Riddick Bowe vs Lennox Lewis 1993

They aren't irrelevant if the fighters think they are. Boxing like most sports is determined just as much by one's physical abilities as one's mental abilities, and if Bowe thought there would be a repeat of the Olympic experience than it's relevant. The fact that he chose to duck Lewis clearly made it relevant whether you think it did or not.

Just think a Bowe win would have avenged his Olympic defeat and make him a winner against Holyfield and Lewis, huge legacy enhancements, in addition to a huge payday. In addition to all that he had a signed contracting saying he would fight the winner of Ruddock - Lewis and reneged on it. Now tell me how that's even close to explainable if he thought he could beat Lewis?

 

Rooster - with all respect your bias toward Bowe & against Lewis is almost as transparent as your bias against SRL.

 

As I have said before, Vitali started strong and won the first two round against Lewis because Lewis came in cold and didn't think Vitali was a threat. The fight was even from the 3rd round onward until the 6th when Lewis was clearly getting on top and Vitali wasn't doing any real damage - to the extent that Foreman, who had said a few rounds earlier that it would only take one punch to finish Lewis off, specifically commented on the lack of respect Lewis was showing for Vitali's power.

With or without the cuts I doubt Vitali would do much better than he did. He might get to the final bell but probably wouldn't win on points - a draw would be the best he'd get - he might even get stopped in the later because he proved very hittable - as in, he couldn't avoid Lewis's punches - but its highly unlike that any version of Vitali is stopping any version of Lewis. He actually did catch Lewis clean with his best shot in the fight that happened in reality and the most he was able to accomplish was to wobble him - he couldn't even knock Lewis off his feet despite enjoying similar circumstances to those Rahman enjoyed when he stopped Lewis - and as the fight wore on his power increasingly seemed ineffective.

Vitali put in a great effort but that was all it was. He didn't decisively win the fight, he wasn't dominating the fight and in the final round he had lost control of the fight. In the end Vitali just wasn't good enough to get the job done.

Holyfield was suffering from Hepitius in the third Bowe fight and his stamina and conditioning was clearly effected by it. Even so he was competitive. He won the 1st round, fought evenly in the 3rd, won the 4th and the 6th.

Lewis, on the other hand, lost three rounds - four at best - of his first fight with Holyfield but won all the others only to be screwed out of a win. Holyfield had never been dominated that badly in his career. In the rematch Holyfield did slightly better winning four or five rounds but he still clearly lost.

 

That undersized and inconsistent Holyfield was Lewis best win and he was lucky to get a decision win over him when he was old and washed up.

Holyfield was the best HW on the planet and in his prime when Bowe beat him. That version of Evander is one of the top 10 best HWs who ever lived.
Bull**** you can be ill prepared and sloppy and still beat him.
Bowe at his best like he was back then is a nightmare for anybody in the history of the sport. Holyfield found that out. Young Lennox would not of stood a chance.

The undersized Mercer dragged him into a dog fight. Bruno out jabbed him who was a lesser jabber than Bowe.
He was flattened by right hands twice. Bowes long , fast right hands would of got of on Lewis over and over and would of shattered his chin. He had to eat Vitali's punches with his face to get in close because he was getting murked on the outside. To bad Vitali had no inside game.
Bowe peppers him off on the ouside and eats him up on the inside where he was an absoulte beast.

 

I guessed we saw a different fight then.

The bout I saw was Bowe winning a decision over Evander Holyfield. Going into the fight, it was a 6-5 pickem gambling wise. So it wasn't as if it was a huge shock that evander lost.

You look at the result like it was Foreman/Frazier. It was no destruction in there and a competitve bout Riddick Bowe won. The rematch, he lost to the guy. So we aren't looking at the Foreman/Frazier results, are we? We are looking at distance fights where both guys won a decision.

As for the amatuer ko being casually dismissed---would your argument be the same if Bowe had ko'd Lewis for the gold medal? A complete non--issue, right? Or would you be using that as proof of the pro rematch.

