Rid**** Bowe is one of the most enigmatic heavyweights out there when it comes to head to head ability. This thead is a critical look on his performance against various opposition throughout his career. His career as a boxer is defined by one great win that glaringly stands out among all others. He handed Evander Holyfield his first loss in a bout that wasn't even particularly competitive, rocking him senselessly and winning a lop-sided decision. This single win, when considering the dominance should put him high up on any head to head list, right? Well, lets look at Holyfield. Evander had just grown into the heavyweight division, weighing a mere 205 pounds coming into the fight with Bowe. His strategy was to attack like a bull and get his opponent out of there, because hey, it was paying the bills. Bowe, standing 6'5'' and 235 pounds, had little trouble manhandling the much smaller Holyfield, putting him in line for a devastating array of surprisingly effective inside hooks and uppercuts. Bowe had GREAT in-fighting abilities for a man his size. Holyfield tried to slug, and he was outslugged. Left with no plan B, he was attacking vigorously but to no avail. He fought Bowes fight and lost. In the rematch, he was bigger, weighing 217 pounds, with Emanuel Steward in his corner forging a master strategy. Carefully picking his shots and attacking intelligently behind a quick jab, Holyfield boxed, and he won. ****yzing this material, I've pinned a few glaring weaknesses that should be considered when it comes to Bowe in H2H match-ups. 1. Defense and chin Bowes defense was his offense. The man had blurred speech after 2 fights. He liked to slug a bit too much. Holyfield had rocked Bowe quite a bit in their encounters, even dropping him. Now the thing with Holyfield was, he didn't have genuine heavyweight power at that point. His counters were surprisingly sharp and his combinations were quick and punishing, but he was no Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis or Razor Ruddock. Bowe had few elite punchers on his resume, and for a reason -- he was battered from pillar to post by the one superheavyweight he ever fought, Golota. He didn't respond well to the punches of Herbie Hide. He avoided Lennox Lewis who stopped him in the amateurs. He was knocked down twice by Aleksandr Miroshnichenko in the Olympics. Bowe didn't have the best of chins, and his lack of defense hurt him even more in this regard. 2. Giving up size (not fighting tall) Bowe admitted, after his fight with Golota that he was perplexed fighting a man his size with a good jab. Bowe, who had the physical dimensions to fight like a giant, never learned how to properly. He had a good jab which he underused 100% of the time and he had trouble against the few boxers he fought, most notably Tyrell Biggs and Tony Tubbs who both were extremely competitive on the scorecards. ----------------- Considering all this, I think one should take into consideration that Bowes fights with Holyfield aren't representative of his true capabilites against all styles and types. The glimpses of him fighting elite punchers and boxers show a much more vulnerable fighter that Evander might have not been able to expose all by himself. Rid**** was still great, but no fighter gets a pass due to only one fight and he should be no exception.
Good ****ysis. I'm one of the guys that thinks Bowe is pretty overrated and this due to him protecting his record. If he'd fought Lewis then we would have had a good gauge for where he stood. But I think Lewis whoops him.
While much of this is true, it should be remembered he's the best infighting SHW of all time. Yes his defense was his offense, but it was a damned good one. I think Lewis beats him but the rest he probably beats. He was past his best and out of shape by the time he faced Golota.
Lewis was just as dangerous on the inside with his uppercuts, Bowe was the more busier fighter though.
Holyfield was fighting the perfect fight in the 1st round, he got fired up in the 2nd round after being accidently butted. Not often Evander came off second best after a head clash... Go to 6:50 of the video and Bowe's head makes contact with Holyfield's chin, ****es him off big time and they go at it hammer and tongs. http://youtu.be/WPejZhE6cq0
You nailed it. At his very best, Bowe was an excellent offensive fighter ( And rare in-fighter ) fine tuned by Eddie Futch. But his defense, focus outside the ring, and psycho manager Rock Newman were problems. I agree Bowe was " protected " from big punchers. Bowe was supposed to fight Tommy Morrison after Morrison defeated Foreman, but his manager had second thoughts for two reasons. 1 ) Morrison was a puncher. I'd pick Bowe, but the first 5 rounds anything can happen! 2 ) Newman wanted Bowe to be the " next Ali " and embrace the most radical parts of politics. The people around Newman, according to Morrison's manager Bill Clayton didn't want to risk losing to a white guy I think Lewis would have dusted Bowe as a pro post 1994.
Lewis had a great uppercut but he himself states he wasn't comfortable inside, Bowe was. Bowe could put together combinations inside, something Lewis wasn't too good at. He had short left hooks to the head and body and shorter overhand rights. Lewis can knock Bowe out as long as he doesn't get foolish but Bowe is the better in fighter