How do you see these Heavyweight Champions in a H2H prime fight unfold. Riddick Bowe vs Hasim Rahman Lennox Lewis vs Buster Douglas Evander Holyfield vs Oliver McCall
Bowe in a struggle. I think he eats a lot of jabs and it turns into a much tougher fight than it should. But at the end of the day Rahman is still Rahman and he just won't win the fight. Lewis easy. I don't like Buster against a tall guy like this that can reach him. The mobility he used against Tyson still keeps him in range against a Lewis and worse, at the end of Lennox' punches. Evander all the way. Decision bout and the combos from Holyfield score the points & I don't see a guy like McCall winning many rounds here.
Psychologically speaking Douglas's motivation was not only in his mother's death but also in the fact that he was regarded as a gazelle thrown in with the hungry lion. Tyson was a beast that needed to get taught a lesson and Buster had nothing to lose so he passionately went all out. I don't see him THAT motivated and angry with Lewis. I see them both being more cautious, not going for the KO, at least not that hard. A good fight and possible to go either way but I give Lewis the slight edge based on better defence.
watch Douglas vs McCall, Douglas vs Page, Douglas vs Ferguson, Douglas vs Berbick and you will see the exact same Douglas who fought Tyson.
Bowe would probably KO Rahman inside of 6 rounds. Douglas could definitely outbox Lewis with his jab and overall ability, but he might well get caught by a big punch and crumble like Bruno did, or like he did against Tucker. It's an interesting fight. I'd probably favour Lewis, if I had to bet. Holyfield would kick McCall's ass and probably make him quit, or win a lop-sided decision.
As a thread it underlines how unpredicatble boxing can be, HW boxing especially, doesn't it? I'd pick Bowe by KO, Lewis by UD, Holyfield by UD, but Holyfield has been beaten by McCall level type fighters, Bowe arguably had a one night prime and could certainly lose to a puncher on a bad night and Douglas was superb the night he fought Tyson.
I think these threads always assume the fighters are on their best night. You're right, heavyweight boxing is unpredictable and all those guys were involved in upsets, on one side or the other.
Riddick Bowe KO5 Hasim Rahman Lennox Lewis UD (7-5) Buster Douglas: Lewis uses lots of clinching & mauling to win a decision in an ugly fight, after having difficulty with the impressive lateral movement of Buster early. I think Lewis would use the same vicious kidney shots in the clinches that he used to take away the legs of Vitali. Evander Holyfield wide UD Oliver McCall
That's true. It's of special concern when it comes to Bowe though. Maybe he was just a man literally incapable of scaling those heights on any but the rarest of occasions - what are the chances of Rahamn dragging those herculian efforts from him? And Lewis, Lewis "prime for prime" I have no problem picking Lewis - whatever the mad threadstarter says. But the fact is that if Lewis was facing a fighter with Douglas's track record there is every chance he would turn up less than focused and get beat or at least be in danger of being beaten and tested in a new way. Holyfield is probably the mentally strongest of these three but he had a track-record of being in weird form for weird reasons making him almost as patchy as Bowe in many ways. McCall is probably the least likely to upset any one of these three though, out of the three mentioned, so he's the firmest pick. Basically, even if you lift Holyfield out of the ring and plop down Rahman 6 seconds before the first bell, Bowe would be capable of delivering a Holyfield-level performance, but it wouldn't happen. It's not possible. Because Rahman just isn't good enough to draw that out of him.
Riddick Bowe vs Hasim Rahman - Bowe by stoppage. Lennox Lewis vs Buster Douglas - Lewis wins more often than not. Evander Holyfield vs Oliver McCall - Evander wins a decision unless McCall gets the urge he got vs Akiwande and Yamplier Diaz , Evander was a foulist , but when McCall fouled he had his opponents out.
