Bowe is sure he'd beat Morrison, Foreman, and Lewis on the same night

I actually feel bit sorry for Bowe when I see him vs Golota he took 400+ punches from a Super Heavyweight who weighed over 240+ pounds that's brutal and no man of that size should be getting hit that often.

No wonder his brains are scrambled who would've thought that Bowe actually ended up the worse for wear after the Trilogy with Holyfield.

 

Foreman stated several times that he will not fight Bowe or Lewis for that matter.
@dinovelvet posted a link that explains how Bowe was frozen out by the boxing establishment to fight some opponents (including Morrison).
Both Lewis and Bowe couldn't agree to terms and are to blame for the fight not happening.

I agree with most of your second paragraph though.

 

It's often argued that Bowe wasn't willing to face the hard/dangerous punchers of his era.
But this claim doesn't totally hold up to scrutiny :
- Tyson was in jail/suspended for half of the 90's ;
- Foreman stated several times that he was unwilling to face him ;
- Tua/Ike/Briggs didn't come to prominence until the late 90's ;
- Mercer pulled out of a fight in August of 1991 and lost a tune-up to Ferguson in 1993 ;
- Bruno was not seen as a serious threat and was often in a rebuilding phase after losing.

This left out Lewis, Morrison and Ruddock :
- as I said before, him and Lewis should have fought and both are to blame for it ;
- Morrison was a serious option in 1993 , but Main Event favoured a fight with Lewis (and in 1995, Bowe opted for a lucrative rubber match with Holyfield) ;
- a Ruddock fight seemed a likely possibility in 1992, so Bowe could be blamed for it. It's also worth noting that a disagreement between Newman and the WBC played a part in that fight not happening.

On the other hand, Bowe knocked out two explosive punchers in Cooper (who was the first to floor Holyfield ) and Hide, and destroyed a reasonable hitter in Gonzalez.

 

Not likely

 

The Bowe of Holyfield 1 would have beaten all three of them 1992-1993 imo. If we're talking the 1992 incarnations of those fighter, one at a time.

 

I feel all of this, but I don't think Lewis was anywhere near mature enough in 1992 to beat Bowe (or Holyfield, imo).

I think even the deservedly-venerated Stewart Lewis runs a bad risk of being stopped by peak Bowe.

It's after 1993 that things looks progressively worse for Bowe against ANY version of Lennox imo.

 

Foreman reiterated after the Gonzalez fight fight that he did not want to face Bowe.

I talked in a previous post about some of the names you listed (Tyson/Tua/Mercer/Ruddock/Bruno).

Douglas retired in 1990 and Smith was not a major player in the 90's, although I agree about Witherspoon and Tucker (who himself fought very few contenders) in a lesser extent.

 

I think old Foreman would have been a tough go for Bowe. Just as big as Bowe, probably stronger, still hit harder but Bowe would have speed and work rate.

 

Archie Moore was another one. Had over 200 fights plus countless rounds of hard sparring and was still mentally sharp into his 80s.

 

Bowe was the most overrated, overhyped heavy of the 90's. He was protected and bolstered by a publicity machine. He was a deficient fighter without proper dedication and a sub par ring IQ.

 

not at all, imo it's the other way around, he's underestimated, he's in the shadow. He had the best fights with HW in the 90s, had the biggest victories, met the best Holyfield 3 times, fought very dangerous rivals like Gonzo, Hide and Golota even though one of them kicked his ass in his amateur days much more than Lewis. While each of them looked like great punchers at the time, and they were, the fact that their careers ended has a lot to do with how they lost to Bowe.

 

Bowe needed the Lewis fight, even if he lost but had a good performance he would be far more remembered aside from the Holyfield and Golota fights. Without many big names, his overall record is also questionable since Golota gave him the win twice and he got a NC for illegally hitting Mathis Jr. while he was down.