Bowes prime might have not lasted too long but at his best he was better than a Prime Lewis who in my opinion is overrated.
In true there may not be that many actual threads that are entitled, nor specifically started to compare Bowe and Lewis, but there have been thousands of debates on the issue. What usually happens around here, is someone will start a thread about one fighter or the other, and the match-up gets mentioned and debated about. Start a topic about Lennox Lewis being the greatest fighter of the 90's, and someone is sure to mention Bowe's name in one capacity or another....
Yeah what Magoo said is right, they're buried in other threads. My opinion is had they fought shortly after Bowe won the title from Holyfield, Bowe would have beat the **** out of Lewis. Bowe adapted to the pro game far quicker than Lewis did and he would of put a whoopin on the unpolished Lewis of that time. Best vs Best, personally I still like Bowe, he had more tools, but in a more competitive fight and I dont think he was in anyway scared of him, Bowe was a mean dude.
Lewis takes him, stronger mentally, stronger physically, and a harder puncher. Plus Bowe did a classic duck job on this fight.
I don't think Bowe wanted no part of Lewis in particular. His camp wanted no part of a potentially tought fight in his first couple of defenses. He didn't fight Lewis or Holyfield or any other top fighter for his first title defense (was Bowe scared stiff of Holyfield too?) Bowe and his management wanted to take the optimal low-risk/high-reward road after he won the title. And let's not forget Rock Newman's beef with the WBC. Even if Bowe's camp was fairly confident of beating Lewis (say 70% sure), according to the math, it doesn't still make sense to fight Lewis for your first title defense. Not when you can make millions beating a stiff or two while a big-money, big-name fight (with Holyfield or Lewis) would still be on the table. Even if Bowe's camp was very confident about beating Lewis, any objective person would admit that Lewis was a greater threat than Dokes or Mercer/Ferguson. Do I think that's the best approach to take for the sport and fans? No. I wish Bowe fought Lewis right after he won the title. However, it's silly to act like the decision to temporarily duck Lewis had to do with psychological fear as opposed to rational monetary-based decision making.
Lewis beats him any time they fight, stylistically has everything to trouble Bowe, and just a better fighter and boxer
17-6 Lewisatsch Jeez i knew Lewis was overrated but i didnt think it was this badatsch:-( Whats up Classic:huh
Lewis, too big a puncher and Bowe defends himself with his face as well as being unable to deal with a good jab.
Lewis isn't overrated he's right where he should be, Solid top 10 ATG HW Top 5 on most polls on ESB I believe, maybe it's you who has to re-evaluate.:good