Lewis never definitively beat McCall. Lennox got koed In their first fight due to his technical flaw of leaving himself open when he threw the right and Manny trained McCall to exploit that flaw. Lewis's lack of respect is also a flaw and he got koed against a glorified journeyman with a right hand in Rahman. However Bowe did the same in Golota 1, admittedly did not train his hardest in Holy 2, and honestly looked shot and in terrible shape in Golota 2. But a shot Bowe showed tremendous heart and toughness against Golota. Bottom line Bowe never got KOed and Lewis did against fighters who did not have atg power. I just feel like peak for peak or prime for prime Bowe had better athleticism, and a better jab and uppercut. I mean you can argue Lewis's uppercut is better a lot of success in demolishing Vitali and Grant due to the uppercut. I just feel Bowe's was perfectly executed with more power. I believe it was Holyfield 1 where Bowe landed that perfect uppercut, which Holy survived but Lewis would not. Bowe would dominate McCall, and would finish Rahman in 5 imo. But same story different primes between Bowe and Lewis, I agree both would show up in the best shape of their lives. However, I believe Bowe had a chip on his shoulder towards Lewis, and if Lewis got outclasses technically against Bowe, Lewis would not quite have the power to finish Big Daddy, who never got stopped for a reason. Two of my favorite fighters. You could tell they genuinely hated each other so Lewis would have a chip on his shoulder as well.
Bowe in 93 and prime for prime. Bowe had it all, he was a much better all-round fighter then Lennox. Lennox also suffered lapses of concentration, and i think he would get lazy and would eventually be TKOed. I think Lennox is an ATG. But i think Bowe has a better chin than he's given credit for and i don't think Lennox would KO Riddick, but Riddick could KO Lennox.
In 1993 I would have given bowe the edge and I would have been wrong. History since proved Lewis was better, won more key fights and already proved to have what it took by 93'. Bowe is over rated. I was not big on lewis but his record proves he was always switched on when it mattered and bowe was unfinished business - lennox did not like him. Bowe was great against holyfeild the first time but so was norton against ali. Bowe would not have had the size advantage against a 93 lewis and always would have been punished when you think about it. Before HoLyfeild bowe had not beat a single unbeaten contender and always had had whopping weight advantages in his fights. when you think how ''live'' ruddock, mason, bruno and tucker were when Lewis beat them with no real size edge compared with bowes best wins outside of the holyfeild win lewis is far and away the winner with seasoning. Add all that to how bowe never was in good shape again and largly underacheived, missing out fighting people like mercer, morrison, ruddock, bruno even old man foreman, botha and moorer and you realise riddick didnt even fight many of the big names in the division any way.
Sorry all credit to Lewis for the ruddock win, however someones chin isnt the same aftter two wars with Tyson. Ruddock took a bad swing made a poor decision going for the smash, and Lewis caught him on the back of the head. Lewis was used to always having the better jab, he struggled with Bruno for 6 rounds cause Bruno had better technical skills and a great jab. This isnt a resume comparison, rather a head to head comparison. I can overrate or underrate Lewis's competition.
Exactly. But Cokelab can't seem to kick his anti-Bowe propaganda train. Bowe took 2 of 3 against a better Holyfield than the one Lewis fought and did it more convincingly. Damn I wish these two would have fought. Bowe's superiority would have shined through. Bowe beats Lewis in '93 and is the better fighter prime for prime.
Its not a “propaganda train” and my name is not choke lab anymore than your name is "sanitary towel". I was around back then and let me tell you I was a big bowe fan but the fact is with the advantage of hindsight I now realise Lewis already beat better heavyweights than bowe met. Real heavyweights. Hollyfeild never shook off the “former cruiser tag” for years to come. Evander was not regarded a real heavyweight until around the cyz fight. All anyone would say about evander back in the early 1990s was even though he was a hell of a cruiserweight he couldn’t knock out grandfathers Holmes and foreman and nearly got beat by cruiser weight cooper. The Tyson win changed all that but like I say, so much later. Bowe looked great winning the title against a much smaller fighter but his epitaph must be that though he did beat the second best heavyweight of the era (albeit two out of three times) he did not fight any of the other best heavyweights of that era. Bowe was not the best 1990s heavyweight by a long chalk.
