Are we forgetting that Bowe was getting dogwalked by Andrew Golata?

Bowe retired after the Golata fights cause he knew he was totally shot an not just his balls.

 

He didn't lay down for a DQ. He went down from a punch to the balls after being beaten up and also hit low previously. Every boxer has a right to go down from a punch to the balls that hurts. It should be expected. Boxing isn't about proving how tough/stupid you are taking unacceptable blows to the nuts on top of everything else.

It was the referee who immediately called the DQ, not Bowe putting on for it. And a DQ was the right decision.

I'm not a big fan of Bowe but the Golota fights aren't complicated. Bowe won because Golota couldn't box like a disciplined professional and/or quit.
They were both good boxers but Bowe was better all-round because Golota was mentally lacking.

 

Bowe doesn't need excuses.
He won those fights with Golota. Fairly.

It's Golota who gets the excuses and privileges. He clearly lost by absolutely justified DQ twice. But people talk like he won.

 

It's less that Golota won and more that he clearly showed he was the better boxer.

 

But he didn't show that at all, unless you think being mentally disciplined and keeping tactics somewhere close to the rules shouldn't be part of a boxer's repertoire.

 

He beat Bowe at all ranges and technical aspects of boxing. He wasn't a better fighter maybe but he was a better BOXER.

 

Boxing should be seen as every inside the ring aspect of the sport we call boxing. Not just being technically better at punching or moving for a few rounds. The Ws and the Ls are meaningful, aren't they? Providing the decisions are fair, right? And the DQs in those fights were fair. When the decisions are fair, the better man wins.

Golota couldn't even manage being better over a distance of 10 rounds. If he was better than Bowe he would have won, he'd have the Ws, rather than the Ls.

It was two fights. Same result. The biggest fights of Golota's career up to that point too. Two losses, to the same man, both in the same manner, by fair DQ. In back to back fights.
That's conclusive.

I understand where you're coming from but I'm going with the hard facts and logic.

 

True, Iran Barkley for example UD'd Tommy Hearns, so he was the better boxer.........Wait a minute.

Nah, I think you are just mad at the result of the fight and disappointed by Bowe's performance so you try to cut him some slack and minimize Golota's accomplishment with this BS point of "well the better boxer wins the fight, and Bowe won so clearly he is the better boxer!!!!". Bowe was too tough for Golota, both mentally and physically. That's it. He got outboxed in the ring, then just kept going until Golota fell apart. Trying to use this to argue that Bowe was a better boxer makes no sense. Tougher yes, better fighter sure, better boxer absolutely not. Bowe had two fights to prove that, and all he could do was getting his ass kicked until Golota ruined himself.

 

Golota was whooping Bowe that's a fact, but thats also irrelevant. He was a dirty fighter and that was in his nature. Maybe he could have done more in boxing if he would have been able to control himself under pressure.

 

Context is needed here.

Holyfield was well under par vs Bowe in their 3rd meeting he had no energy after 2nd round and looked similar to how he did vs Moorer.

Yes he pulled out a hail mary left hook but for the most past Holyfield was clearly well under par in that fight.

Bowe was already starting to slur his words after the 3rd Holyfield fight if anything that fight shows Bowe was starting to deteriorate as a fighter.

Age is just a number Bowe was not living the life of a boxer constantly being out of shape and add to the fact he was taking alot of punches consistently that's a recipe for disaster.

If you watch legendary nights documentary they compare his speech pattern from Bowe/Holyfield 1 to Bowe/Golota the difference is shocking.

21:30 for reference

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Fernando Vargas too was done at an early age, and retired a shell of his former self at 29 years old.

 

Hearns has a body of work outside of his fights with Barkley than you could say make him "better boxer" obviously. That's a 'pound for pound' thing, if you like that. But at 175 pounds in 1992, no. If I checked their records and found a bunch of people Hearns beat that Barkley lost to, again I'd concede that a case can be made for Hearns being better at the weight even, but I doubt that's even true. Hearns might get a pass for being a couple of years older or beyond his prime, maybe.

You can't argue any case for Golota like that regarding Bowe. There's nothing. He lost the Bowe fights and then lost in 1 round to Lewis, lost to Michael Grant, lost to a faded Tyson in 2 or 3 rounds. All in his prime.

At some point someone might have to explain why losing is seen as better than winning.

I'm not mad at the result. That probably describes the people who are pretending like Golota won. The results are just results. Fair results. Bowe won twice. I don't say they're good wins but they were wins. No need to over-complicate it.

I agree that Bowe gets over-rated. I don't rate Bowe as an ATG. He's on the same level as Tim Witherspoon or Pinklon Thomas. World class for a couple of years but not a true great by any stretch.

The fact that you wrote "minimize Golota's accomplishment" suggests we have completely different points of view.
Golota accomplished getting DQ'd twice. It's a massive fail.

Incidentally I think Bowe should have been DQ'd against Mathis Jr. probably. It wasn't as clear and conclusive as Golota but clear enough for him. But he wasn't - and that is a fact too.
I suspect in a rematch Bowe doesn't foul himself out versus Mathis though.

 

Bowe can be overrated by some, but he beat arguably the absolute best version of Holyfield in one of the best heavyweight fights ever. In the trilogy with Holyfield, he scored 2-1 including a stoppage in the third. In the fight he lost many believed it was an essentially even fight. For this reason alone, I would consider him great. The reasons that he doesn't meet the upper echelons of greatness are obvious and include his lack of discipline out of the ring which created a very short prime and no longevity. The Bowe who got into the ring with Holyfield the first time could compete well against any of the top ten of all time including Ali, Louis, Usyk, Lewis, Foreman, et al.

 

1)Golota was beating the **** out of Bowe.
2) Golota fouled himself to a DQ twice in a row after being given many chances to not be DQd. That was a Golota problem and you can't fault the ref for the DQs
3) Bowe was out of shape the first time and lost too much weight the second time too quickly. He was also obviously suffering cognitive decline from the punishment he has taken up until that point. That was a Bowe problem and Golota would of deserved all the credit in the world still if he beat him because Bowe was still a top heavyweight at the time.
4) Golota, despite losing twice in a row, got a PPV headlining WBC title shot in his next fight vs Lennox Lewis.
5) Bowe should of been DQd previously to Mathis and probably Tillery
6) Besides Holyfield, Bowes win resume is pretty weak. Some of this isn't his fault and some of this is most definitely his fault.
7) Golotas win resume is also very weak. How many guys were considered top ten heavy at the time he beat them? Try to make a top 5 best Golota wins
8) I love the second fight despite Bowes decline and Golotas mental instability