Bowe-Golota I & 2...WHAT HAPPENED, BIG DADDY?

If Bowe could beat Holyfield he could beat the rest of the 90s guys you mentioned. Foreman ducked him, Tyson would never fight him as they were childhood acquaintances. As for Lewis the fight was agreed and then Lewis backed out initially and then Bowe backed out. Lewis in the early 90s was a winnable fight for Bowe. Bowe had a small peak.

Those guys Wlad beat did not have the inside game of Bowe or the work rate. Bowe would definitely have been his toughest opponent.

 

It's true, Bowe beat Holyfield while the latter was still at his unbeaten peak, and beat him consummately. There isn't a name above whom wasn't either beat or given a tough fight by Holyfield.

Bowe, if he truly wasn't psyched out by that ridiculously early stoppage in the Olympics, would have knocked out pre-Steward Lewis within 7 rounds, tops. However, once Lewis hopped aboard the Stewart train, I have a hard time imagining a Bowe victory...perhaps even at his peak.

The Lewis who beat Hasim in the rematch very well might have beat even prime Bowe (though I see it going the distance). The same LL would have stomped all over the Golota Bowe, unquestionably in my mind.

 

Which makes Tysons achievements 86 -90 all the more notable.

 

That’s a very favorable outlook for Bowe - to say if he could beat Holyfield he could beat the rest of the 90s fighters.

It simply does not excuse Bowe for failing to face any big punchers in his career or to miss out on - Tyson, Lewis, Foreman, Morrison, McCall, Bruno, Tucker, Moorer, Holmes, Witherspoon, not to mention late 90s fighters he missed because Golota ended his career guys like Tua, Briggs, Rahman, Ibeabuchi, Grant and so on and so forth.

Bowe’s resume is light. Yes he beat a great fighter in Holyfield but Holyfield went 1-4 against Bowe and Lewis. And struggled with large heavies even George gave him a run in his 40’s.

Bowe got the stuffing kicked out of him in two “Wins” over Golota. He arguably lost to Tubbs, he clearly should of lost by DQ to Mathis who was frustrating him.
Bowe’s resume is light. And he didn’t last long at the top. If you want to pick peak Bowe of Holyfield 1 as someone that would give Wlad a run for his money I could understand the logic. But Bowe’s career in short pales to that of Wlad and he never faced the consistent top quality contenders that Wlad did. Bowe missed almost all of them and if you want to make excuses for it go ahead but miss them he did and those are the facts.
Bowe got hit way too much and often fought dirty watch the Coetzer fight that guy is not beating Wlad

 

In the second fight if Golota doesn't keep hitting Bowe low I doubt Riddick goes 2 more rounds. He was on the verge of being stopped, he behaved like a crack addict

 

This is very objective analysis of Bowe's career, I agree with it, I think Bowe could have beaten Wlad in his short window but it was very short