Bowe vs Foreman in 1996

Bowe would have blown old Foreman out of the water. Foreman wasn't walking through anyone close to his own size in that second career. There is a reason bald headed George never fought Witherspoon, Bruno, Ruddock, Lewis, old man Larry, Grant or Golota and sought only lighter looking blown up guys like Moorer, Holyfield, Stewart and Morrison.

Super heavyweights stop looking super against guys their own size.

 

96 Bowe was a fat, sloppy mess of a fighter getting the last of his braincells pulverized by Andrew Golota. I'd take end of the career Foreman that schooled Briggs to win.

 

I don't see it that way at all. Golota was all wrong for Bowe in much the way Bowe was all wrong for Foreman.

Much is made of how good Bowe looked beating up Holyfield with every conceivable advantage. Against Golota those advantages are taken away, he is left with a live world class opponent with drive and ambition who is closer to his own size. It is fair to suggest Bowe v Golota simply provided an example of how Bowe fared in that situation.

Bowe looked sloppy against a lot of guys many times before he fought Golota but his size always got him through. Herbie Hide is one example among the few world class guys Bowe actually beat. Bowe was no accident waiting to happen. That is certainly not the opinion going into the first Golota fight.

Had Bowe been matched with Foreman in place of Golota then Bowe would have been an overwhelming favourite. It would have been seen as a mismatch in Bowes favour..and justifiably so.

 

It would be foreman v stewart mark 2. They would clash early on but it would be bowe hurt, maybe even dropped. But bowe gets up and gets back in to the fight. By mid way both men are looking like the walking wounded. Last couple of rounds and bowe would be rocking foreman all over the ring. Final bell and its split decision in favour of foreman. Very unpopular verdict.

 

That's the way it would end if Bowe was only the same size as Stewart but as we all know Bowe presented the exact sized heavyweight George actively avoided. Foreman knew who had his number. He reckoned he could give away age providing he was not giving away size. George never gave away size. He knew what he was doing. The closest to a calculated risk George ever made was taking on Cooney but even then he knew how inactive Gerry was and how he fared against a much smaller Michael spinks. George knew he could knock out anybody spinks could knock out. Foreman was very clever picking who he would fight. Nobody knocked out Bowe, he was active and he was big and game. There is no way Foreman would take on a big guy potentially as heavy as he was who was game.

 

See your point but remember by 96 bowe was looking past his best. He'd been dropped by holyfield, something that never happened to foreman. If bowe had faced George just a few years before I would put money on bowe stopping him, but by this point foreman had a chance of hurting him. I'm not saying foreman would ko bowe but he may have dropped him. It would be a tough test for either man imo.

 

I can't see any result other than Bowe winning by hard knockout. The bald version of George always navigated away from the best heavyweights. Admitted as much. Foreman would have been found out if he had fought any of them because he was outside of his own era and needed to be selective. It seems obvious to me.

Even facing Holyfield at the time he did Evander was not regarded the best heavyweight in the world at that time. This was because Lewis and Bowe were coming up, Ruddock was still in the mix before Lewis beat him, Tucker too. George wanted none of those guys and there was no evidence Holyfield was a match for any of them either. This is why Evander was regarded as a kind of cheese champion back then.

The worst version of Bowe was always younger than Foreman and every bit as big and game. George wanted no part of that. He knew his limitations.

If George had to climb over real contenders to get to Moorer he never would have got that fight and became champion again. Look at who was ahead of him, he never would have made it.

 

I must be honest , I actually wanted him to retire after the stewart ft. Yes he'd won the fight but the state of his face after! I couldn't see it ending happily if he carried on. But of course he did. He didn't have the best of reputation s when he beat moorer then defended against second tier guys.

 

Bowe would have really hurt old George. He would have looked huge plus the fact that George really only beat smaller men when he came back.

 

Absolutely. George showed heart in that fight. I was also surprised he continued. I take nothing away from him for ultimately reaching his goal however selective and limited he was in achieving it.

All the same, at no point was bald George the best in the world, and he would have needed to be in order to beat the worst version of Bowe.

 

Exactly right. The bottom line is he only beat smaller men.

 

I don't really agree that Bowe would brutalize Foreman. George was selective with who he fought, but Bowe really wasn't that much bigger than George. He was an inch or two taller, but George was a big 6'3-6'4. Bowe also was there to be hit, and it goes without saying that Foreman had the power to hurt anyone whoever walked the Earth.

Bowe would probably win an 8-4 type decision by outworking Foreman, but it would be a very difficult fight for both, even in 1996 when Foreman had clearly declined even from the Holyfield fight. His jab was hard enough to make it difficult for Bowe to mount his own offence and Foreman had the chin to take a punch and return fire. George had more than enough strength to compete with any heavyweight ever, and I think it would negate whatever size advantage Bowe brought to the table. Even though Bowe was 6'5, he tended to end up in close, which is where George would be landing his thudding body shot and would be clubbing him with other short punches.

I see Bowe landing more hard punches but also getting rocked and being forced to dig in to get the win. Basically winning through capitalizing on George being too slow to land enough hard punches to swing the rounds in his favor. Bowe had more in the tank and would be getting the better of exchanges with his superior hand speed and by being able to commit to throwing more whenever things got heated.

Not so much of a case of Bowe being a better fighter or even a matter of having Foreman's number through styles as much as it is that Foreman was simply too old and too shop worn to give enough effective pressure to get the win. I still think he'd see the final bell and would have rocked Bowe on a few occasions.

 

In reality he beat Shannon Briggs in his last fight. Briggs not a great figher but pretty good and far from small.

 

Golota was the best in the world?