Bowe: where would he rank if he'd beaten Lewis?

Where would Joe Grim rank if he had beaten Sam Langford?

 

I apologize, if you find my response terse.

In my opinion, Lewis always had the style to beat Bowe.

He was the Andrew Golotta, who would never quit, and would force the fight more inteligently at the crucial moment.

Bowe chose not to let this fight happen, on the advice of Eddie Futch.

 

Depends. I don't think Lewis would have had the career he had if he faced Bowe in 93. Lewis really wasn't taken seriously until 97-98 anyway. He was fighting fairly inconsistent up until that point, Bruno, Mcall.....

 

Well admittedly some of us have to us our imaginations more than others to conclude Bowe would have won that fight, but many on this forum are fairly convinced that had they fought he would have.[/quote]

Lewis undoubtedly would have beaten bowe imo.
He has two losses on his record due to pure negligence on his behalf both of which were avenged.
If he would have gone into these two fights as prepared as he should have been then his stock would be rated a lot higher due to him retiring undefeated/undisputed.
Bowe always knew he had his number so chose not to fight and took the easy route out.
Lewis consistently ranks top 10 ATG in polls on this site where as Bowe hardly ever features and the predominant voters/posters are american......
What does that say?:good

 

Had Bowe fought and beat both Lewis and his Brownsville brotha Mike Tyson, he would have ranked higher. As janitor said, I don't think Bowe would win against Lewis. Tyson was in prison during the time Bowe had the title, but I feel Riddick lost alot from the wars with Holyfield and by the time Tyson came back Bowe was on the decline of his career.

 

A fight between Bowe and Lewis circa 1993 would have been interesting. On the whole, I would pick Lewis to beat Bowe when at their respective bests, but I'm not sure that Lennox had reached the peak of his skill level by that point. Of course, looking at the way he had dispatched Razor Ruddock, he may very well have beaten Bowe regardless, but its a question mark nonetheless.

Lewis was a very respected and highly thought of contender at the time when Bowe had taken the title from Holyfield. There were even some experts who felt that he would one day emerge as the best of the new generation, and in some ways they were correct, but just not in the fashion nor time frame that they predicted... Lewis had medaled in both the 1984 and 1988 olympics, taking the gold medal in the latter with a win over Bowe.. He was now a fully matured man in his late 20's with an undefeated record and proven wins over the highly ranked Ruddock and countryman Mason. In the public's eye, he was the most deserving challenger in the division for Bowe's title, and lined up for a fight that would have generated one of the largest purses in history to that point....

As for how Bowe's resume would have benefitted from a victory over Lennox Lewis, it certainly would have scored him some points. Especially taking on such a highly qualified challenger as his very first defense, immediately following a war with a truly great champion... The exact value of the victory however, would have depended greatly on the future stock value of Lewis... Had Lennox lost to Bowe, yet still managed to emerge as the all time great that we actually know, then it would have boosted Riddick's legacy to an even higher degree.. On the otherhand, if Lewis's career track had somehow been thwarted by a defeat to Bowe, sending him down the path to anonymity, then Riddick's victory would have been labeled as nothing more than just " a very good win."

 

Well its interesting how people just shrug off Bowes win over Holyfield.. The Holyfield win was more significant than a Lewis win would have been. We are looking at this from a viewpoint of what happened in Lewis career after. Who knows how it would be viewed. After the Bruno and Mcall fights, people were thinking Lewis was a little overhyped and that he had a lot of holes in his game and maybe Ruddock wasnt the same after going through two wars with Mike Tyson so that win wasnt as signficant.

Personally I saw Bowe progress a lot quicker as a pro while Lewis was still making mistakes and fighting in poor balance and technique. He was big and strong but Bowe was technically superior in my opinion.

I rank Lewis as a heavyweight like Cal Ripkin as a baseball player. He gets brownie points for staying healthy, in shape, focused, and having longevity while everyone else screwed off, but in my book he was at the bottom of the list as far as talent in the Tyson, Holy, Bowe crew and his opposition was nothing special.

 

Sure thats part of it. Lewis was a professional, and a smart man and a great fighter. He made the right changes in his career when he needed to improve and tried to do things independent of Don King. I dont think Lewis didnt deserve what he achieved, he did, I just dont think he had the talent as the other guys, so its hard for me to rank him over guys like Tyson and Holyfield when comparing their accomplishments.

 

93 Bowe would've almost certainly been my favorite to beat Lewis at that point. Beyond McCall knocking him out, Lennox was still going life and death in 96 with Ray Mercer (a fight that really should've had a rematch). Bowe was just on a higher level in the early 90's. 96-97 on, I'm going with Lewis.

Prior to that, Bowe would've been too much for Lennox IMO.