At the time of the first Golota fight and onwards? Bowe's previous fight had him KO'ing Holyfield, and his three fights prior to that one had him beating three undefeated fighters. He came in pretty damned heavy for the first Golota fight, but in the second he dropped almost 20 pounds down to 235, the lightest he had been since the first Holyfield fight in 92'. I really don't buy that his weight changes made him a shot fighter considering at the time of the first Golota fight he had only been fighting for... what... seven years? Some seem to think Golota was simply the better big man and fought a good fight sans his low blows. Regardless of Bowe losing almost 20 pounds for the second fight, he was still dominated. Thoughts? Can a fighter really be shot after fighting for only 7 years?
Just look at Fernando Vargas, maybe a little over 7 years but was ruined against Trinidad after only 3 years of fighting.
Bowe ate himself out of his prime, but he wasn't shot. No way, no how. He certainly was after the two fights, though.
I know its hard to believe a HW can be shot after 7 fights. But I think in his case it was true, at least if you look at how he performed compared to Holyfield I. Despite the light weight of 235 lb he had no reflexes, no accuracy, wasn't able to let his punches go - all the things we associate with a shot fighter. I take bad and good from these performances as they relate to Bowe. Bad in that it knocks his longevity which is an important resume criteria. But, in an odd sense I learned something good about Bowe from those Golota fights because it showed just how damn tough he was to hang in and take more and more punishment until the point where Golota simply imploded. Amazing stuff, but it didnt do much good for Bowe's health long term...
I don't believe he was shot. I think Golata just had his number. Golata may not have walked away with a victory, but didn't really look like the loser in those fights. Bowe's jab has always been just pretty good, not great. Holyfield was able to out jab him at times. This is because jabs are about timing, and being straight to the point. Golata's jab was straighter to the point in his fights with Bowe. Golata was throwing shorter punches, moving around the flat footed Bowe, and only lost because he just loves to lose it and make dumb mistakes when he is facing someone that is extremely tough.
If you dont go to the gym enough and train right the skills are bound to erode. That might be it. Bowe looked sloppy in the 3rd Holyfield fight. Really, Bowe only ever looked a really hot fighter in one fight - the 1st Holyfield fight - and maybe Evander made him look better than he was by playing to his strengths. Bowe was very good that night but still got hit a lot. Crushing a washed-up Dokes and J.Ferguson proved little. Bowe was at his worst (until the blubbery comeback) against Golota, and Golota was at his best. But I'm not convinced Bowe was ever great. He had the makings of a great one, but regressed when he should have been peaking.
I think Bowe was declining slowly already after his first fight with Holy. You can see the difference in rematch, and although he won the 3rd fight I'd atribute it rather to Holy hepatisis than anything else (Bowe was also down, Holy just lacked the energy to finish him). Another thing is that he didn't take Golota seriously and probably didn't train too much for the 1st fight (he was over 250).
I remember the fight against Golota. I was just amazed by how bad Bowe looked. And in the rematch, where I'd expected him to get his act together and crush Golota, he was even worse, if possible. But the weirdest thing was Golota's persistent fouling, even when he was winnning. I've never seen anything like it. Those were two strange fights. Funny, how before that fight most people thought that he and/or Tyson would dominate the division for years. How just three fights (Bowe's fights against Golota, and Tyson's against Holyfield) can change things, huh?
That's true. Most people figured Bowe to be the number 1 fighter in the world before he faced Golota, with Tyson looking some way back to his best with the win over Bruno. Truth is, Bowe had probably faded a bit in 1994-1995 too. The 3rd Bowe-Holyfield fight looks like TWO old fighters, really. But the only other guys out there were Lewis, McCall, Bruno (who had all beat each other) and old George Foreman, who held the linear title. Tyson's release from jail came at the right moment for another big-money division clean-up for Mikey , and it turned out to be the right moment for Holyfield too when they called the washed-up warrior in to fight Tyson and he proceeded to rip Mikey to pieces. But now we're just gettin' nostalgic ........
Sorry, but I couldn't agree less. In the second fight with Golota, Bowe was throwing 53 punches a round, and was landing 45% of them. That's not a shot fighter. I can agree with you that Bowe's reflexes weren't the same, but they weren't far off and his stamina and accuracy did not seem diminished significantly at all. Past prime, sure. Not shot.
He wasn't what he was a few years earlier, but "shot" is a very specific term. He was shot in 2004, he wasn't shot in 1996. Golota took a great fighter who had been systematically destroying himself, and then finished the job in just 16 brutal rounds.
Certainly not 'shot' but defo past his peak nonetheless (ie: not quite as well conditioned- certinaly not in the 1st fight). Bowe always had the tools and power to beat Golota but never really had the belief and mental fortitude to do so (certainly not by '96). As it were whatever the case Bowe was a great fighter for a very short time and got taken appart by the first real big guy, with his fair share of skill that he faced.
