Prime Riddick Bowe was a monster

You can add Bowe to the list of fighters that fell from peak performance to virtually losing their skills overnight. Roy Jones & Mike Tyson are 2 others that come to mind.

Even though Bowe accomplished what most could only dream of, he still fell short of his potential. I don't think Eddie Futch was all hype, when he talked about how promising Riddick was. Evander was hell for anyone in history imo and Bowe fought a tremendous fight the first time around. Even in their 2nd fight, it looked like Bowe was slipping & not nearly as sharp as the first fight. I'm sure Holy was at least partially responsible for Riddick's quick downslide, more so than Golata. I though he looked terrible against Andrew the first time around and the 2nd time was even worse for Bowe.

Agree that Bidaddy was scary in his prime, and could hang with anyone in history.

 

Yeah just like he destroyed Golota, Tubbs, and Lewis in Amateurs right ? Bowe was so confident of destroying Lewis which is why he threw his belt in the trash.

Get back to me when you find anyone on Bowe's resume who hit anywhere near as hard as Lewis. Because for obvious reasons Bowe seemed to avoid any genuine Heavyweight puncher.

 

Which version?

I would take the Steward trained Lewis of the late 90s over Prime Bowe.

 

His resume is pretty thin and short-lived barring Holyfield. Prime in today's scene he'd be a less chinny Dillian Whyte. I'm not convinced he'd beat Joshua or Wilder.

 

Holyfield's probably p4p the toughest boxer to grace this earth, he was a small heavyweight even for back thens standards and was going toe to toe with huge boxers that outweighed him by 30 ibs.

 

What at? Garbage removal?

 

His manager, Rock Newman, was disgusting. In more ways than one. That dumb Black Panthers hat he wore was enough to turn your stomach.

 

The current HW era (2015-22) is better than the 90s era.

 

He was only prime for 1 fight

 

Nope

 

That fight was his last before Golota basically ended his career. Eight months between Holyfield 3 and Golota 1.

 

There isnt a non fantasy heavyweight fight that I wanted to see more than Bowe vs Lewis. Maaaybe Tyson vs Holy in 91. Anyways, Bowe is a very tough heavyweight to gage due to the short prime and poor depth. He's clearly good, but I tend to rate guys who fought everyone much higher. I'm not about to favor him over Lewis or Tyson due to him stopping 1 fighter they couldn't.

 

If there is ever a fight where you say ”size matters”, is this one. Bowe was just too big. They were evenly matched otherwise.

 

Lewis destroys ANY “version” of Bowe. Lewis with a different level, entirely

 

Took too many shots and got out-boxed in his rematch v Holy.