Bowe / Lennox..

Ruddock stopped Dokes inside 4 rounds.

Mercer, Ruddock and Morrison were all better than the Dokes that fought Bowe.

Whatever. You're obviously going to believe whatever deluded garbage you want to. I don't need some anonymous hater to agree with me to know I'm right.

If Bowe was so confident, why not just go ahead with the Lennox fight like he already agreed to? That was the only reason he was allowed to jump the queue to fight Holy in the first place - on the agreement that the winner fought the Lewis-Ruddock winner.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Holyfield wouldn't have run away from the agreement like Bowe did, if he had won.

 

We'll never know. Lewis got KO'ed by McCall and had his hands full with Mercer. Let's not gets crazy.

 

Taking the time to argue against me rather than make a point on the thread's topic is only adding evidence to what I was saying.... you among most are Lewis nuthuggers getting defensive. Read what punisher's been saying, ..logical stuff.

 

When I'm on this board, time is what I've got.

So when I see such an obvious and glaring gap in logic, I point it out.

Once again, shredding your 'logic' does not provide any evidence pro or con your point. It's just education.

 

I'd take Bowe in 93.
Then I'd take Lewis in the rematch in 95.

For one thing, amateur fight results are not necessarily indicative of success in the pros
Remember - Henry Tillman beat Mike Tyson twice in the amateurs - then Tyson KO'd Tillman in 1 round in 1990 -
Also, Jorge Luis Gonzalez beat Bowe in the amateurs and then Bowe brutally knocked him out in their pro fight in 95
So I don't think Bowe and Lewis's amateur fight can give us much in terms of who wins at the pro level - Yes Lewis won, but that fight was stopped prematurely (although Lewis was very likely to win a decision)
And Lewis was farther along than Bowe was in 1988 - this was Lewis's second Olympics after all.

Have to remember that most boxing experts thought that Bowe was further advanced than Lewis was in 1992/1993.
Bowe looked tremendous against Holyfield in 92, and dominant against an overmatched (probably shot) Dokes and Ferguson (who unfortunately beat Mercer thus depriving Bowe of fighting a much better fighter in Mercer).
Where as yes Lewis absolutely destroyed Rudduck in 92, but Lewis did look rather ordinary against a badly faded Tony Tucker in 93, and was behind on points to Frank Bruno before coming back and KO'ing him at the end of 93.

Point being, Bowe looked to be the better heavyweight at the time.

Bowe was prime in 93.
Lewis was not.

Lewis's defense was as already stated more eloquently by others was prone to sloppiness at times, as McCall made abundantly clear in 94.
Also Lewis's jab did not have the snap and sharpness as it eventually became under Emanuel Steward. He seemed to paw with it too much before Steward got a hold of him.
No doubt Lewis was a really good, top 5 HW in 93, but I think most would agree he was not in his prime.

Bowe on the other hand was in his prime in 93. Bowe had the better jab than Lewis in 93. Bowe had the better uppercut than Lewis in 93. Bowe absolutely was the better infighter in 93. Bowe's chin was more durable than Lewis's in 93. Bowe's right hand was pretty good too. Bowe also threw better combinations than Lewis in 93. And Bowe absolutely had the stamina to fight a strong 12 rounds as evidenced by his 2 fights against Holyfield.

Lewis did have some advantages. Perhaps the psychological edge given the Olympic win. More concretely, Lewis w/out question had the biggest weapon in the fight - his right hand. Incidentally, I think Lewis was a little to much in love with bombing his right hand in 93 (no doubt boosted by his destruction of Rudduck).

The key is that you have to figure that Eddie Futch, with a prime and focused Bowe coming off the best win of his career, would have gotten Bowe to defend against Lewis's right hand. No doubt Bowe was w/out question inferior defensively to Lewis (as evidenced by way too many opponents having close to 50% connect rate on Bowe). But I would bet that Bowe and Futch would have found a way to somewhat neutralize Lewis's right hand. And one has to remember that Bowe had a pretty strong chin - Golota hit him with some monster shots in both of their fights - and that was a badly faded Bowe, and Golota couldn't knock Bowe out. So I think a prime Bowe can withstand Lewis's punches.

Either way, this is w/out question the biggest missed heavyweight fight perhaps of all time (although if I could only pick one fight to go back and have it would have been Holyfield/Tyson in 91, Bowe/Lewis 93 is 2 for me). It would have been a pretty great fight that I think would have lived up to the hype. W/out question would have been the best big man fight ever. As an aside - whenever I watch Lewis/Kiltschko - I actually get depressed because I imagine a Bowe/Lewis clash being like that fight but a lot better.

So I take Bowe by 8th round TKO in 93 (or UD by 2 or 3 points)

Lewis though absolutely beats Bowe in 95. Lewis with Manny Steward had a better jab and better defense. Bowe was still formidable in 95 (not badly faded like he seemed to be by 96) so Bowe would still be a great opponent. But I take Lewis in 95 by 7th round TKO (or Bowe survives to lose UD by 3 or 4 points).

If Bowe and Lewis fought the 3rd fight in what should have been a trilogy in 96 - Lewis takes out a badly faded Bowe within 4 rounds.

Prime for Prime I take a 97 Lewis over a 92 Bowe.

Fights like these that never happened is why boxing is w/out question the most frustrating sport by far. At its best (Ali/Frazier I, Leonard/Hearns, Hagler/Hearns, Bowe/Holyfield I and II, etc.) boxing is perhaps the greatest sport. But too many times, boxing fans are deprived of great fights because of egos/money/Don King/etc.

Here's my 3 biggest missed heavweight fights of all-time -
1. Holyfield/Tyson in 1991
2. Bowe/Lewis in 1993 and a rematch in 1995
3. Foreman/Holmes in 1977 or 1978

 

Great response. Well thought out. I agree with almost everything you say and don't have the time to answer all of the parts I don't. :yep

All I will add is that I disagree that the stoppage in the Olympics was premature. If it was a pro-fight, yes. But as you point out they are very different sports and for an amateur fight that stoppage was nothing out of the ordinary.

And for every Tyson-Tillman there is a Mosley-Forrest - an amateur fight that shows that one fighter simply has the right style to beat the other, headgear or not.

Not saying that Lewis vs Bowe would play out exactly the same way in the pro's, but you can't just discount an amateur fight as irrelevant.

 

Great post. My only comment is that I think if Bowe thought he could have beaten Lewis he would have fought him. Simple as that. So while you and perhaps many others think Bowe would have won, had they fought, it appears that he himself had a different opinion. In addition, many "experts" also picked Ruddock to beat Lewis before they fought. But nevertheless, it's a balanced view of things if nothing else. :good

 

I cant understan why Bowe was so unwilling to face LL in the early 90's when he seemed the better fighter at the time. Perhaps the defeat at the Olympics? But that seems a little weak.

 

I think Lewis would of outboxed and frustrated him all fight and ko'd him with a late bomb!

 

Previous posters are correct in saying pre-McCall lewis was pretty wreckless, right hand happy and generally not a very polished fighter.

Bowe 1992-94 would have had a good chance vs Lewis

1995 - Lewis wins