Statistically, a guy that loses via ko to an opponent, loses real close to 80% of the rematches. That's 4-1 odds, right there to overcome.

When did Bowe ever go into the lion's den for a fight? You know--taking on the Don King fighter when you aren't signed to DKP? Lewis did. And what else he did was manage to have a winning record in those matches. Care to name another guy that did?

So we have no hostile waters type matches.

Next mention the time Bowe took his act on the road and was a road warrior.


But it wasn't just Lewis Bowe didn't fight. There was always some reason he wasn't fighting the other top fighters around at the time. He beat Coetzer to get the right to fight Evander for the title. How much lobbying was done for that? Who else is Coetzer beating anyway? He was so bad that Foreman selected him for an opponent.What was Pierre's biggest wingoing into the Bowe fight---Duplooy? when was the last time you heard Johnny Duplooy mentioned?

And the thing is, they were all beatable. Morrison. Ruddock. Tyson. Mercer. Lewis. of course.Even a Bruno.

What did we get instead? A shot Dokes? The boogeyman? Did you actually know anyone thinking they were nothing but a mismatch the day those bouts were signed? Know anyone picking those guys for the upset?

Then we got unproven Larry Donald in his first big fight. And, it goes the distance. Former cruiser Hide who'd moved up to heavy. And why is Herbie getting up 6 times when he was counted out when other guys hit his chin? He stayed down.Gonzales. and what other ranked fighters were you picking that guy to beat? As soon as he fought a live body Gonzales was going to lose that undefeated record.

Then Golata. He was hardly a can't miss guy and not even the head of his stable. That guy was Tua. Did you see Andrew's fights before the Bowe encounter? He wasn't selected as an opponent looking to provide a stern test. He was on par with Donald.

By that time, Ibeabuchi was an up and comer with a nice following.

So lots of chances for big fights and we did we ever get? Holyfield--who he matches up well with, and who?

 

Bowe would have knocked Lewis out.

Lewis was always open for an overhand right (no explanation necessary)

Bowe had a great overhand right which he threw regularly

You think a guy like Eddie Futch would not have spotted this?

Hell didnt Manny Steward notice this when he was training Mcall (if my memory serves me correctly)

It would be competitive for a few rounds until Bowe lands that right


Post 1995 and the momentum shifts in he opposite corner. Bowe was punch drunk and Lewis would have put him out of his misery.

A better fight would have been Tyson/Bowe in 96-97, with both men coming off losses over guys they were favoured to beat

 

I understand where you're coming from, albeit a bit harsh.

Between Tyson and Bowe, they fought a number of mutual opponents, aside from Holyfield, Tyson dispatched all of them in much more devastating/quicker fashion.

Biggs, Tubbs, Thomas, Seldon (i know, i know!), Mathis, Golota

 

That might me because Tucker was a crackhead by the time he fought Lewis, while he fought Tyson when both men were at their peak.

(Yes, none great fighters have peaks and primes too)

 

just shut up dino, you create assumptions of the one side that serves what you believe best. Its disgraceful.

The entire Bowe better than Lewis theory is based mostly on U.S. biased for Bowe. Ok fine, I admit that Bowe had skills and fought some of the best ever wars we have seen with Holyfield. Bowe fought amazing against Holyfield. That was it. He had a height, weight and reach advantage against Holy and he got hit with a **** load of punches. Did he fight great for a big man on the inside with Holy? Yes indeed. Did he fight so well on the inside it was one of the best inside performances ever for a big guy we have ever seen? Well, he still got hit with a shitload of punches so from a defensive aspect and overall aspect not quite.

