In their primes, who was more skilled... Lennox Lewis or Riddick Bowe?

Bowe made him quit. He kept punching back, and he was hurting Golota. Golota hit him with everything but the kitchen sink and Bowe kept coming. Golota quit because he knew he couldnt win the fight.
Bowe didnt have poor defense, if he did he would have lost more fights. He was in bad shape against Golota a reason he retired after the fights.

Bowe had a different kind of fighting style, an aggressive style and to say he wasnt effective from the outside is incorrect, Bowe was very good in all aspects he just had a very short career due to **** poor discipline a fault only his own.

 

He did, he just did not fight the bigger punchers, something Bowe was criticized for if I recall.

 

This is the truth.

I responded to this thread because it's a very good question & props to the threadstarter.

On the surface it would appear that Bowe was the more talented, versatile boxer because he had a good jab, power, decent speed & fundamentals combined with an excellent chin & inside game. However the truth is much of boxing is ring intelligence, ie the old saying: Boxing is 10% physical and 90% mental. Obviously those percentages change here & there but you get the point.

Bowe also had a tendency to fight down to the level of his competition as he did against Holyfield & Golota as well as others.

Lennox had a very good jab himself, similar if not better power & speed but a slightly less effective inside game and a sometimes questionable chin. Lewis was also knocked for not taking his opponents seriously and it cost him against, McCall, Mercer, Rahman, Brggs, Mirovic & Vitali.

Still, due to the ring smarts, I'd have to give the nod to Lennox as I would if they ever fought as Pros.

 

Decent post but I disagree with Bowe having good defense. His chin was his best defense and Golota cracked it multiple times. Golota also easily out jabbed Bowe.

I'm 50/50 on whether Bowe "made" Golota quit also...................

 

By all rights Bowe should've won all 3 fights against Holyfield and quicker & by bigger margins but he fought down to the level of competition. Not a knock on Holy either, but Bowe had every conceivable advantage in size & skill. Coincidently, I picked the correct winner in each of those fights making a decent amount of cash along the way.

 

I didnt say he had great defense but it wasnt poor. I dont really want to get into the whole debate over punchers, because his resume is stacked with capable punchers. Certainly a guy like Bert Cooper, or Jorge Luis Gonzalez would have been able to hurt him if his defense sucked?

 

Bowe started to decline right after winning the title. He wasnt good anymore vs Golota, thats why he quit. I think if Bowe shared your incorrect feelings he would have carried on with his career.

 

what?

 

bowe is the ultimate 'coulda been...' guy...couklda been champ for years...couklda been an atg.....coulda beat lewis...coulda beat tyson.....but, and i hate saying this cos i love big daddy bowe, he ****in never....although i still think he woukld have had lewis number in the pros, lewis was/is the better fighter..cos he had smarts, discilpline, dedication....bowe MAY have had more raw talent, indeed, i think he was a more natural FIGHTER, not boxer....but he squandered it, so lewis is the better man....

god that hurt

 

Lewis.He always seemed to have a plan.As mentioned before, Bowe's defense wasn't the greatest and he wasn't the fastest guy in the world either.

 

Lewis was more skilled.

 

Seems to me the guy who almost always found a way to win is the better of the two. Fact is Lewis could adapt and he had a mental edge that Bowe seemed to either lack or simply didn't have on a consistent basis.

 

I think Lewis is one of the most intelligent Heavyweights in history. His superfights were against Holyfield and Tyson , who were both way past their best. Didnt really fight that many fighters in their primes.

Bowe fought a much harder Holyfield and really fought fighters who were closer to their primes. Also what is important is the two knockout loses on Lewis's account . No matter how he came back still look bad.

In 1995 Bowe Wins inside the distance - take a look at the Ray Mercer fight .

In 2000 + Lewis really comes into his own and wins at a canter.

 

Lewis always looked like he was walking in clown shoes in the ring. His balance sucked, especially when he was pressured.

 

lewis was the better fighter. he was the greater fighter. but bowe was the more skilled fighter.

lewis won his fights more because of his physical talent & patience. he wasn't a very skilled boxer. he won his fights because of his awesome punching power, underrated handspeed, underrated foot speed, and his size. his boxing skills were average at best but combined with his other physical assets made lewis a formidable fighter. lewis won the mercer fight but it was one of his toughest fights because his power did not have its usual effect. same with bruno - lewis was losing the jabbing and boxing but he won the fight with his awesome power. lewis looked like a good boxer against tua who can't box his way out of a brown paper bag. any average boxer like rahman could have done with with tua but lewis patience, underrated speed, and awesome stopping power made sure lewis did not get knocked out like a lot of fighters.

i don't mean to sound arrogant but sometimes people oversimplify these things. just because lewis was the greater fighter, the better fighter, does not not mean he was better in every department. i strongly believe that lewis did not have the skills to beat a prime holyfield of 1993 like the way bowe did. bowe's inside fighting was excellent.