If Tyson & Bowe had fought around 1996-1997

Tyson would be bouncing bombs off Bowe until he went down or the ref decides to stop it.

 

Bowe was still technically way better than Tyson in 1996. He would have been able to exploit all those mistakes Tyson was making, falling in with wild power shots etc. Bowe could take some punishment and he would be catching Tyson with uppercuts. Bowe was also very physical so he would rough Tyson up just like Evander did.

Bowe was getting beat up by Golota because he was chasing Golota and getting beat to the punch. Tyson would be coming after Bowe so Bowe would be able to fight that type of fight better. Bowe was physically on the way out, but Tyson was not very good from a technical standpoint. I say Bowe rises to the occasion and stops Tyson in similar fashion that Evander did.

 

Tyson would KO Bowe - Bowe very hittable and there is a reason he kept away from elite level punchers.
Prime for prime, Bowe was far too hittable to beat Tyson

 

Tyson was an elite level puncher when he punched in combination. The 96 version was a one shot haymaker.

Bowe took those kind of shots plenty of time during his career.

 

I'm sort of leaning towards Bowe as well. While Riddick was diminished by 1996, so was Tyson. And using Golata as a gauge to make a pick doesnt' work for me, due to the fact that 1. Golata had the right mechanisms for landing on Bowe with a longer reach than Tyson and a very strait left jab and 2. he fought dirty in both fights with low blows that I think took their toll as the fight went on.. Mike could certainly have pulled it off but I don't know if he should be the favorite around that period. He'd need a knockout, especially at that stage in his career, and Bowe wasn't a man with a track record of being stopped..

 

Riddick Bowe was weight drained in the rematch vs Golota.

He had lost a ridiculous amount of weight in afew weeks. Just totally went about the fight preparation in a ******ed way.

 

Tyson by stoppage

 

Sorry , Golata never had a prime against top level opposition,, he had success against a unmotivated and undertrained Bowe but could not take the heat and fouled out . Fact.

Bowe was so far gone in the rematch that Eddie Futch refused to train him......and Golata still fouled out. Fact.

No low blows /fouls in either of their fights and Golata gets laid out and most likely he quits. lol, quit he did in two fights, but in all seriousness , he fouled because Riddick did not go away and kept on coming, Golata's answer to not get KO'ed. Fact.

Hell, he quit against a stoned not firing on all cylinders Tyson.......to make a long story short, Golata is subpar at best.

 

His defense was never ever A level. Anytime he fought the big hitters he sure didn't look comfortable in there and he has those early koby results on his ledger. He matched up far better with the boxers and he really never did face too many big hitters, did he? When he did, he pretty matched the results of Kenny Norton. Brewster was the first puncher in a long long time.
He held those hands low and was reachable and easy to hit with right hands. And when he did get hurt, he did not react well and certainly could not fight smart and did not handle pressure well. Just too many warts to be A level talent compare to the division's best. B level and that's pretty much the way his career played out.

But Bowe was no big hitter and had to land lots of combos himself to get anything done. that's why Andrew matched up better and was able to hang in there. Or Ruiz or Byrd. Replace those boxer guys with the hitters and finishers. Nobody was going to pick Golata in a Lewis rematch, were they?

 

Bowe leaves himself way too open, u dont do that with a guy like Tyson.

I see a longer version of the second Bruno fight, Tyson thrown lots of home run shots and landing on Bowe, who doesnt have the best of defences. Or Tyson runs out of gas late and Bowe stops him

But how much can we question Tyson stamina? he was tired in the first Holyfield fight, but Holyfield always had Tysons number and would always be a difficult fight for him. Holyfield fought the perfect fight.

Could Bowe fight the fight Holyfield did?

 

Bowe was too easy to hit in his prime, by 96 he was a walking punch bag.

Tyson early/mid ko.

 

Bowe didnt look like any kind of spartan against Holyfield. The writing was on the wall long before the Golota fights. His fitness between fights was getting worse and worse.

 

Hmm, thats an interesting take, although I think both Steward and Lewis recognized Golota's fragile mindset because of the way he melted down in both fights and sent Lewis out there to exploit it very quickly.

After the Lewis fight, everyone did it to Golota. Perhaps if Bowe just bumrushed him, Golota would have folded in the same manner, but Bowe boxed him and allowed him to gain confidence.

Lewis was very smart recognizing some of the inexperience and mental weaknesses in some of the younger fighters he faced and he did a good job of taking advantage of it. Mike Grant, Andrew Golota, Shannon Briggs, even Vitali Klitschko. He knew if he jumped on these guys with a lot of pressure they didnt have the experience of knowing how to deal with it.