Rid**** Bowe vs Lennox Lewis in 1993

Lewis would have stopped him. Bowe had no defense.

 

At that stage I think it's sensible to favour Bowe. Lewis' chances massively increase if we take the best version of both though

 

I'd give it to Bowe, Lennox didn't have the chin or in fighting skills to match Bowe at this stage of his career.

 

Not this again...

 

It's pretty clear to me from watching both that if this fight happened in 1993 Bowe wins by ko

Bowe was at his peak and Lennox had not really reached his peak.

Both were pretty easy to hit a the time, but Bowe had the better whiskers.

I remember Lewis struggling mightily with Bruno and looking ordinary against Phil Jackson.

Meanwhile, Bowe fought mismatched Ferguson and Dokes but at least blew them out as he should have, and warred competively with Holyfield.

 

This sums it up nicely. I totally agree. And, I am not sure Lennox ever really got "better" later under Steward. He was smarter and more cautious, which helped preserve his skills nicely. But I am not sure he was actually better.

 

Compare both their performances in 91 against another 6'5" heavy with a good jab in Tyrell Biggs.

Bowe struggled, was out jabbed and rocked twice. Lewis dominated, slipped Biggs jab with ease and and battered Biggs to an early KO.

Bowe had a punchers chance of course but Lewis was the better athlete, had the better jab, better defence, hit just as hard, was faster and had quicker feet. Lewis would jump on him like he did in the 2nd round at the Olympics and when Lewis took it to super heavies he often overwhelmed them. Lewis KO inside 6 rounds.

 

But how would Bowe look against Bruno or Jackson, we don't know they never fought. Bowe looked far from impressive against Tubbs, Biggs etc. We can pick on poor performances from each fighter but it doesn't really tell us anything as they never fought each other opponents that made them look bad. But the Biggs fight shows the real difference between the 2, Lewis was simply better.

Sure Bowe passes the eye test as he had an exciting style, had better balance and was good on the inside. But he had flaws Lewis could expose.

Lewis' balance was worse than Bowe's but his feet work quicker, he would get off first. Look at how Lewis is able to cut the distance on Biggs, get inside his jab and batter him. Bowe for all his good balance didn't have the speed to do that as successfully against Biggs, he was caught flush with the jab repeatedly by Biggs as he wasn't quick enough or good defensively enough to slip it.

The Biggs fight, the way Bowe's team avoided Lewis when he had the belt and the amateur fight shows me enough to confidently pick Lewis. Bowe usually loved fighters that came to him, but in this scenario he doesn't have a smaller, weaker man coming to him, he had an equally big, stronger, faster heavyweight with the power to hurt him, beating him to the punch and hitting him harder than he has ever been hit before.

 

I'd take Lewis over Bowe. Bowe dropping the belt in the trash rather than fight Lewis shows me who knows he would have gotten whooped.

 

In 1993 Bowe wins

 

Bowe had 3 great fights against 1 top guy.

Lewis beats Bowe.

 

Lewis didn't develop a jab untill he paired up with Manny Steward. Many , many years after he was meant to fight Bowe. He had no jab in 93 and would have been horribly out jabbed by Bowe. A lot worse than when he was out jabbed by Frank Bruno.

Bowe jabbed Biggs face into mince meat and broke his nose by only the second round. It was sharp , smooth and precise. He never missed Biggs head and he was a good mover with a decent jab himself.

Lewis barely threw jabs at Biggs. He threw wild over hand swings over and over till he got Biggs out of there. There was no jabbing master class put upon Biggs like Bowe had done.
Even the English commentating team noted how crude Lewis looked.

There's simply no case for Lewis winning based off what can be seen on film.

 

If they meet in 93 I think bowe wins on points Lewis hadn't reached his peak and was still a work in progress Bowe was a more complete fighter and could outbox Lewis if he could avoid Lewis's big shots that is a big if if Lewis turns aggressor and attacks bowe from the start he could take him out.boxing no but he could still win if he turned it into a dog fight.

 

Bowe