Preface -- I'm not sure there is a much tougher athlete than a boxer, so this isn't a question on one's toughness, as much as an exploration on why certain fighters (or management) seemed to "duck" another fighter in the same division. Are there any fighters (or management) that appeared to have ducked a viable contender? Riddick Bowe not fighting Lennox Lewis I felt always made Bowe look afraid of Lewis. It may have all been Rock Neuman's idea, but can you speak to this non-fight, or any others like it? You read about fighters that "didn't want anything to do with" another fighter, but I never know if those are accurate assessments, or myth-building. Thanks in advance, as always, for any comments/discussion this leads to.
Patterson ducked Folley and Machen while he was champ. He ducked Liston until it became a standing joke and he was forced to fight him.
bowe never was scared of lewis, when they were arguing face to face bowe looked the most aggressive man here, simply he was frustrated because he knew that lewis had his number, they fought in the amateurs, but scared? pure nonsense.
Rock Newman made Frank Maloney an offer, an offer that Maloney later admitted was good. But Maloney turned it down and went the Jose Sulaiman-Don King route instead. Then Lennox Lewis spends his whole career saying he had to battle Don King his whole career.
