Newman offered Lewis $3million of the $32million combined purse HBO had on offer which was a ****ing ridiculous share considering Lewis was also young, undefeated, conquered Bowe in the Olympics and was the mandatory contender. Rock Newman offered that shitty percentage knowing full well that Maloney would (rightly) never accept it instead giving Bowe a chance to make some chump change against has beens like Dokes and Ferguson. Even more ridiculously (according to Maloney) Newman then offered a $32million winner takes all deal which Lewis and his camp agreed to and faxed their acceptance to Rock Newman who never got back to them about it :yep. Clearly Bowe and his team manipulated things anyway they could to avoid a fight with Lennox and to make out otherwise goes against all the facts.
It wasn't $3million of $32million, it was $3million of $20million...which is 15%. Guess what percentage Undisputed Champ Holy gave challenger Bowe in '92... 15% too, so Newman considered it fair! Bowe & his team was so wanting to "avoid a fight with Lennox" that they signed to fight him in '94! As i was saying, it was all signed for December '94 on HBO... but Lewis lost by early KO to McCall & the Superfight was sadly scrapped! Just check the '94 Boxing Monthly issue with Riddick on the cover with main title "Was Bowe Born Lucky?" It has big interviews with Bowe, Newman & Maloney to explain everything. The combined purse by '94 had grown to $30million (probably how you got confused) & the WBC beltholder Lennox's share was to be $18million, which is 60%... so what's wrong with a Undisputed Champ wanting 75%? Well anyway, that's what the greedy Newman thought, personally i would've offered Lewis at least 30% in '93, twice the percentage Bowe got against Holy in '92, just to be very generous (make Maloney happy) & get it signed. I smell bull****. :yep
You make a big deal of the 15% originally offered and the fact that what Bowe got as challenger. That was a very big pay jump for Bowe, yet if Lewis were to take 15% that would be a huge decrease in pay for what would be a bigger fight.
Actually $3million would still be a career-high payday for Lewis at that point. But i totally agree the stingy Newman should've offered more, because King managed to give Lewis $9million to fight Tucker! :scaredas: Which is interesting, because to beat the $9million purse Lewis got for defending his WBC belt against Tucker (obviously this is in retrospect, since Lewis-Tucker happened after Bowe vacated that belt), Newman would've had to give Lewis 50% which would be $10million, but obviously that wasn't going to happen against the Unified Champ. As i said, 30% would've been a fair offer in contrast to 15%, because 30-70 is a good deal for a belt-less challanger against The Man, when we see how the signed '94 fight was 60-40 for Lewis, with Lennox as a beltholder rather than Undisputed. Sadly, managerial greed stopped the fight happening in '93, thanks Newman!:twisted: Then McCall stopped it happening in '94, thanks Oliver!:fire
How can you doubt the word of someone from that most honest and noble of professions....A Boxing Promoter. Honesty and integrity are bywords guys like King,Arum and Moloney live by:bart.
Mismatch of huge proportions I would not hesitate to bet the ranch that this fight would be over in less than three, probably even by two
I could just imagine Floyd's legs quivering during the staredown as he looks up at the behemoth in front of him
The jab I think would offset Floyd's rhythm. I don't see Floyd being able to stand up to the straight right hands of Bowe.
Bowe could take anything Patterson threw at him. Patterson couldn't take everything Bowe threw at him. Bowe in 5 rounds.
Poor old Floyd gets short shrift yet again in a classic forum match up. For all those who favour Bowe via KO in 1-3 explain how a guy like Herbie Hide who was a poorer boxer with a worse chin than Patterson could manage to last into the 7th with Bowe, taking a couple of rounds off him early along the way. Ditto the woeful Jorge Luis Gonzalez. Not saying Patterson would win but yet again Bowe gets massive undeserved props and Floyd gets **** canned.
Maybe i worded my self wrong about the Lewis taking a huge step down, what i meant by that was compared to the smaller fight he had offered with Tucker.
Surely King didn't offer the $9million Tucker purse before Lewis had the WBC belt? Unless, King knew Newman would never offer a 50/50 deal for Bowe-Lewis '93, to give Lennox $10million & beat the $9million offer, thus knowing Lewis would inevitabley be given the WBC belt & fight Tucker instead of Bowe? Of course, Maloney being a nice guy didn't ask for 50/50, he said 40/60 ($8million) was fine, which is nice considering he was willing to put his fighter in with a much more dangerous opponent for $1million less, but sadly Newman was too greedy to comply. :-(