not it aint a duck he fought hollifield and hollifield was still good and they made a good run out of that. Lewis wont the man back then he didnt even footmovement yet
If that wasn't a 'duck', I don't know what is....I remember when he took the belt and literally through it in the trash rather then follow through with the commitment to face Lewis. That was an embarrassment to the title, 'heavyweight championship of the world'.
Lewis recounted a story in an interview how him and his manager Ogun went to negotiate with Bowe's manager in order to decide on the specifics of the split of all revenues. When they all sat down the first thing Bowe's guy said was "Look guys, the fight is on no problems, there's just one thing. Riddick will get 90% of the purse". Lewis said at that point him and his manager got up and left the room. The rest is history.
All too often fighters get accused of ducking, but in this case it is very hard to argue a case for Bowe. Personally I don't think Bowe was scared of Lewis and would have fought him if it was totally up to him. But Rock Newman clearly did not want his fighter to go anywhere near Lewis, especially after the way Lewis took apart Ruddock in such a devastating manner. Also Bowe only got the shot at Holyfield based upon the fact he would face the winner of Lewis/Ruddock. Hence why he was forced into a position of fighting Lewis next or giving up the title.
Wow, I didn't know that happened! :shock: That makes it even more Riddickulous... well karma caught up with him!
Starting with this: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNp12msEWqU&p=E7FDE8ADDF2918D2&playnext=1&index=36"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNp12msEWqU&p=E7FDE8ADDF2918D2&playnext=1&index=36[/ame] And ending Bowe throwing the belt to trashcan. Couldn't find that video, pretty weird.
I wasn't watching boxing by that time to be honest but I've watched the trilogy with Holi and I can't believe that fighter of Bowe caliber was scared. It was maybe his manager as someone stated
Some say it wasnt Bowes decision . He put the belt in the bin , so i think to say he wanted the fight is rubbish.
I love the way Lewis says 'I'm gonna knock you out' calm as can be. Predicted the duck pretty well there.
i'm a big fan of both bowe and lewis. i think the sad thing is that bowe might have won that fight but i think rock newman wanted to make money and considered fighting lewis too big a risk to his cash cow.
The reason this is considered a duck is because there was a signed legal agreement in place that the winner of the Bowe/Holyfield would fight the winner of Lewis/Ruddock fight. Bowe won the fight between himself and Holyfield and Lewis won the fight between himself and Ruddock, but instead of honoring this agreement, Bowe decided to give up his title, rather than face Lewis. Bowe may or may not have been scared of Lewis, that I don't know, but in terms of ducking an opponent, it's as bad as it gets.
it was a duck dumb ass he fought holyfield first HBO set up a "final 4 tourney" lewis vs ruddock holyfield vs bowe winner to fight each other bowe broke contracts and gave up the belt