Is Bowe in your top 20 heavyweights list

He is in

 

I've never actually compiled a top 20..I find it impossible to compare from such disparate eras, I mean how do you compare a Marciano to a BGF for example ? It's like comparing F1 cars from yesterday to today's...I suppose you can compare achievement and comparative skills , but I find it hard especially people I didnt see fight in my lifetime as it's hard to have a correct context.
For what it's worth I would deffo have Holyfield highish on my list, if I made one, so Bowe must be top 20 i guess.
It's easy to forget he only had one defeat.

 

All true. But imo Holy never beat Bowe (though the second fight was close). And I saw the Golota fights as two losses for Bowe...no way he won those fights imo, he got his ass kicked hard.

 

Bowe at 21.

 

If were talking pure ability, he could be top ten. But his lackadaisical training habits drops him just outside the top 20 in my opinion.

 

not sure I understand,Holyfield won the second.

 

Sorry I meant off paper and in my opinion Holy lost that fight (I have had Bowe ahead two points each time I've see that fight. I had him ahead five in the first).

 

Absolutely in top 20. He’d be higher had he met some other greats in his career other then Holy. Had he beaten say a Lennox or Tyson or Foreman his rankings would be higher. Def looses points for ducking Lennox

 

I cant disagree with that , but I'm just going with official result.
My summary of Bowe would be very good fighter , but big flaw was easy to hit.
Deep down I think hes a decent guy .
Missed his defining fight v Lewis.
A fight that I think BOTH careers needed.
I've never doubted that Lennox wouldve won it but I can understand the opposite view.

 

Lennox pre-Steward would have been knocked out early by 1992 Bowe, who was both a WAY better fighter and puncher than McCall ever dreamed of being.

Steward-era Lewis might cause a stoppage before round 8.

However, I think ANY era of Lewis soundly beats Bowe past the Hide championship fight. The Bowe who fought Golota would have been ko'd.

From what I've gathered, Rock Newman was mostly responsible for that horribly misadvised belt-trashing. Bowe was obviously ready and willing to fight Lewis (even RIGHT AFTER ONE OF THE TOUGHEST HEAVYWEIGHT CONTESTS EVER Bowe was more than ready).

Lewis didn't win that Olympics fight, he lost the first round pretty badly and then threw a couple of showy shots that made the ref poop himself. It's hard to call the at-the-time dancing and hand-waving Bowe the loser of the fight...he was perfectly fine with it was stopped. Watch the video.

 

And Carnera?

 

No.
Holyfield is his only big win and the Pre Bowe Holyfield was brawling and struggling with just about anybody. Stewart, Dokes, Holmes, Cooper all have him a hard time because he was brawling and fighting stupid. He was going to slip up eventually and he ended up slipping up against Bowe when he tried to knock the bigger man out instead of using his footspeed advantage and moving like he did against Foreman. He became a much smarter and trickier fighter later on.

The third Holyfield win is a farce, Holyfield was looking terrible and sick against moorer as well, probably due to not getting his steroid cycle right. Looked like he was about to have a heart attack.


Bowe also looked far too vulnerable against Biggs(who wobbled him) and Tubbs(who could have gotten the decision) and against golota.

He faced far less of the top contenders of his time than Tyson Holyfield or Lewis did.
Lacks monster punchers on his resumee and was wobbled by guys who were not huge hitters, his chin is overrated as well imo.

His hype comes from the Holyfield win which i think he gets too much credit for.

I do think Bowe was a really good fighter with solid technique and power and great workrate but I wanted to get straight to the point with my criticism.
Really good h2h but not top 20

 

I think you underestimate pre Steward Lewis.
He gets a rough deal because of that one punch v McCall, a fighter he was vastly superior too. He was Commonwealth and European champ, he also beat Weaver , Biggs ( blasted him in 3 rounds whereas in Biggs previous fight he gave Bowe hell ) Mason ( who wouldve been a nights work for anybody)then having inherited the belt , Bruno Tucker ( who previously had only lost to Tyson) and had previously blasted out Ruddock which is the win that scared off Bowe and his team.

 

All these points are well-founded. But may I suggest watching Bowe again during the first Holy fight: try to abstract his performance (difficult I know as those two were head-to-head a lot). His jab and uppercut were pristine, both belong in the Elite class for heavyweights. His heart was obvious, it's hard for me to imagine Foreman, Lewis, or Mike Tyson winning that fight. Holy was a bit like Frazier in that he was bound and determined to keep his title, and he'd keep coming in again and again to prove it. Bowe didn't just beat him, he dominated him (I mean overall, obviously Holy was raging back as much as he could).

Just as FOTC is righteously Joe Frazier's biggest win and the main reason he's still in the top ten ATGs, we have Holy-Bowe 1.

No, Holy was NOT Ali (though a top eight ATG for sure in the division). But he was undefeated and in his prime...not to mention how he knocked the hell out of Tyson and took Lewis the distance TWICE after he was so obviously past it.

As far as comparing Bowe to Joe...no stylistic comparison of course, but he showed just as much heart as Joe in that fight, and wasn't far away in terms of quality of skills imo.

Just my opinion, and I'm biased, with Bowe in the top 15.

 

My recent heavyweight list has Bowe at 12.
I rate 75% h2h and 25% resume.
Controversial