Foreman in the 90's

There was some talk at the time of Bowe/Foreman perhaps in China. After Bowe won the crown ringside Lamply ask him about facing Bowe and George he would belly bump Bowe out of the ring.

 

Bowe told the News at the time that George was asking for money to fight him as though he (GF) was champ. Bowe's manager was very cautious about handing out the moolah during RB's title reign, check out the paltry sum Newman offered Lewis to fight him.

It says something that, after Newman was out of the picture, Bowe's camp offered Lewis 5 million to fight (which LL mysteriously turned down).

 

I remember right after Bowe initially won the title he mentioned knocking out George too (in a playful manner) to which Foreman said “I just want to celebrate with you man you owe me a big old ice cream cone and a hamburger” and then Bowe leaned in and kissed him on top of his bald head. To which Lampley said “round 1 begins” Good stuff.

Point being I don’t remember Foreman ever displaying that same desire to fight Bowe as he did Holyfield or Moorer. Though i’m sure there were talks, most everybody wanted to fight Foreman he was a huge draw he meant MONEY.

You never knew what was what with George he said all kinds of stuff back then lol.

 

Big George watched Bowe give one of the greatest performances in the heavyweight division (Holy I). I doubt he really believed he could beat him. I think Steward-era Lewis would have outboxed GF, too...not so sure pre-Steward Lewis would make it nine rounds against Big George, though. That era Lewis was more headfirst and reckless, and that's a BAD idea against any era of Foreman.

 

Remember though that Bowe wasnt interested in fighting the best contenders. He faced Ferguson and Dokes. He was milking it. George would have been a live dog vs Bowe but much more dangerous than those guys. Also more lucrative. Bowe would give Foreman opportunities to land and that means he has a chance. If Foreman can hit you he has a chance.

 

Foreman's effort against Briggs was really impressive.
Briggs had a record on paper approaching what Young George had at that point in his career, onoy one loss, 29 wins, a really good amateur career, ended his career at 60-6-1 with a record for first round KO's, & clearly a steroid cheat.

Foreman landed more punches & more power punches & wore the young lion down with his power.
I recall watching it on HBO at the time; they led off with a feature about how his wife wanted him retired & how nobody weanted him to get hurt...
But it was not Foreman who was in danger.
Two judges had Foreman down by 4 points!

I think that in a peculiar way "the fix was in" to give Briggs the decision, just to get Foreman to retire!
WHo was affable afterwards, & said that he would have done more at the end if he knew which way it was going.

Now Briggs is 48, just months away from Foreman's age then.
Who could have done that well against Briggs at that age, deserving to win?

 

Even today George isn’t too fussed about this robbery.

Someone said to him what we all think about him being robbed on his Twitter account and George said “Thanks but it doesn’t matter. It’s only a game anyway”. A great attitude to have.

 

Oh come on now mate. Any version of Lewis would've bludgeoned Foreman. It would have to be a Moorer type punch on the button, which Lennox has been shattered twice by single shots. So Foreman has the proverbial puncher's chance...

But prime Foreman was all wrong for Lewis.

 

You have a great point @Sangria and I'm completely with you in regard to the prime George handily beating Lewis.

I basically meant what you said, about the puncher's chance. Except I think Lewis was prideful and careless enough, in the early 90s, to make it more likely for him to get hit with that chance punch. LL was a really great fighter, but he did have a self-defeatingly arrogant, headfirst attitude at times. It even haunted him when he was with Steward. I see LL making light of the older Foreman, perhaps even mugging. That's a bad idea for any Foreman incarnation from 1969-1995.

 

Yeah Dokes was a terrible Title defense. Ferguson only got the shot because he beat Mercer. So Bowe was going to fight Mercer that would’ve been a respectable title defense. Ferguson winning was very unexpected at the time as you remember. I was stunned but happy for Jesse at the time, but it obviously was another cake walk for Bowe.

 

I always wanted to see Bowe/Mercer. That was a natural fight. Ray was very vocal about Bowe being a quitter or not having what it takes mentally to be a champion. Riddick proved him wrong but then proved him right.

 

The Dokes defense was same as Bowe's "fight" against Pinklon: Holyfield already beat them.

I agree, a Mercer defense would have been far more interesting.

 

Yeah there seemed to be some bad blood back then with them having been Olympic roommates and like you said Mercer calling Bowe out on his fighting guts. Do you remember when Rock Neuman (Bowes Promoter) and Marc Roberts (Mercer’s Promoter) got into it on Tuesday Night Fights during Bowes interview after fighting Phil Brown. So there was heat between the two even back then. I’ve watched that so many times. That one goes down as one of those missed opportunity fights.

 

Vaguely but ofcourse I remember the thing with Tillery. Rock Newman was always in the middle of something. I followed Bowe's rise up the ranks. He was fighting often on network TV and it was fascinating to see Eddie Futch move him along. I was impressed with his talent and skill. Eddie polished a jewel of a heavyweight. The expiration date was too soon.

 

Before the second flight with Holyfield during Riddick Bowe’s ring walk Lampley was talking about the new house that Riddick Bowe had built. This extravagant mansion, and the one thing that stuck out was that he built a GIANT KITCHEN in his bedroom!!! The dude obviously liked to eat, and I think that played a role in his short prime, we also know he probably didn’t have the best work ethic either. But the dude had a truckload of guts and was one hell of a fighter for a bit.