still left himself a bit too open, whereas Lewis in 1999 was a lot more cautious.