Bowe vs Foreman in 1996

Golota did not beat Bowe.

Had he beat Bowe fairly and stopped him, I believe Golota would have then been regarded the guy to beat in order to be regarded the best out there -at that time. As I remember, it almost went that far anyway. People were saying if Golata just kept his cool and stopped hitting low he might just be the best out there. Of course this was before Lewis demolished him.

 

I agree. In 96, Bowe was close to shot.

 

He did fought and destroyed Cooney though

 

Golota was all over him like a fat kid on a cupcake. I'd think this was a good example of Bowe at his worst for obvious reasons. Ironically i think comeback Foreman (good version) would have beaten Golota. Could be wrong.

My point is i don't believe you had to be the best in the world to beat the worst version of Bowe. The Bowe that fought Golota would have been beaten by quite a few i reckon. The way a healthy Holyfield went against Tyson leads me to believe he would have beaten the version of Bowe we saw just after Holyfield was stopped by him.

 

Sure Bowe was there to be hit but nobody ever missed Foreman either. Bowe landed more punches per round than Foreman ratio-wise and he hit a whole lot harder than Alex Stewart did. I shudder to think of Bowe scoring as many punches on old George as Stewart, Moorer and Holyfield did. I think it's acceptable to assume Bowe lands more punches on George. Foreman has a punchers chance but nobody can give away so many extra free shots against a guy like Bowe.

 

Bowe was regarded the best in the world when he met Golota. No matter how bad he looked taking that pounding, going into that Golota fight Bowe had beat every man he fought and was coming off his best win knocking out Holyfield

There's a lot of smaller guys the worst version of Bowe would still beat. Nobody looks good taking a beating. Sometimes it's worth giving credit to the guy who made him look like the worst version of himself. Nobody predicted a "worst version" beforehand.

There is a good argument Bowe was found out in that fight. He had looked great whilst avoiding Lewis then wound up against a talented young guy as big as he was, who was unbeaten over more than 20 fights, and was given a beating. twice.

 

What's the good version of bald Foreman? He was always old, selective and often undeserving of big fights.

He could not decisively beat Alex Stewart, Lou Saverese and Axel Shultz. This is B-list fare. The best performance bald Foreman ever put in was against Pierre Coetzer. Nobody ever talked up a guy who's best performance was against Coetzer.

 

You do realize that Bowe was close to shot in the Golota fights? No balance, deterioated technique, no timing, weight issues. He was light years removed form the version who fought Holy twice.

 

And it was only realised how "shot" Bowe was once Golota started hitting him...what does that tell you?

Bowe looked sloppy against Mathis jnr, he looked sloppy against Hide. He still won. Bowe was coming off a KO win over Holyfield (that Lewis never managed) going into the Golota fight.

Bowe looked as good as anytime after the first Holyfield win whilst beating Donald and Gonzalez. You could argue those wins over Donald and Gonzalez were better performances than pre championship fights Bowe had with Tony Tubbs and Pierre Coetzer!

 

Unbelievable, the out of shape, shot bowe who got trashed by golota being favored over george? Lmao. Talk about bias.

 

Bald George was never on the level of the top tier heavyweights. That is an actual a fact. Regaining the title is a monumental feat until you see where we regarded all the players at that time.

In truth bald George was outclassed by Holyfield and that was the only fight he had at elite level in his campaign as a veteran novelty act. Moorer was Certainly not considered the best heavyweight in the world at any point. He was considered an unlikely champion who jinxed Evander.

South paw Moorer May have wound up with the title through more to Holyfield losing rather than him winning and by then Lewis had the WBC part of the belt anyway due to Bowe trashing it before losing to Holyfield.

So here we have Foreman, an unlikely champion, the guy who lost to Axel Schultz according to many observers. Wouldn't you back a shot Bowe (if he even was shot before facing Golata) versus Axel Shultz? Would you back Schulz versus Holyfield whom Bowe just knocked out or Donald or Gonzalez even?

If you were there at the time nobody would back Schulz to beat Gonzalez, Donald or especially not Holyfield. It is ridiculous, but no more than picking bald Foreman to win those fights, let alone Bowe himself. To give George a chance he has to be favourite in all those match ups. He never would have been.

 

You can pick apart foremans resume all you want, it doesnt change the fact bowe was washed up against golota (Who was B level at best) and looked horrible.

This is like picking the Ali of the Holmes fight over Gerry Cooney.

 

Are you saying Foreman absolutely couldn't defeat the Bowe of the Golota fight or Golota?

 

That's precisely what I am saying because there is nothing on bald Foremans 1996 resume that could point to him beating a current rated 240lb unbeaten heavyweight.

 

Are you suggesting coming right off his best win, a knockout over Holyfield, Bowe was exactly where Muhammad Ali was stepping into the ring with Larry Holmes? Bowe even knocked Golota down and broke his jaw in the rematch.

If Bowe was so washed up Why was Bowe the favourite over Golota for both fights if that was the case?

Nobody regarded Bowe "washed up" until Golota washed him up.