Riddick Bowe v Primo Carnera?

In that case then, I'll go with Bowe making a meal out of it but winning by a mid-to-late rounds TKO.

 

Certainly the first Holyfield fight was his standout performance and the one that everyone remembers but it's not as if he suddenly shot past his peak after that fight. He was still a formidable fighter but the increasing indiscipline and ballooning up in weight after that fight made it look like he wasn't the same fighter as before. Personally I think that he physically didn't show clear signs of deterioration until the Herbie Hide fight in 95 (not that he was overly active in the year or so leading up to that bout). Even though it looked like he won pretty conclusively in the end, he looked quite sluggish at times and was beaten to the punch quite a lot by Hide and this was while he looked in good shape. The next fight against Gonzalez, he looked good but really Gonzalez was one of the most inept challengers in memory. Then the third fight with Holyfield where Bowe KOs Holyfield but while this looks impressive on paper, it's also disguises the fact that Bowe was in danger of being Koed himself having been dropped heavily for the first time in his career and really Holyfield looked more exhausted than hurt at the end. Then of course was the Golota fights after which even Bowe at the young age of 28/29 realises he's past it.

So if I had to say what Bowe prime years were I would said maybe 91-94.

 

I wouldn't disagree with any of that.

But I always had the impression, both before and after the first Holyfield fight, that there was a general aura of sloth about Bowe. Even in Holyfield/Bowe 1, Holyfield's tailor-made, come-forward warrior style, played perfectly to Bowe's strengths and accentuated the latter's performance.

But, he would beat Carnera. I just suspect he would drag it out.

 

Bowe blows him out.

 

U wot?

Scorecard for Carnera Loughran:
10-1
10-1
12-3
Carnera

 

No way can I see Primo winning this. Bowe goes to work inside and chops Carnera down within eight rounds at most.

 

I agree with the Ken Ashcroft assessment on Bowes career. His prime starts with the first Holyfield fight up till the first Golota fight with nothing else close to that first Holyfield win to prove any certain superiority over Carnera more than one time.

During this short prime you could favour Bowe but in light of the Golota, Hide and Buster Mathis fights you can't rule anything out. We never saw Bowe do 15 rounds like Carnera did with Uzcudun and others.

It's no mismatch.