rid**** bowe is maybe the best hw h2h!!!

Over rated if anything. There are dozens of fighters who one could claim to be " very good " at their best. Consistency is unfortunately taken into account when weighing up a fighters career.

 

Well, he was pretty consistent too. :good

 

Agreed.. There are many who have either forgotten ( or have never seen ) Holyfield in his early rise to the title. In fact there are some who actually think he was at his best for the Tyson fights !! I remember being fourteen years old and watching his bouts with Pinklon Thomas, Michael Dokes and Adilson Rodriguez. That was the best rendition of Evander in my opinion. Young, hungry, focused, in the best shape of his life and with George Benton in his corner.

 

I think Bowe's prime began right around the time he sparked Bruce Seldon in one round in late 1991 and extended to about the Ferguson fight of 1993. He also looked pretty good after the holy loss in beating Hide and Gonzalez. I agree that his prime was very short. Not sure I agree that it only extended through the course of three fights. The contender version of Bowe who was putting guys to sleep pretty early between 1990-1992 would have been a force for a lot of people. He had some bumpy moments against an aged Tubbs, but Tony was in top form for that fight and Bowe didn't seem to be using his usual pressure tactics.

 

The stamina, workrate, sharpness and speed were a great combination. He wasn't that strong as a HW ofcourse and didn't have the greatest ring generalship but still an incredible package.

He barely dropped a round from that first Qawi fight up until his HW title win. And he wasn't in there with bums he was fighting champs and ex champs.

 

Agree 100%. I still think he was pretty strong at heavy though. Maybe not as strong as Bowe or Ruddock, but he definitely had strength. I remember in the summer of 1990 he fought a fringe dude as a stay busy fight because the Douglas bout had been temporarily postponed. Guy's name Seamus McDonaugh or something like that. At one point the Irishman grabbed onto Holyfield and Evander push him down to the canvas with ease.. Man was an amazing physical specimen.

 

Holyfield's prime was 1987 until 1993 at the latest.

I'd say he started to decline after the Douglas and Foreman fights, he probably slacked off after that in terms of sharpness and motivation and he started to slow down as he grew a bit bulkier and hit his thirties. Also, some hard fights took it out of him, especially the loss to Bowe, nevermind two more fights with the man.
Agree with the gist of what magoo and Powerpuncher are saying.

Holyfield never really got the credit at HW he deserved until he was some way past his best.

 

I think Holyfield was a STRONG heavyweight. Very strong.

Can't remember anyone out-strengthing him, except probably Foreman.

 

I think he did a good job of maintaining his conditioning well into old age. But agree that he had taken a step back after winning the title.. By the time he fought Bowe in November of 1992, he was 30 years old which for a former cruiser weight engaging in tough brawls with full sized heavys is getting up there. In addition the only fight he had been in over the previous year was against a 42 year old Holmes in a bout that didn't involve much intensity. Meanwhile, Rid**** had been busy hammering everyone Newman was putting in front of him on top of having a five year youth and significant size advantage.

 

True. I can't see him beating the best versions of Ali,Frazier and Foreman in the seventies. Holmes would have beaten him clearly too.

 

Bowe at his best was a beast ( top 12 ATG ), but he was also a protected fighter, and didn't take any matches with punchers. Unless you call Golota a puncher, and he got his rear end kicked in both matches only to be rescued by Golota's fouling which resulted in a DQ.

Matches with Morrison, Lewis, and Foreman were there for Bowe. His manager was a nut. Trouble followed him.

 

Bowe fought one great fighter, Holyfield.

Put the two prime versions in a time machine and have them Duke it out for bragging rights, would anyone put their mortgage on Bowe winning?

Fighting one great isn't the be all and end all but the next best guy he fought battered him twice. The next best after that is, Bruce Seldon maybe?

He looks top quality which is h2h I rate him highly but some people forget how little he actually achieved and how small a number of ranked fighters he actually beat.

The fact I rate him top ten says more about past greats than it does about Bowe for me.

 

Head to head, he is up there with Lennox Lewis.