How would a prime Bowe have fared against the Klitschkos?

He's lose to both, unless he fought an early version of Wlad, then he has a chance of a KO.

 

:deal

 

Prime Bowe got the hell beat out of him by Golota. The brothers are lightyears ahead of Golota...

 

Bowe was prime for all of two fights, however in one of these he defeated a prime Holyfield. This is a better win than either Klitschko has. As I've said before, if the Klitschko's face an elite opponent like Bowe, who is their size, they will get beaten. When they can't jab, jab and grab their opponent, they will get exposed for having no inside game.

Vitali got exposed against Lennox, whilst outboxing (an overweight and past prime) Lennox for the first two rounds from a distance, Vitali was winning. Then Lennox proceeded to walk him down, and beat him up, Lennox roughed him up and threw uppercuts. Vitali was getting worn down, and by the 6th round, was on shaky legs. He cannot fight on the inside, and we saw in the fight, where he'd get caught by monster uppercuts because all he can do on the inside is clinch.

With Wlad, he'd be in an even worse situation, as soon as Bowe started landing combinations, Wlad would be in all kinds of trouble, and Bowe would be able to jab his way inside, so don't tell me he won't land on Wlad.

The Klitschko's are great fighters, anyone who watches them can see that. But if you look at the competition they've dominated, these guys have practically been tailor made for them. Small HW's, many blown up cruiserweights who simply do not have the size to make them fight their fight. Wlad's best wins are over e.g. Chagaev, who's 6ft1, Ibragimov who's 6ft 2, Sam Peter and David haye who are below 6ft3. Likewise with Vitali, who when he faced an elite fighter who was his size, he got walked down and brutally beaten up, stopped inside 7 rounds. They never faced Valuev (who is by no means great), which would have been interesting to see how they would have dealt with having to face an opponent with a size advantage over them.

 

Who will alow him to utilize his inside skills?

 

Why do so many ignorant people think Bowe was in his prime when he fought Golata?

Go watch Bowe in '92 against Holy I, Dokes & Ferguson, that's Bowe at his best.

He was too well rounded & talented a fighter to lose to either brother.

 

Good post, especially the bolded part. Bowe was better inside than Lewis & had a brutal uppercut which Vitali would get caught with repeatedly.

 

No!

Its the people who use Holyfield as a barometer for Bowes ability that are doing that!!

How about the Bowe who scraped through against Tubbs - Or the one who was out on his feet and getting beaten off Herbie Hide [Until Hide decided to go toes to Toe]

Shouldnt Bowe have a loss against Mathis?? If not maybe the Golota fights should be NC as well

 

No doubt.

More or less any contender from any era would do so.

Save those who fought them for real, that is.

 

Futch once said that Bowe had the potential to be the best heavyweight he ever trained. Prime Bowe, against Holyfield, was an incredible fighter.

Wlad lost to Sanders and Brewster. Vitali has 100% loss record against world class fighters.

 

And still had almost none footwork nor outside game.

 

Laughable & ridiculous. :nut

Go watch Bowe fight when he was near his best & see if you agree with that.

 

Bowe would try to get inside against both Klits.
The question is, having a proven leaky defense, could he do it without being bombed out ?

It's true the 2 Holyfield wins mean more than any oponnents both brothers fought.

But even in these wins, Bowe absorbed a terrific shellacking, which probably caused his premature decline. Even before winning the title, Bowe had some dubious moments vs Coetzer and Tubbs where he got caught clean and lost his cool. What happens when he does the same vs the Klits ?

I believe Vitali wins a close decision and survives some shaky later rds. Too strong mentally and too akward.

I would have to give Bowe the win by KO vs Wlad, who can't hold a punch, and Bowe would need only to land once to completely turn the fight around.

But then again, Wlad did absorb some Haye bombs without going down. And Wlad has monster power in his shots.

I would have given Haye a reasonable chance vs Bowe, seeing Hide almost derailed him.

Incidentally, Vitali effortlessly destroyed Hide .

 

Bowe at 6'5 inches and 235 pounds, hits significantly harder than Haye, who came up from cruiserweight and weighed about 215 pounds. Also, Haye was not throwing with full force due to his toe injury, and was lunging from a distance, punching upwards. Even still, he managed to visibly rock Wlad in the 12th, and Wlad held on for dear life and was given more time by the ref to recover.

Incidentally, Wlad landed his own right hands on Haye, and couldn't even KD the significantly smaller man. I don't think Wlad's hurting Bowe, and I don't think he can take Bowe's uppercuts and power shots on the inside. Once again, the important point I made earlier is how the Klitschko's opponents have been tailor made for them.

 

The hell?