How good was Riddick bowe really?

Bowe was an incredibly talented fighter with ATG potential whose peak sadly lasted for 1 night in November 1992.

 

Coetzer was the perfect opponent for a guy like Bowe. A smaller guy who didn't punch very hard, and was easy to hit himself in turn because he relied on his chin as defence. And Bowe still needed to punch Coetzer in the jewels to take the steam out of him.

 

Bowe is overrated. Yes, he's good, but his supporters make him out to be some H2H monster whereas he was not all that. He largely fought smaller guys that couldn't punch. He himself was very hittable. Golota dismantled him from behind the jab and showed that he could be outfought inside as long as you used some head movement. Holyfield was a much smaller dude, fought the wrong fight against Bowe - he should have been technical every time, instead of brawling - and still ran him to the wire. Bowe's resume is more notable for who he didn't fight.

 

Gonzalez,Cooper ,Butler were all punchers.

 

With the right mindset and dedication I think he could have been an all time top ten heavyweight.He was managed by clown and let his appetite rule him, so Futch walked away.

 

Cooper was a journeyman who lost to all good fighters he faced. He was powerful, but he's extremely limited.
Gonzalez had padded record, another journeyman.
Bulter? He was in his second pro fight (Bowe's debut), if that's any example of punchers that Bowe faced then you proved my point.

Bowe's resume is very thin and his reputation is highly overstated by boxing fans. His only sample of size against top tier opponent is Evander fights, which were great but it's not like he run through Holyfield. The rest of his resume is just bad.

 

Bowe knocked out Evander.. who seems to be so many poster's darling.... he was extremely good for a short time period and much like the "lost generation" seemed to let weight problems and outside issues cloud his career.. I wish he had a different manager as well

 

Did I miss something or did Bowe stop Coetzer between the 7th or 8thrd? Coetzer more than likely knew this fight would be his last and best opportunity to become the champ and came in going for it. He deserves credit for that. Sure Bowe could be hit. His defense was average at best, but the result of the fight was Coetzer tried to grab his moment. But ultimately he still got ko'ed.
Your pointing out a weak point in Bowe's fight game to support your agenda. That's ok, if you need to do this. But this can be done with any fighter considered ATG in history, including R.Robinson! But I'll again counter this with what Eddie Futch himself said. " Bowe had the ability to be THE best heavyweight he's trained".
Futch trained 2 Heavyweights considered at the least the top 8-9 in history. What should that tell you about Bowe's overall ability if a man with the background of Futch had that opinion on him?
Which is the main reason I don't like Bowe, because of all that wasted talent.
He severely disappointed Mr.Futch, seriously disgraced himself in my opinion.

 

Riddick Bowe was good and I liked him at the time, but he's also overrated by many if you look at his resume.

He was big and strong, but relied on his size to impose himself on smaller opponents, imo. He was lacking defense and head movement.
He had a pretty good chin and showed heart, but It looked as if he liked to trade punches too much and that's a weakness if you want a long career at the top. I think his team, Rock Newman etc protected him from many of the really big hitters of his day like Lewis, Ruddock, Morrison etc and he didn't meet Tyson, Mercer or Moorer either.
He/his team picked Dokes and Ferguson to defend against. How is that supposed to look if you're thinking of legacy?
Riddick seemed a little slow and heavy on his feet a lot of the time imo. Looking at his struggle against Tubbs which he won in the end, maybe he had a style weakness against good boxers.

Riddick was a very good heavyweight at his best and probably had the potential talent to be a top 10 HW all time, but imo, didn't prove it by his resume.