riddick bowe vs lennox lewis

Lewis was better than Holy, whatever other "well roundedness" you are talking about fine I guess. As long as we agree that Lewis was better.

Lewis would of smashed you Dino :bbb

 

Lewis had the clearly superior jab. Holyfield matched jabs with Bowe in their 2nd fight, Biggs was jabbing Bowe's head off in their fight. Lewis easily out jabbed both Holyfield and Biggs when they fought. Bowe's jab was very overrated.

Bowe had terrible movement it's his worst attribute. It's why guys that moved always gave him trouble, Evander in the 2nd fight, Tubbs, Biggs, Hide and Golota all out boxed him with their movement. Lewis had far quicker feet and lateral movement. Look at the Biggs fight. Lewis was able to get in range before Biggs could get off, when Bowe tried to slowly cut off the ring against Biggs he ate jab after jab as he was too slow to get inside unlike Lewis who could just explode towards Biggs and be in range and get off before Biggs could react. Same with the Golota fight, Lewis was able to jump on Golota and get his shots off far faster then Bowe did because of his quicker feet.

Bowe did not have better fundamentals. Too many fans equate his proficiency on the inside as being sound technically. He was great on the inside but from range he had huge holes in his game. His jab as mentioned was overrated, he didn't move his head enough, he was far too easy to hit, which led in part to his early decline, his footwork was poor and slow, he couldn't throw a straight right hand, he always looped it. Bowe was an exciting fighter but people shouldn't confuse being entertaining with quality.

I also think Lewis was always underrated on the inside. He was usually seen as a pure distance boxer puncher but in reality he was very competent in close for a tall heavy, he just rarely used it because one he didn't have to and two it wouldn't be tactically sound for him to fight inside too often. When Lewis had to fight inside as in the fights with Mercer, Vitali and Grant he was solid, not as good as Bowe but he had size, strength and a brutal uppercut in close that made him far from a walkover on the inside.

 

You are not wrong in your assessment of Lewis' footwork, he could over balance himself and cross his feet due to his desire to sometimes look for the big punch.

But he still had better footwork than Bowe. Not because Lewis' was so great, but because Bowe's was so bad. Bowe had some of the slowest feet I've seen from a supposedly great heavyweight, it looked fine when he had smaller heavies like Evander coming straight to him and movement wasn't an issue, but if his opponent used any movement he was left looking like a beached whale and at a loss, only his size and power helped him out, like in the Hide fight.

Bowe of 93 as an inside fighter was beautiful to watch and technically sound I won't disagree with you there. But you can't ignore the other flaws in his game. He was far too easy to hit, is a fighter who ate punches as easily as Bowe really technically sound? Is the criteria of technical proficiency only judged by offense and not defense? Then there was his jab, great as a weapon to set up an attack, very poor in terms of controlling range. His right hand was far from technically perfect, he looped the hell out of it, couldn't throw a straight right hand with good form if his next meal depended on it.

Bowe for me was basically a heavyweight Diego Corrales. A tall, exciting fighter who was powerful and surprisingly good inside, but also surprisingly ordinary when fighting from range despite his height.

 

I'm not a Lewis fan and found his demeanour extremely irritating but without a doubt he knocks out Bowe. Bowe was the more exciting fighter but stylistically he wouldn't have matched well with Lewis and that coupled with a less than stellar defence would have been the difference. Lewis always delivered in big fights especially when presented with a challenge, his two defeats shouted complacency without question and he would not have overlooked Bowe. Difficult fight for both guys but i reckon one or two scares aside Lewis takes it. Lewis KO 5 Bowe:good

 

Intelligence refers to in ring IQ ,which Lewis hsd over Bowe and better jab .Bowe was not a power puncher ,getting into a shoot out with Lewis results a k.o loss for him ,Lewis 84 inch reach would dictate this fight . Bowes inside fighting consisted of shot picking and shoulder rolling while turning away from punches then countering ,Lewis would hsve just stepped back and throw those long arms out there to avoid the inside fighting .

Bowe hit Holyfield alot and with more direct shots than Foreman did at a higher pace ,the equal sized Lewis wouldn't be trading with Bowe ,i pick Lewis to win with or without Steward and its mainly based on the Golotafights because Bowe was nuetralized in two fights by Golota and his jab ,and thats the closest guy at 6'4 240 that he fought that came close to Lewis .

 

Im not a Bowe fan in any way , but he definitely beats Lewis. Admitting im not a fan of Bowe makes my argument stronger than yours.

 

Lewis by late TKO.

 

Bowe ducked Lewis. Says all that needs to be said about what HE thought of his chances.

Lewis wins.

 

I'd pick Bowe personally. I was a big Lewis fan at the time but he had weaknesses in the early 90s, I think Bowe would beat him up and win on points. Lesser fighters had success against Lennox applying pressure and what Bowe did in defeating a prime Holyfield can never be underestimated. Steward Lewis might do better but the actual time they were likely to fight, Bowe had it imo. Stupid of him to allow the fight to get away, could have improved his legacy no end before the spiral.

 

the night bowe beat holyfield he probably beats any heavy all time other the clay

 

That's preposterous. Bowe had the boxing iq to go toe to toe with a guy that he was taller than, outweighed, and had a longer reach. That's got to be the dumbest game plan for a superheavy I have ever seen.

 

ya, what was his trainer thinking.........guy musta been a clown......errrrrrrr