Whatever you say, Chokelab:good Bowe wasn't the best 90's heavyweight but neither was Lewis. Holyfield was. And Bowe beat Holy twice. If I recall, since I was alive back then as well, Bowe had a far better resume compared to Lewis up until he retired in '96. FAR better. 3 fights with Holy was better than getting sparked right out by chokehead McCall.
I personally think Lewis' demolishing of Ruddock surpassed anything Bowe every did at that time. But the real sad part is that if Bowe really was the better fighter, he really screwed himself by not honoring what was a legal contract to fight the winner of the Ruddock/Lewis fight. Considering Lewis was a fairly high profile name having walked through Ruddock and considering that Bowe would have had an opportunity to (a) show he was the absolute best in the division and (b) to avenge his loss at the olympics, it's hard to fathom why he wouldn't have fought him if he truly believed he could win.
Bowe totally did screw himself. After the Holyfeild win having only beat one other rated heavyweight (coetzer) he basically blimped out. Holyfeild beat him back then he got beat up by golota. Never mind Donald, gonzalez and hide - who the hell were they in real 1990s terms? Yes Bowe beat Holyfeild the third time but that was in a non title fight after evander had already been beaten by Moorer and was considered on the skids. Holyfeild was 3-2 in his last 5. As good as bowe was there is a real argument that Bowe was merely evanders ken Norton because he really did not make that much of an impact on the rest of the division packed with contenders like Ruddock, mercer, morrison, Moorer, McCall, Holmes, bruno, botha, foreman, Tua, Tyson, rahman who Bowe never fought. By the time bowe went off the boil Lewis did get kayoed by McCall and rahman but at least he fought them - and beat them back in returns, something bowe was not prepared to do in the pros with lewis.
Lewis always beats him, and I suspect both Klits do too. Bowe has been overrated since his (admittedly great) win over Holyfield, a guy who's style suited him down to the ground. And even then he was outboxed and outjabbed in their second fight.
I remember back in '93 getting pissed off at Bowe for taking the Holyfield rematch instead of facing Lewis. But I'm kinda sick and tired of all the Bowe was scared of Lewis BS. Rock Newman was a fool and really screwed it up for Bowe. The Ruddock knockout was scintillating, but can we really say that win is better than Bowe taking 2/3 from Holyfield? No****ingway! Bowe did miss out on a lot of the 90'd big guys but 3 wars with Holyfield was better than any 3 fights Lewis won.
Bowe was from the streets of Brooklyn, same neighborhood as Tyson. Riddick certainly had no fear of Lewis. Most of Lewis great wins came after 96 though. I believe Morrison was 95, what an impressive win. However, Bowe fought and beat what was put in front of him, all those great fights that never happened were prob contract and manager and promo problems. Its not like Bowe said He didnt wanna fight. And Gonzalez was feared due to his physicality. Bottom line noone could finish Bowe. I mean referee Cotton prob would have stopped Bowe Golota 2 if it was different fighter, but a shot Bowe was out on his feet for rounds, and suffered many low blows that were not even penalized. I believe H2H Bowe was superior in every regard. Possibly Lennoxs right cross was more powerful but that is debateable. A prime BOWE had a better technique, a better chin, a more versatile punch repertoire, and better footwork/balance. Lewis was a great infighter, but not as Good as Bowe was. Prime Lewis almost got koed against Macrovic, and went life and death against Mercer. Look what that "blown up Cruiser" in Holyfield did against Mercer. Lewis is one of my faves, but who did he ever beat who had as much talent as a Prime Bowe.
