Bowe vs. Douglass

Riddick Bowe batters Douglas to a mid round stoppage...


Too much is placed on Douglas's once in a career performance against Tyson or Bowe's struggle with the boxer Tubbs, when still a work in progress.. These two performances asside, on an average night in their careers, Bowe is leagues above Douglas.

 

Bowe would be too much for Douglas, i think he takes a late round TKO

 

Tough close fight with Bowe coming out on top and stopping Douglas late. Bowe seems tougher to me and wins the battle of attrition.

 

The Douglas from the Tyson fight is totally overrated.....the reason he looked good because Tyson was lethargic, unconditioned, did not move his head , did not set up shots just wanted to end it with one big bang and Douglas still got knocked down being sloppy..................in other words, Tyson made him look good not the other way around. Many of Tyson previous victims would have beaten him that night. Fact.

There is a reason Team Douglas ran for the hills when it came to a rematch because they knew lightning never strikes twice and took what the tought the easier route in taking on Holyfield when the consenus was that Evander is just a blown up cruiser, same reason Foreman faced him and even admitted in a HBO post fight interview that Holyfield does not punch like a true Heavyweight.

Anyway, Bowe has way too much guts and pride to loose to Douglas, he would take him serious and Futch would get him motivated.

Bowe KO Douglas later part of the fight, he woud pack it in like every single time he had it done before, Family tragedy or not.

 

Douglas had a similer peak size between 89-90 as Bowes.

He consecuatively beat a former world Champion [Berbick] a future world champion [McCall] and the current unbeaten world champion [Tyson]

A 3 fight run better than any 3 fight run of Bowes career

So if anything it was Bowe who had the once in a career performance and once Holyfield adjusted sensibly for the rematch, Bowe lost.

After beating the apparently invincible Tyson this sent shockwaves around the world, Douglas had reached the pinnacle of his career, at 30, there was no way he would ever be able to be anything more than half heartedly motivated for a fight ever again.

But I see no reason why the Douglas of 89/90 would not beat the overrated Bowe.

 

I see Douglas giving Bowe problems for two main reasons: 1) Douglas was much sharper and more precise with his punches, (Bowe had a big tendency to loop punches so someone with a sharp, fast 1-2 can always exploit that) and 2) Bowe had trouble whenever someone could jab with him. Take a sharp look at the second Holyfield fight and see how Holyfield snapping his jab in makes Bowe backing off from establish his own jab.

That said, I think that Bowe at his best is a level above Douglas at his best. While the Douglas we saw against Tyson was remarkable, it also wasn't against the best Tyson. (Note: I'm not one of those idiots who say that Tyson was already past his prime when he fought Douglas, but it certainly wasn't Tyson's best form. Had he been on his best form, I think that he probably overwhelms Douglas in a barnburner). Put him up against the best version of Bowe, and I think Bowe takes him just by being a level higher than Douglas.

Perhaps after finding he can't outjab Douglas Bowe turns it into a brawl and slwoly gets the better of it en route to a decision or late stoppage.

 

I still say Bowe has trouble with a good big man with skills, I think Golota showed this not once but twice so did Tubbs, apart from Holyfield Bowe's resume is a little thin where Douglas defeated better opponents leading up to the Tyson fight. It is a hard one to pick both men have had mental problems look at Bowe never fighting again after Golota and there were big fights out there for him in Lewis, Tyson and another Holyfield the same can be said of Douglas of course Douglas got that twenty million for Holyfield which may have helped retire him.

 

Berbick was shot when he fought Douglas, McCall was a 14-2 nobody who would lose to Orlin Norris right after fighting Buster, and Tyson without Rooney, showed up to give the worst performance of his career.. These fights don't tell me a thing as to why Douglas would beat or even trouble Bowe, who was totally dissimilar to these men in every way. Beating a prime Holyfield in a serious war of attrition was better than anything Douglas ever did, who was known for quitting when the going got tough..

 

Doesnt get much tougher than getting up off the floor against an unbeaten Tyson!

 

crippet is right, Buster had a consistant good run of form during that period in live fights against fighters nobody else wanted. Buster was about the only heavyweight beating at the time rated fighters that year. Where as Bowe got a crack at Hollyfeild coming off piere coetzer and big foot martin, two fights he was suposed to win.

We didnt credit it but Buster got good rounds in over good competition. People rate witherspoon as a great fighter when he was in shape but douglas knocked out a guy who took an in shape spoon to a disputed split verdict during that period. In 1990 buster was a great fighter, we just did not know it.

Tyson faced Bruno and I think truth williams with the same corner team he had with him against Douglas, Tyson was as good for those fights as he was for buster. Tysons prep was always chaotic - its only ever brought up because he lost that time. I read that Tyson claimed he beat Tucker when he had the clap.

 

Noone thought Berbick and Mcall (who was very inexperienced) could beat Douglas. You obviously werent around during this time. They were all part of the Don King group of fighters fighting each other for a title shot.

Douglas was the freshest and most experienced of the group and had better skills than both Berbick and Mcall who did nothing but taking a beating by Tyson in training camps, so it was no surprise that Douglas beat those guys.

 

He had good reason to. He was beating Tyson easily for 8 rounds. Had the knockdown occured earlier in the fight with more time Douglas would have probably stayed down.

 

Yeah and it was clear from the Bruno fight Tyson wasnt the same fighter. He looked pretty bad against Bruno in the opening rounds. Against Williams the fight didnt go any rounds, it was only a minute and a half.

 

Factors to consider.

Douglas wouldnt have his way with Bowe, like he did against Tyson
Bowe never fought a guy with skills and size like Douglas (Tokyo)
Would have been a beautiful boxing match.

Im surprised this fight never happened

If i was Bowes manager, this is a fight in would have taken in 1991ish to try and 'sell' Bowe to the public by beating 'Tyson Conqurer Douglas'.

 

No he beat Berbick with STDS.

Tysons corner was the same, but a year had passed from Bruno to Douglas 89-90, plus the Williams fight didnt last long enough to show us anything. A year of not training very hard will have an affect on anybody, even more so on the heavyweight champion of the world.

Tyson also had about 9 months inactivity from the Spinks to Bruno fight.