riddick bowe and what could of been

Riddick Bowe once threw the World Boxing Council heavyweight title belt into a garbage can in London.

Now, he's going to fight Lennox Lewis for that title, the promoters of both fight said. They said the fight probably will be in Las Vegas in November or early December, but both boxers have to win scheduled fights before they can face each other.

But because Lewis is set to defend his title Sept. 24 against mandatory challenger Oliver McCall in London, promoter Dan Duva said he believes a Lewis-Bowe fight probably won't take place until March or April 1995.

After reaching a contract stalemate in dealing with Maloney, Newman went directly to Lewis' chief financial backer, Greek industrialist Panos Eliades, to work out the deal that will guarantee Lewis $12 million and Bowe at least $8 million.

"Bowe's people would like the fight to take place in December because they're worried about keeping him motivated and his weight down," said Maloney.

"But it's in our best interests to fight in March when pay-per-view television will be in place in England. Lennox is the champion. He should be able to dictate where and when the fight takes place."

Under terms of the tentative agreement, if the fight is held in the United States, Las Vegas will be the site. MGM Grand executive Dennis Finfrock and Caesars Palace sports director Rich Rose were seen huddling with Maloney and Duva at Bowe's fight with Buster Mathis.

 

Good **** robbi.

 

Yeah, not bad. Thought I'd paste a couple of articles. I have an August issue of Boxing Monthly from 1994, and in there it says Bowe was going to fight Lewis in late 1994. Bowe is on the front cover and a four page feature on him is inside.

The article heading as below.

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OH LUCKY MAN

He abused his titles and his manager abused just about everybody in their year at the top, yet now Riddick Bowe is set to challenge Lennox Lewis for the WBC belt he once threw in the trash can. How does he get away with it?

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I don't see how Bowe vs. Foreman was a relevant fight. Beating Foreman wouldn't have enhanced Bowe's all-time ranking. Foreman was a top fighter in name only, not in talent.

 

Bowe won the title in 1993 then defended against Dokes and Furguson in the year the Ring Magazines top ten consisted of Lewis, Moorer, tucker, Foreman, Ruddock, mercer, Morrison and Garcia. The following year when Bowe lost the title back to Holyfeild the top ten would include much of the same names as well as phill Jackson and Mccall. There are a lot more names there that Lewis fought than Bowe fought. Now I know there were enough belts around for all the man that bowe fought to have a rating somewhere but if we use The Ring as a guide I think its safe to say Lewis did more throughout the time his and Bowes careers overlapped at seeking the toughest fights.

 

I dont rate the very selective old Foreman either but he was rated higher than Bowe in 1994 and was in the ratings from 1990. Foreman was always rated higher than Ferguson, Dokes, Hide, Gonzales, Coetzer and just about all the worthwhile oppoenents Bowe ever fought outside of Evander Holyfeild.

 

Its funny when people say he took an easy route fighting Holyfield three times? When did Holyfield ever prove to be an easy fight? Thats just ridiculous. Bowe was a great fighter with poor discipline in the gym, but even in poor condition he would fight to the death. He wasnt a quitter and he was a mean guy who could fight and had excellent boxing skills.

When a fighter deteriorates and is in poor physical condition they start to fight the way Bowe did towards the latter part of his career, less boxing, more loopy one shot power punching, poor pawing jab, and it was clear to me Bowe was a guy with great skills who let them slip away by not staying in condition and being a professional, but he still retired with one close loss, because of his sheer determination to win. A quitter would have lost those Golota fights and possibly lost to Herbie Hide and Holyfield in the 3rd fight when he was basically out on his feet in all them.

 

Agreed. The best Lewis (1997 say) beats the 1992 Bowe,I think.

 

Its been on youtube several times. Bowe just steamrollers Ferguson, it couldve been stopped at the end of the 1st but Ferguson was flattened at the start of the 2nd iirc.

Bowe couldve been one of the ATGs but lacked the work ethic, by Holyfield 3 he was slurring his words. Every training camp became a fat camp, his skills & reflexes eroded & he ended up taking far too much punishment.

H2H, during his brief prime, he beats more ATGs than most imo.

 

I think this damage was due more to his porous defense and physical frailty.

Which is why he would never have had a long, and more illustrious, career than he did. He wasn't built for the long haul.

 

He had a good career.

I thought Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield really made the 1990s heavyweight division exciting.

Not sure why he gets so much disrespect these days.
He showed a lot of heart and fought a load of classics.

 

Frail in what way ?

 

Frail in that he was physically disabled after 34 or so fights, many of which were typical record padding affairs.

It was either frailty and/or his fighting style, which often did not suit his physical attributes, and lack of defense, contributed to an early decline.

 

Lewis