Bowe v witherspoon, lewis, tyson and bonecrusher that bruno fought?

Morrison got beaten up badly by Mercer and Bentt.
Mercer was being lined up for a shot but lost to Ferguson.
Corrie Sanders was a no-name just as Coetzer was.

Ferguson was a crappy choice for challenger but you'd prefer Ray Mercer who Ferguson had just beat ?

Gonzalez was considered a pretty good fighter at the time he fought Bowe. He was 23-0.
Morrison and Mercer had looked like crap in 1994.

Morrison was about as good as Hide and Seldon.
Mercer was a bit better when he was on form, but he was pathetically off form for most of the time Bowe was at the top.

It's easy to denigrate the fighters Bowe beat while boosting those that he didn't fight, and it's convenient that the ones he didn't fight were beaten by Lennox Lewis. To some, that automatically makes them better fighters. :-(

Are you saying Bowe failed to give the fans value for money ?

 

He was hung up on the ropes and Mercer kept punching. He even acknowledged the ref let it go too long. Bentt backed off when Morrison went down. Morrison just dropped to a knee against Lewis and stayed more in the center of the ring.

Are you suggesting he hit harder than Lewis and Bentt because Mercer KO'd him better?

Knowing how easily it is to break a nose and how that fight ended with that freak shot does give you a pretty good idea. Do you really not see a difference by the way those two fights ended because both were counted out off their feet? Everyone else in this thread seems to. Its a dumb arguement anyway. If you think Mercers a huge puncher so be it, I disagree.

 

Not so much value, more like matchups for the money. His defense is going to make for entertaining fights.

And I wholeheartedly disagree on the pedigree of guys like Donald and Gonzalez and so on going into those Bowe fights. They were simply not competitive matchups. I really would not be giving slack to Wlad Klitschko right now if he signed to fight an Audley Harrison.

Bowe also lost the 2nd Holyfield fight. You cannot go and list why other fights don't happen due to a loss and the guy being defended has an L on his dossier as well.

You could hardly say Bowe was a road warrior that travelled to take on all comers. Anyone anyplace anytime type guy. He never took on the house fighter and that would've been interesting in say a Tyson fight. Or even another Don King fighter in say a McCall. Lots of bad things happen taking on house fighters.

I think we had a much much better chance of Bowe being matched up with the flawed guys than the chances of him in there with dangerous opponents. With Bowe, we the fans, were always going to get an Alex Stewart fight. Or an Oleg Maskaev fight.

 

Mcall was tied up with Don King and was hardly viewed as anything more than a low level contender until he flattened Lewis. How would Bowe get a shot at Mcall after Mcall won the title? Mcall was tied to King who had an exclusive deal with Showtime. Bowe still was fufilling his six fight deal with HBO up until his retirement. Same with Tyson, he was tied to Showtime. Its not as simple as just making the fights. There is too much involved with rival promoters and network obligations.

Edit: The Donald fight was for the WBC continental title that Donald had won, or basically to get back into contention for a shot at the WBC. The WBO title came later in 95.

 

Donald and Gonzalez was unbeaten fringe contenders/prospects.
They may not have been competitive match-ups, but I remember 1995 and there simply were NOT many fights that would have been considered competitive for Bowe.
Tommy Morrison wasn't a "competitive match-up" for Lennox Lewis, either. Nevermind Jostin Fortune ! And Ray Mercer was considered a washed-up waster, a trialhorse, going in to his fight with Holyfield.
Bruce Seldon was fighting Tony Tucker for the WBA title at the time ! The division was in a sorry state in 1995. Foreman and McCall were the other two major title holders. Even if Bowe had fought all three people would be saying he took on easy opponents.

That wasn't what I was saying. I was pointing out that the guys Bowe fought were at that time rightfully considered as worthy as men such as Mercer and Morrison.

McCall was nothing special. And i fail to understand why Bowe should have seeked to fight against a Don King "house fighter". Why on earth would he want to do that ? Truth is, Tyson came out of jail and wasn't ready for Bowe, then Bowe went to **** against Golota.

Who are these dangerous guys in 1993 - '96 ?

 

You hit the nail right on the head with your assesment of the mid 90's scene. When Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield fought each other for the third time in the fall of 1995, it was for the unofficial title of "best fighter in the world", even though no sanctioning belt was on the line. Tyson had just been released from prison and his only two wins since returning were McNeeley and Mathis. Foreman had just been outboxed by schultz, and was losing marketability. Moorer hadn't done anything since losing to Foreman the year earlier. Lewis had recently been sparked by McCall and was currently fighting men like Morrison and Fortune. Oliver McCall had just lost to Frank Bruno...

