Debate: Is it possible that R. Bowe of Nov. 1992 was the best ever for one night?

No. Bowe was not all that great. He's just a guy who had an exciting fight with Evander Holyfield and won. It's just one of those things where those guys meshed and made for some really entertaining fights.
I'm not saying Bowe sucked or anything, He had some tools. He was offensively good at all ranges. A rarity for a big man. But, he also liked to block punches with his face.

 

On their best nigh any former champ is near unbeatable, so you have to look at the intangibles. Bowe was a stupid slob, with no discipline, that didn't like to train. So, the answer is obvious. Almost any other champ on their best night beats riddick bowe on his best night.

 

He looked great and imposing, but still had shoddy defense, and still struggled whenever Holyfield had the presence of mind to jab and be defensively selective.

He shows his greatness and why he's still beatable in the same fight.

 

I'll buy that.. BUT! This was also Bowe's first really huge fight in the spotlight... Bowe had to have had some butterflies in his stomach going into that epic bout with Holy in 1992... However, after a few rds passed, Bowe calmed down and found a groove to work with...

I do believe that Bowe should've KO'd Holy in 1992.... Holy showed grit and heart by lasting out that 10th round, but Bowe seriously should've taken Holy out in round 11.......

MR.BILL:hat

 

He should have, but he himself was also very tired, and very battered. War like that is a TOUGH thing for any fighter. I think the Holyfield series ruined Bowe-He and a very great fighter went toe to toe, and Holyfield was made of harder stuff in terms of his longevity.

Bowe needed a brain, and always has. We were in the amateurs together, and it was his biggest weakness then. He had a talent for fighting certain ways, but he didn't have the defensive skills or presence of mind to not get beaten on.

 

Well, as a pro, Eddie Futch should've worked hard on the defense part of Bowe, but instead Eddie seemed to work on Bowe being a technician with great offense...

Bowe never really took insane punches until he ran into Holy, and later, Golota...

Like Rock Newman and Bert Sugar noted... By 1993, Bowe stopped pumping his jab like a forceful weapon and began slugging more-so without getting behind his jab to lead the way of the path....

MR.BILL:hat

 

The man even threw the jab as a power punch. He never got caught insane because it takes a reasonably good fighter fighting reasonably well to land insane punches. And every time Bowe fought a reasonably good fighter fighting reasonably well, he'd get cracked, regularly.

He could have been great, no question. I've just always seen him as the, boxing heart without the boxing brain. The natural instincts without the natural smarts to go with it. It hurt him when his tremendous natural ability faded.

Eddie Futch is the best trainer of all time, but a trainers ability to make something of nothing is vastly overstated. Bowe never had the brain or the style for great defensive work. Futch could have sharpened the D, but not enough to keep him safe from the wars he always got caught up in. I think Eddie did great with what he had.

 

Two things bother me here.....

Bowe being from Brownsville, New York, and not living a very upscale childhood with money and toys, prolly had very little formal schooling... I doubt Bowe can read or write a complete paragraph without murdering the English language on paper... However, I'm sure Bowe is street-wise and can see a scam or con job coming his way...

Next thing is, just how much time in between fights did Eddie Futch spend with Bowe? You know, lotsa' top trainers allow the assistant trainers to handle the show for the first several weeks of training before they fly in to polish things up...

Hell, Ray Leonard said that Angelo Dundee would come into camp about 10 days before a fight and switch a few things around and then want a huge chunk of cash to operate the corner of the fight.... After the fight with Marvin Hagler, Ray told Dundee to take a walk elsewhere.... BUT! That is a different story.....

Eddie Futch was already in his late 70s when he began working with Bowe.... Bowe needed more time with Eddie, but due to health and age, that was impossible..... And Rock Newman was a great manager of money, but Newman doesn't know **** about boxing.....

MR.BILL

 

I just popped in the fight from 1992........ CLASSIC!

MR.BILLbbb

 

Great fight, too bad Bowe, got fat, lazy and could never fight like that again...
Bowe should have fought Lewis after that but chickened out:-(

 

Lewis was too risky for Bowe in 1993... BUT! Bowe could've earned upward of 20 million bucks for that one fight had he signed on to fight L.L. in Las Vegas... Instead, team Bowe goes ahead and fights "Dokes and Ferguson" in title defenses that paid Bowe 12 million bucks (6 mill for each fight) by HBO... Then Bowe opted for the rematch with Holy that paid him and his team 18 million dollars... Yeah, team Bowe grossed about 30 million bucks in 1993 without fighting the risky Lennox Lewis...
:deal

MR.BILL:hat