Bowe is better than Lewis ?

I anticipated (and sympathize with) this.

 

I don't think either Bruno or Morrison would have been much of a problem. Both Mercer and especially Witherspoon would have for sure.

 

Bruno could've been. Morrison wouldn't, but that's not really my point.

 

They still had good power at heavyweight though

 

Yeah in fact Bowe said Cooper was so strong, he couldn't get off the ropes against him. I particularly remember a beautiful 1-2 that Bowe knocked him down with, an absolutely picture-perfect combo.

As far as Bowe vs Lewis goes, I tend to lean just slightly towards Lennox.

*Just rewatched, actually Cooper went dow from a follow-up right oops.

 

The best win between the two of them is Cooper's win over Orlin Norris, who also was a blown up crusierweight.

 

Punching Power ≠ Good Resume

They had good power, not out of this world but they could crack, especially Hide. Not to say that Bowe didn't try to avoid punchers because he might've

 

Hide also happened to be a great risk:reward pathway to a belt.

 

It's cap, Bowe agreed to the fight in 94 but Lennox Lewis got knocked out by Oliver McCall

 

Bruno`s long jab would have been a problem for Bowe because of his poor head movement.

 

He was just the WBO champ, it was easy to win tyhe WBO belt at that period, Hide would never have won one of the more established belts, it was the easier route for Bowe.

 

bowes track record cant be compared to lewis. bowes entire reputation is built on the fights with holyfield. kinda like norton with ali. norton just had his number...........as bowe had holyfields. but that is it! the rest of his opponents were handpicked. and what is more alarming, how did bowe do against modern heavyweights? you know, the 6´5 250 pound types. well, he only fought one relevant big man (golota)........and he basically got his ass handed to him so badly that it ended his career. and lewis was on a whole different level than golota. bowe knew this. he had felt lewis power in the olympics. and he didnt want no part of it.

 

Bowe was the quintessential shooting star. The Bowe who fought Holy 1 was great and would have done very well in a mythical round robin tournament of heavyweight greats. But after Holy 1 his light faded very fast.

 

Bowe is better than Lewis due to how he handled Holyfield in their initial contest, that is basically what you said, right?
Styles are often what determines the outcome of a fight & Holyfield was a good match up for Bowe, whereas Lewis would not have been.
Using the common opponent approach, Lewis certainly handled Golota & Biggs far easier than Bowe, though that doesn't necessarily make Lewis better, nor does Bowe's handling of Holyfield.
Bowe against Lewis is an unbelievably close match-up against two olympic boxers, both of whom could really fight & are separated by the finest of margins, it could go either way, though i think Lewis would have beaten him & Bowe knew it.