So in truth, Riddick Bowe was really the only man who was going out there and taking chances against young undefeated prosects, plus providing the only real exciting fights in his battles with Holyfield. There was a brief period from perhaps 1994 to maybe 1996, where Riddick Bowe may have very conceivably been the best heavyweight in the world, regardless of having no belt around his waste.

 

There's no question that Bowe was considered by many as the world's best heavyweight during that time.

I find it a bit annoying when people pull out a long list, from their ass, of fighters that Bowe should have fought, who were allegedly a higher grade of fighter than the ones he did fight.
Aside from Lewis, there is not really a case for any fighter - apart from perhaps Razor Ruddock in a brief period before Bowe won the title. But that's understandable, and again it was largely political. Newman didn't need to deal with a Don King promotion to get Bowe his shot at Holyfield.

But aside from Ruddock in '91 - '92, the rest is pure bull****.
Ray Mercer, Tommy Morrison, Corrie Sanders (!?), etc. were NOT better qualified or higher-rated than the men Bowe fought during 1994 - '96.
In fact, Mercer and Morrison had dropped out of the ratings while Hide and Gonzalez had jumped in during that time.
And Seldon became a champion in 1995 - the same Bruce Seldon who is considered unworthy of mention as a victim on Bowe's resume.

 

Agreed,

You and I obviously lived and remembered the scene quite clearly.. I think some of these other guys are just fishing around on boxrec, and coming up with their own conclusions, which probably sound something like this " oh, well what about this guy, or that guy? ..." And claiming that he was ducking Mercer is laughable to the point of losing one's bodily functions.. Bowe SIGNED to fight Mercer, and the match was set to come off, until Ray ****ed that one up by losing to Boogyman Ferguson.

Fact is, Herbie Hide was undefeated with 25 of his 26 wins coming by way of knockout. He had just hospitalized Michael Bent who in turn, had sparked Morrison in one. Jorge Gonzalez may not have amounted to **** in hindsite, but at the time he was 23-0, stood 6'7" and had beaten both Bowe and Lewis in the Olympics.. I don't seem to remember anyone begging to step in the ring with Andrew Golata either. If these were supposed to be " soft touches", then I must have missed something.

 

I wasn't suggesting that, but since you ask, he does hit harder than Bentt yes.

If it's so "easy" then Mathis would've been breaking noses left and right with his style of inside uppercutting.

What other fight are you comparing it to?

No, not "everyone" actually.

 

Heres a simple way to end this argument. Go check Mercer's KO percentage, than compare it to real punchers, like Tyson, Tua, Lewis, or Bowe whose percentages are all over 70%. You can check Oliver Mcall too. You'll find both Mcall and Mercer are just about the same, decent not big punchers.

 

So only a fighter with a KO% of at least 70% can qualify as a "real puncher" then? That would mean fighters like Ruddock, Bonecrusher, and Witherspoon don't qualify as real punchers either. Mercer's KO% was actually better than Bonecrusher's and Witherspoon's and only about 5% less than Ruddock's.

 

Your right, thats a bad example for you, forget about the opposition, Peter McNeely and Brian Nielson would be ranked over them as well. :nut
Your also right about Mercer, he was a huge puncher. His KO of iron chinned Morrison was amazing, way better than Bentt's who got him in 1, and that shot he landed on Damiani was perfectly timed and crushed his nose to pieces. It takes massive punching power to break the softest bone in your face. His KO wins over Leo Loiacono and Arthel Lawhorne were something spectacular as well.
I dont know how he went the distance with guys like Bert Cooper, and Kimmuel Odom, when just about everyone else with comparable power knocked them out.

 

Mercer simply wasn't a big puncher.
Morrison had a glass chin and Damiani had a big nose.

 

F*ckin A, maybe if he hears it from the rest of the board he'll be convinced. :desk

 

Mercer was a clubber who's power had greater effect on C-rate fighters such as Wesley Watson and Jerry Halstead. Jesse Ferguson absorbed his power with no issues. Yeah, yeah, Mercer was physically unprepared, one could argue......but I'm confident his power would have still shown up at points if he hit like they advertised. I've always regarded Sam Peter as an update on Mercer, but I digress....