The original idea was to hold a "4 man tournament". Winner of the fight: Holyfield Vs. Bowe against winner of the fight: Lewis Vs. Ruddock The winner of the "4 man tournament" would replace Mike Tyson on the throne. Inspired by @Fergy's idea I decided to start this thread. One cannot travel through time, and compare these boxers peak Vs. peak, prime Vs. peak, prime Vs. prime... etc. Only the forms of boxers when those fights took place in reality are counted. Who would win the "4 man tournament"? Would it have been a different outcome with a different schedule of fights? In any scenario, could Donovan "Razor" Ruddock win the "4 man tournament" (eg Ruddock beat Holyfield and Bowe beat Lewis)? All this can be discussed, only one cannot travel through time; such a topic.
Bowe beat Holyfield in 1992 & probably would've beaten Lewis in 1993 had the four man tournament proceeded as planned. If Bowe fought Lewis then the winner of Ruddock v Holyfield, Bowe still wins the tournament against Holyfield in the final. If Bowe fought Ruddock then the winner of Holyfield v Lewis then Bowe beats Holyfield in the final.
It comes down to Lewis and Bowe. Even though Lewis beat Bowe in the Amateurs, I favored Bowe at that time because he seemed to be a more complete pro because he had an inside game that Lewis didn't have and he proved in 92' that he could prevail when the going got tough like it did against Holyfield. With that said, I was wrong and deep down I believe Bowe didn't think he could beat Lewis either which is why he avoided him. I'll take Lewis in this tournament and in most mythical match ups. That inside game that I thought gave Bowe and advantage wouldn't have mattered because Lewis was the king of taking away the strength of an opponent and making them fight his fight.
Yes it's Lewis and Bowe in the final imo. I used to think Bowe was a dead cert to win, now.. Not really sure. Lewis could play a cool game, get under Bowe s skin, get him riled up and play in to his hands.
Lewis and Bowe were the best two and imo both beat a peak Holyfield on their best day. As for a head to head clash, it would have been very close but I lean towards Lewis getting the job done. Its a disgrace we the fans ever got this fight, it would have been the biggest heavyweight fight since the Ali era.
This period was the best chance Bowe had at beating Lewis since this was pre-Steward pre-McCall loss Lewis and Bowe at his most focused. However it seemed his management as well as Eddie Futch thought that Bowe couldn't beat Lewis which retroactively made everyone believe Bowe ducked the fight.
I'm the same as you on this,Fergy. I'd be more certain of Lennox' chances had he been with the Kronk back then but he still had the ability to beat Riddick even without being under the Steward's stewardship. Playing psychological games as you said.
I think it is probably Lewis although a point needs to be made that he could be inconsistent and cough up sad performances.
Agreed, Lewis would of taken away Bowe's inside game. You kind of saw it in their amateur fight at the Olympics. Lewis boxes early but Bowe takes it too him inside and troubles Lewis. Lewis then does what he always did when struggling to win by boxing alone and taking it too his opponent and that exposed Bowe lack of defence and Lewis basically just jumped on him as Bowe didn't have quick enough feet to get away or the defence to slip or block the shots coming, so Lewis could just literally tee off on him. Had the fight happened I think it would of been again a case of Bowe's lack of defensive skills and movement being exposed, he'd have an aggressively Lewis going right at him and Bowe unable to get out of the way and unlike the smaller guys he fought who couldn't hurt him the big hitting Brit would hurt him and hurt him often and it would of actually ended up being a very one sided beat down. Bowe as you said probably didn't fancy his chances and so was happy to swerve Lewis by dumping the belt.