I'm going to say what the biased ignorant American fans don't want to read. What most American boxing fans already admit to at least some degree of reality,,,

Lewis was a BETTER version of BOWE. Yes true they were different fighters even though they both had many of the same attributes. First of all HIGHT. Back in the day fighters weren't highly skilled taller than 6.3. Both Bowe and Lewis had 1 or 2 inches over this previous barrier. Dudes that were 6.4 back in the day were always lacking in SKILL in one area or another that betrayed them. Not so Lewis and Bowe. They were both big and skilled.

Hand speed?

Lewis was faster. He was faster, don't deny it. Not saying it wasn't close and comparable, I said Lewis was FASTER.

Power?

Lewis had more power. Again, it was comparable but come on. Deny it all you want but then you have to deny the reality of Lewis's knockout performances. Lewis didn't knock out Holy? So what, Lewis fought Holy in a totally different style than Bowe did and should of won both fights. Well at least the first fight, lmao. Anyways, the point being that nobody knocked out Holy easily, least of all Bowe who ate a massive amount of punches before finally taking out Holy. Even with the power edge to Bowe against Holy compared to Lewis against Holy, when careers are factored in there is no overall question Lewis had more overall power.

Jab?

See here is where a lot of US fan boys get confused. Bowe's JAB was a THING of BEAUTY. It looked better than Lewis's jab. It had that old school favour to it. Kinda like Ali, it was fast and could come from nowhere. It would pop a dudes head back while Bowe was far away looking like he was just warming up. In many ways Bowe's jab is the classic jab. His reach was awesome. Bowe would dominate a round or two with that jab and it made anyone think what could Bowe do if he fought like that all the time. The problem was, Bowe NEVER used his JAB as a overall great offensive tool that integrated with the rest of his fighting style. As soon as he ran into difficulty with a opponent his jab went out the window. Not so with Lewis. Yes Lewis was guilty like most of not using his jab nearly as well as he should all of the time. However, Lewis's used his jab overall simply far more effectively than Bowe did. He used it to capitalize on his ability to fight from distance and win from distance not having to engage too closely and he did this against the best fighters of his period. So what if Bowe's jab MIGHT have been better in specific ways. It didn't work out that way in the ring at the highest levels so its simply speculation.

Lewis knew how to use DISTANCE way better than Bowe. He was SMARTER than Bowe.

Lewis became what everyone that loved Bowe wanted Bowe to become and they are still butt sore to this day about it.

I would of bet money on Lewis to beat Bowe. If not by knockout by UD. Lewis was pretty damned good all things considered.

Many, not all US fans simply have a hard time dealing with this realistically.

 

Bowe beat the Holyfiled who went on to beat the great Mike Tyson twice in a row.

Lewis struggled with the Holyfield who went on to lose and almost get stopped by John Ruiz. The same Ruiz who made Lewis give up his belt so he could avoid facing him.

Lewis fans give Bowe **** for dumping the belt but completely ignore the fact Lewis dumped or got stripped of every title he ever held.
Lewis was an awkward, slow buffoon who kept his arms down by his waist and would of been knocked clean out by Big Daddy Bowe .

 

Bowe's leaky defense would cost him in this one. Lewis had that laser-like right hand and it gets home detonating on Bowe's chin. Lewis by TKO in the 6th round after some impressive two-way action. Bowe had a great chin but Lewis' power is legendary. It is one thing to get clipped repeatedly by the likes of Holyfield or Golota. Against Lewis you get separated from your senses.

 

But there is also a chance that Bowe gets Lewis out of there first?

 

I think Lewis' chin problems are overrated. Psychologically, Bowe has to remember that Lewis knocked him out as an amateur five years prior to this (1988) and that he could well do it again. Bowe was sensational for one year 1992-93' so yes, he could possibly turn the tables on Lewis. However, Lewis was more consistent, higher ring IQ, hard one-punch power, better boxer. Bowe may have had a better chin but fought recklessly which made him more exciting. Lewis' style was designed for a much longer career and he has maintained his health and mental acuity.

 

Im not saying Lewis chin is bad, however he DID have a weakness for right hands and Riddick Bowe had one of the best overhand rights