is lennox lewis one of the greats?

No disputing that Golota was taking it to Bowe, although I think Bowe would have had a problem beating Judy Bowe around this time. He was pretty washed up

 

i need no proof.. you yourself acknowleged right here on this forum that you made that statement. :good

 

That is the best analogy i have heard on Wladimir. Spot on.

 

so what you are saying is that Holyfield, Tyson, Botha, Tua, Mercer, Bruno, Tucker, Morrison & Ruddock - was all "At The Top of their Game" the night they fought Lennox Lewis and not on the downslide of their career. :huh

Do you have proof Bowe ducked Lewis?... maybe you can enlighten me on the 1995 proposed bout when Lewis turned down a guaranteed $13 million to fight Bowe ?

 

They were as close to the top of their game is Gibbons, Miske, Darcy etc., etc. But your double standards don't allow you to see this.

Do I have proof? Yeah, Bowe trashing his belt after trying to lowball Lewis with a 90/10 offer.

 

you know that is not correct. HBO set up the tournement that the winner of Bowe v Holyfield face the winner of Lewis v Ruddock.. HBO offered $18 million with $15 million to Bowe (the champion) $3 million to Lewis (challenger).. Lewis knew that if he dragged his feet the WBC would strip Bowe of his title and award it to Lewis and Lewis could then face Tony Tucker for a purse of $9 million...and have a belt without having to fight Bowe.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0eins2DhSo"]YouTube - So Much to Talk about: Riddick Bowe (June 2009)-Pt. 4 of 5[/ame]

 

Only a couple of weeks earlier in London, Bowe's old Olympic rival [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennox_Lewis"]Lennox Lewis[/ame] knocked out Canadian [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donovan_Ruddock"]Donovan "Razor" Ruddock[/ame] in 2 rounds, establishing himself as the WBC's #1 contender. The Bowe/Holyfield and Lewis/Ruddock fights were part of a mini-tournament where all 4 fighters agreed that the two winners would meet each other for the championship. Bowe's manager Rock Newman made a proposal that the $32million purse HBO were offering be split 90-10 in Bowe's favor, an "absurd" offer which Lewis rejected.[5] Lewis's manager Frank Maloney rejected another offer of $2million for Lewis to fight on a Bowe undercard, citing his distrust of the Bowe camp after the aforementioned negotiations. So in a move that would hurt Bowe's image he held a press conference in which he dumped the WBC belt in a bin rather than fight [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennox_Lewis"]Lewis[/ame].[6] The famous trash can incident did little to denigrate [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennox_Lewis"]Lennox Lewis[/ame] or the WBC as he had hoped it would.

 

wikapeadia ... check out the HBO offer :good

 

****ing insane question

 

There is another link floating around where the offer is 30 mil. That doesn't change the fact that the Bowe camp lowballed a 90/10 offer. It doesn't change the fact Bowe dumped his belt instead of fighting Lewis.

 

Frank Maloney has actually admitted that the second offer was a good offer (it involved a $2 mill or $3 mill purse to fight someone on a Bowe undercard and then a decent split of the Bowe-Lewis showdown in their next fights after that).
But Maloney says he felt obliged to the WBC, who were keen to enforce the stripping of Bowe and declare Lewis champion.

People criticize Bowe for "ducking" but I always ask where's the precedent for a heavyweight champion coming off a tough title-winning fight against an undefeated man of Holyfield's caliber to go straight into a first defence against a dangerous prime hard-punching undefeated contender of Lewis's caliber ?

I think every champion in history would have taken an easier fight or two in-between. But Bowe seems to get trashed for doing just that.

 

Totally agree. I cant think of anyone in recent history when the purses reached the millions for BS defenses, that didnt take advantage of it, and that included Lennox Lewis..