Prime Riddick Bowe was a monster

He was being given a lot of credit for his skill at the time, the way people spoke about him even after his lost the title, it was as if he was the most skilled heavyweight around but didn't have the discipline, but then Golota jabbed his head off in both fights and exposed his defensive flaws.

Offensively he was very skilled, I don't think anyone really disputes that at all, his inside game for a tall fighter, his uppercut and body work were impressive. But he had a lot of holes in his game, which maybe if he had desire and discipline he could have fixed with Futch but after winning the title he stopped evolving and only got worse. He was far too easy hit, he was a plodder, his jab was very good but lacked variety he could never really use it to control distance only as a weapon or to set up the right hand. He was never a good out boxer for his size.

Lewis I think always would have beaten him. Bowe would have a punchers chance as Lewis' chin wasn't iron and he could be overly confident to the point of arrogance which led to his losses but Lewis's power, superior jab and quicker feet would have been the difference. We saw in their amateur fight, Bowe did well up close, but when Lewis decided to just jump on him and expose Bowe's inability to one get out of the way and two slip his punches, he had no problem getting to Bowe with big shots and hurting Bowe. Lewis would simply jump in and out of range and punish Bowe for being too easy to get too and hit and expose just how poor Bowe's movement was. Had it happened in the early 90's before Steward, I think Lewis does him inside 5 rounds.

 

All you can eat buffets quaked at his heavy tread.

 

[QOTE="drenlou, post: 21962030, member: 109681"] Hed give any heavyweight in history a run for their money.[/QUOTE]
Except for Tony Galento

 

Holyfield way past his prime and still gave him hell, Bowe in the ****ing olympics

 

Exaggerated. He lost to Lewis at Olympics.

 

He's lucky he didn't face Lewis or Tyson in the 90s. Their power combined with his leaky defence was a recipe for disaster.

Just look at how all 3 fared against Golota. Lewis and Tyson dispatched him within two rounds, Bowe got the hell beaten out of him over two fights. Bowe was not a big hitter.

 

and it still gave Bowe nightmares

 

I think Holyfield said Bowe hurt him more than anyone else but I think was down to the sheer volume of punches landed wearing him down.

In terms of single shot power it's unlikely he was on the level of Lewis or Tyson. Golota got stopped a number of times but ate so many flush shots from Bowe, so his power maybe slightly overstated. He could clearly punch but wasn't up there with the huge punchers of his era.

 

I get what you're saying b/c he was such a disappointment from what he could've been but BD / Andy Ruiz side of things? Come on man. He was 43-1 & beat Holyfield twice. That's a little more than BD / AR. side of things.

 

I think, Bowe may have won the trilogy over Holyfield IN THE RING but between the 2 I think he became the worse for wear in life outside the ring. I'm guessing fighting a trilogy like that requires healthy lifestyle choices to regain your edge and well, it was obvious Bowe was lazy between fights. I think that and the trilogy eroded his abilities pretty quick. Similar to what "the trilogy" did to both Ali & Frazier. I think at that point neither of those guys was probably taking the best care of themselves between fights either. Just a guess.

 

I can agree with you on that. I’m simply stating he’s closer to those guys than the greats.

 

Does that make any sense to you?
Olympic games is not professional

 

Riddick Bowe's resume is very thin and that is very hard, if not impossible, for me to dismiss.

 

The Chronicles of Riddick Bowe I see

 

No it doesn’t, but it did to Bowe since he was too scared to fight Lewis again.