Who beat the best opposition - Vitali Klitschko or Riddick Bowe ?

How does this say anything at all when comparing the quality of opposition on paper? Can you think of one opponent that Klitschko beat that eclipses the acheivment of beating Evander Holyfield? We are not looking at losses here, and even if we were Vitali would still come up short. Bowe was never stopped and lost only once to an all time great whom he beat twice.. Sure, he got thrashed in both of the Golata bouts, but we can't call those matches losses, no matter how we cut it. The final verdict was the final verdict..

 

Vitali!!!!!!!!!

 

Bowe clearly,imo.

 

Vitali has never been able to show the grit in tough fights or fight. Bowe's fights with Holyfield and his destruction of Jorge Luis Gonzalez are some of his finest performances. The wars with Golota showed how tough he was even at his lowest points.
The Gonzalez fight was interesting in that it was an olympic nemesis undefeated and highly confident he could beat Bowe. Although he was completely unmatched in the skill department, he took a horrendous beating with Bowe delivering the final crushing right hand that left him unconscious. Truly a spectacular performance for Bowe, and really the last we saw of the best of him.

 

Duva: "Listen to me, Andrew, please! NO MORE BODY SHOTS!" Andrew marches right out there and delivers a 3 punch combination to Bowe's nuts!

I love this sport!


I agree. The Holyfield wins tip the scales to Bowe.

 

He can thank the referee of the 2nd Golota fight for that. Holyfield was also beaten by Moorer. It's not just who you beat but how you beat them. Bowe struggled with sub par opponents.

 

I used to box in the same gym as Bowe, great guy. Always helped out others including me.


As for the this thread, the answer should be obvious. Vitali's resume is terribly thin in quality. Bowes two wins over holyfield alone easily vault him above vitali. Vitali is highly overated, the two best fighters he ever fought he lost too.

 

I'll ask you again; How does Bowe's performance against Golata have anything to do with comparing his resume on paper to Vitali's?

 

Holyfeild is the standout on Bowea resume, other than that I would go with Vitali....The Golota fights were both beatdown loses for Bowe even though the dummy Golota got the DQ loss 2 times...Bowe was lucky because he got whopped badly 2 times

 

Just watched the HBO Legendary Nights story of Bowe vs Golota on Youtube..... really good piece IMO.

Two point deductions for low blows and a warning for hitting on the back of the head...... yet he did it again :nut

Eddie Cotton ought to have stopped that fight on a few occasions, but Bowe was just (and I mean only just) doing enough to stay in the fight.

 

My mom beat better opponents than Vitali and she never boxed. Few boxing champ have fought worse oppostion than Vitali or Wlad.

 

Quitting against Byrd says a hell of a lot more about someone as a fighter though.

 

Bowe beat Holyfield alright, great accomplishment. Holyfield was also beaten by Moorer, Ruiz, struggled with Bobby Chyz, all well before he was totally shot. Vitali never lost convincingly, after which fight with Vitali could you really say that the other guy was better? Bowe has two wins against Golota when he clearly wasn't the better man. Vitali has never been humiliated in the ring like Bowe against Golota. Of course a DQ is a legit win, just as a stoppage on cuts is, but these aren't wins that prove the winner as the better fighter.

Bowe and Vitali are both better than their resumes. Bowe has the memorable trilogy with a great fighter, Vitali has his consistency against any kind of opponent. H2H I give the edge to Vitali.

 

I'd have to say Bowe, if the three Holy fights were the only ones he'd ever hd it would still add up to more than all of Klitschko's wins put together