Did George Foreman make a mistake by not fighting Riddick Bowe? I have always thought so. There is no doubt that Foreman's reign as a champion the second time was pretty disgraceful. I thought he could have really done something great for his legacy as champion and for boxing by taking on at least one number one contender. The right guy for him would have been Riddick, who had twice beaten Holyfield, who would have given him no footwork, who was semi-hittable, and had shown some chin vulnerability with Holyfield. It would have been a monstrous payday. Bowe was a former champion whose only loss was very close to Holy, but who had come back to knock out Holy to win 2 of 3. The style matchup of two big punchers who refuse to step back would have gotten everyone hyped up. Bowe's comeback included victories over undefeated Larry Donald, undefeated Herbie Hide, undefeated Jorge Luis Gonzalez. and Bowe became the only man to that point to KO Evander. Foreman should have taken Bowe on prior to the Golota fight (another undefeated fighter) but definitely after the first one. Really, after the third Holy fight would have been the best timing. Sure it would be a war and Foreman might lose and might hit the deck, but he also had a chance to KO Bowe and go down in history even greater than he has. Instead, he wound up with the world mostly ignoring the fact that he was the true and linear heavyweight champion in the late 90s, and instead focusing on Holyfield and Tyson, and later Lewis.
You are missing my timing. I meant as a title defense after he defeated Michael Moorer to win the world heavyweight championship. No when Foreman was a contender.
No way George would have willingly fought Riddick Bowe. Bowe was way too dangerous an opponent for George to risk his title against. George would rather fight a guy like Axel Schultz, a guy who, at least on paper, appeared to be an easy mark. But if Schultz could mess up George like he did, Bowe would have done much better. Bowe was bigger than Foreman, he had a longer reach, better mobility, and he was just a vastly superior fighter. Bowe showed that he could be hit and hurt, but I doubt that would happen against a slow, plodding fighter with little hand speed like George Foreman.
Footwork is what gave George problems. Bowe didn't move, and when he did move, it was only forward. But I do agree it wouldn't be an easy fight and I'm not saying George would win. What I am saying is it would have been a monster fight, a fight George had a chance to win, and would have brought his title reign more honor and respect than it wound up receiving.
