You can define their top five any way you like. Bowe's consensus top five with vote tally are: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/riddick-bowe-top-ten-wins.732600/ Holyfield 1 9 Herbie Hide 9 Tony Tubbs 9 Jorge Luis Gonzales 9 Holyfield III 8 I have not done a top ten for Fury since I still consider him active, but it would have to be... WladKlit Wilder 2 Wilder 3 Chisora (whatever one you like) Whyte This is close to me. Bowe has by far the best single win in prime Holyfield, but it falls off significantly with post heart attack Holy, and then completely off the rails with Hide. Fury beat a past-it great in WladKlit, and then at least managed to get a couple more relevant wins. Interested to see opinions.
For me Bowe. Holyfield is a better win than Wladimir as he was in his absolute prime and Bowe beat him in one of the greatest fights of all time. Where as Fury had a sparring session with an old Wladimir at the end of his career in one of the worst Heavyweight title fights of all time. Holyfield in the 3rd Bowe fight wasn't at his best but he's so far ahead of Wilder in ATG Heavyweight rankings. Not to mention what Holyfield did achieve after losing to Bowe I can't rate Wilder over Holyfield even in the 3rd fight. I'd also probably replace Gonzalez with one of the other former champions Bowe beat. But i like Bowe's resume slightly more he beat Thomas, Dokes, Tubbs, Hide, Seldon, who were all former belt holders. Yes quite a few of these names were past their best but still alot of these wins would rank in Fury's top 5 best wins. All in all Bowe beat 6 fighters who were former champions. Compared to Fury who only beat 2 fighters who were former champions. I'm going with Bowe.
Very clearly Fury. Wlad was a better fighter than Holyifeld, but was aging, so that one is about even. But Wilder would obliterate Hide, an old Tubbs, and the shell of Holyfield who showed up for the third fight. Chisora would mow down JLG. Whyte was bad, but not JLG bad. And the draw with Wilder helps Fury's resume. Only one correct answer here.
If you look past the fact Bowe didn't fight Lennox, Moorer, Foreman and Tyson Bowes resume is very good for someone who had a 5-6 year stay at the elite level.