Riddick Bowe - What If He Had Retired...

But with all respect, Russell and mr magoo, what should I write about the topic here? We can make that question about many fighters, "Where would have Holmes ranked if he retired after the Williams- bout?, surely ahead of Marciano...", etc., I just don´t see the sense of this thread (but that´s just my opinion), I just noticed that Russell always "dismissed" Marciano in the past ( in many threads, if you didn´t notice it, than you´re really blind) and I normally said it to him that it bugs me, I don´t see the problem here...


btw, like always mr magoo, very nice sarcasm, really priceless...

 

The only one who´s bitching now is you, I just said something normally to you, we don´t need to discuss now that much...

 

Everything you say...

 

Russell,

I think this is an excellent question/observation well worth debating, and should not be dismissed.

Fan man or no fan man, the second Holy fight was razor-thin.

Winning the trilogy would clearly have supported Bowe's legacy, ASSUMING Holyfield still went on to beat Tyson etc etc...

I sort of know what TBooze means by statistical anomaly with the Golota fights, but to me a true statistical anomaly is a W in your win loss column when your opponent has been robbed by paid off judges.

Bowe GENUINELY won the Golota fights because Golota was legitimately disqualified.

Of course, I know Bowe was shite in both those fights, but I do argue that in the worst two performances of his career, you can still learn something positive about him i.e how tough he was.

His undefeated record would be well worth talking about, but would not change the fact that outside Holyfield there is not enough quality in it...

 

What makes you think Bowe would have won the second Holyfield fight if not for the fan man incident? I don't believe Bowe was making a big rally and turning the fight around before it happened. If anything, I think Holyfield had the momentum in his corner and may even have stopped Bowe in that scenario.

Moreover, even if Bowe had won the second Holyfield fight, no way he would he have made it to 44-0. He would still have been champion and would have had to keep defending his title- Bowe would never have been consistent or dominant enough to make it through nine more title defenses unbeaten. Also, for the note, Bowe was physically outfought in both Golota fights.

 

I don't think that Bowe would have beaten Holy even if it had not been for the parachute incident, but it makes for an interesting hypothetical scenario. Yes, It would have improved his legacy, and had he beaten Holyfield in their second fight, there would not even have been a third match, due to the fact that sagas today usually end after two consecutive winning outcomes for one fighter. Bowe would then have likely defended the IBF and WBA belts against men like Michael Moorer, Tommy morrison, George Foreman ( maybe ), Frans Botha and perhaps even Mike Tyson, if he stayed champ through 1996. As long as he stayed in shape ( a big IF ), then I probably would have picked him to take most or all the above.

Bowe had his second fight with Holyfield in 1993 and Andrew Golata did not become a major force in the division until around 1996. If Bowe was the reigning champion, it would be difficult to dicern how, when or if these two would have met. The only remaining issue is the cloud that loomed over Bowe's head for ducking Lennox Lewis and discarding the WBC title in a most disgraceful fashion. The public would have demanded the fight and there's no telling if Bowe would have given it to them or not.

Conclusion: Yes, it would appear that if Bowe had won his rematch with Holyfield it would have set him up for a string of winable title defenses that may have strengthened his legacy a bit, but how much or to what degree we'll never know.

 

Why don't you address the points that make up 85% of my post instead of picking the last sentence which was, in my own words, "for the note," and to which I DID NOT apply the interpretation you just attributed?

 

Quite true.

And you do a good job of fantasy fight matchups.

 

having been at all of the Bowe v Holy fights.. Bowes worst enemy was the fan man.. he was starting to grab a lead and getting his second wind.. the fan man broke the momentum and allowed Holyfield to maintain some composure to change his approach and pull out the win..

3 amazingly close fights.. God bless..