Riddick Bowe vs. Tim Witherspoon

Bowe avoided punchers? Who? I think he was in more of a heavyweight doldrum during his peak. Look at the top contenders, Mercer was knocked off by Ferguson, Ruddock was KO'd by Lewis. Besides Holyfield and Lewis there was little else.
Every fighter lacks something, even the great ones. A short right is far less lacking than his lack of ability to stay in shape. While he possessed excellent overall talent, (and I would argue he started off with a nice righthand before becoming a looper), he never lived up to it. Bowe faced his fair share of decent contenders, but his reign will always be remembered by his fights with Holyfield and his poor showings against Golota.

 

The version of Bowe that beat Holyfield in 1993 that was 34-0 would completly dismantle Mr. Witherspoon of any time frame. Tim was rather inconsistant with sporadic losses sprinkled in throughout his career yet his first three losses were to legitmates such as Larry Holmes , a PEAKED version of Pinklon Thomas and a tough " Bonecrusher Smith" that he had beat a year earlier by a wide decision . Bowe was by far the better fighter the whole way around.

 

I don't know if I'd make that generalization. Yes, he absolutely avoided Lennox Lewis and perhaps even a few others, but Herbie Hide, Jorge Luis Gonzalez, Andrew Golata, Bert Cooper and Bruce Seldon were all guys who could crack. Some of them were also riding pretty good winning streaks when he met them..

 

bowe of the first holyfield fight takes a close but unanimous decision

 

That's what I'm thinking too. Bowe was simply more established and better developed at age 25 than Witherspoon was. He was a successful amateur who had competed in the olympics and was now a 31-0 professional. His victory over a prime Evander would trump just about anything that Spoon ever did. I can see even a 15-0 Witherspoon giving Bowe fits, but at the end of the day, Tim lacked that extra something special to seal the deal..

 

Ok, you wouldn't make that generalization. I of course, do.

Bowe conveniently seems to have avoided the guys that Lewis faced. Where Lewis faced Morrison, Ruddock, Tyson, Tua, Rahman, Mercer, McCall, Briggs, Riddick managed to seemingly side-step the vast majority of big, hard-hitting fighters of the time.

 

Not so sure of that. Bowe wasn't exactly Mr.Consistent himself and you can be sure that the driven Witherspoon would be giving Riddick something to think about as he tapped that ass.

 

You have to look at the timing of some of those fights though. Bowe was scheduled to fight Mercer in the spring of 1993, when Ray blew it by losing to Ferguson. McCall was nobody prior to beating Lewis, and wasn't exactly what I would call a truly big puncher anyway. Tua and Rahman didn't emerge until AFTER Bowes career was basically on the way out. Ruddock would have been a good match, but again timing was of the essence and their career paths didn't exactly cross. Morrison would have been a take it or leave it fight for me, and Probably a mismatch for Bowe anyway.

 

Riddick Bowe only lost one fight his entire pro career, say what you will about avoidance of certain punchers . Witherspoon lost 6 out of 7 fights in late 96' through mid 99' . Don't get me wrong Tim was good but Bowe was better with his height and reach advantage. How do you feel about that, EH ?

 

Witherspoon fought Mercer and lost.

 

While I agree that Bowe should be favored over Witherspoon, I think that you're being a tad unfair by using Spoon's losing streak from 1996 onward as a comparison. He was somewhere between 38-41 years of age within that stretch of time. He was also arguably robbed in the Mercer fight.

A reasonable comparison is to take Witherspoon anywhere from 1983-1986 and place him against Bowe from maybe 1992-1995.

 

Tua Rahman and Briggs were barely contenders during Bowe's heyday. The first of these contenders to step up the big time was Golota and that was in 96 when Bowe was finished. Tyson was imprisoned, Mercer not a big puncher and lost his chance against Ferguson, Mcall and Morrison were not huge threats to Bowe really. Again, he came up in the transition period, and while Lewis bloomed into the dominant champion he became, Bowe wilted into retirement, just as these younger fighters you mentioned were emerging into contender status.

 

I was refering to Tim's inconsistencies scattered amongst his resume . And yes 83-86 was Tim's peak having lost to a legendary Holmes BUT beating a seasoned Greg Page ,Frank Bruno and Renaldo Snipes were the most notable wins IMO. Although I think Tim beat Snipes in 81 or 82 before he lost to Holmes but it should be considered a highlight win IMO.,------- I remember Renaldo knocking Larry Holmes on his ass midway through their title fight but Larry was too much for him in the end.

 

Bowe would win a close, UD in a 12 round fight, 15, I may lean more to Witherspoon.

 

As much of a badass Bowe was, Spoon is has too much talent for him. His KO punch is harder, can think on his feet, great defensivly, has a much better record. I think we are talking at their peak timeframe, right? I think Tim is om his way to a hard fought, but clear ein, and knocks Bowe out lats.