Riddick Bowe vs Vitali Klitschko

I personally dont think much of Turner as a trainer.

 

That's how I've always felt about King's boy Richie Giachetti...... Giachetti screams and hollers too much and never truly coaches his kid in the fight..... Or Richie says the basic ****: "Pump The Jab And Come Over With The Right, Followed By The Hook. Do You Hear Me Goddammit?

MR.BILL:bbb

 

You're right. I still thought Giachetti was better for Tyson than Jay bright, who was just clueless. People forget Giachetti was in the corner for the second Holy fight. He didnt have much sustained luck with Tyson.:yep

 

Tucker was losing? WTF?

There's nothing lucky about outlasting and outgutting your opponent in a very close fight, certainly not on the planet i reside on.

 

I agree, it wasnt lucky, and somewhat typical of Douglas before his showing against Tyson. Holyfield brought out the same Douglas who didnt really prepare himself to well anyway. He had the skills, just not too much desire to be in rough and hard fights.

 

Did Bowe really duck LL in the mid-90s?

 

Good point. If Mr. Bill's criticism coincided with how fights were judged, then I suppose Ali's win over Foreman doesn't count.

 

I don't know if there was a challenge on the table during the MID 90's, but in late 1992, following his win over Holyfield, Bowe blatantly threw away his title and broke a binding contract, holding him to what could have been the biggest match of the decade.

 

Exactly, no luck at all Buster faded like he always did ( except in Tyson)....Tucker beat him convincingly

 

Tucker was the best of all the 80's contenders. He had skill, a good chin and a decent punch, plus really he was the first big man with these type of skills. Drugs probably kept him under the radar a bit and diminished what he could have been. He basically went into the Tyson fight with a fractured hand and shattered it badly in the opening rounds.

 

I like Vitali here. Bad matchup for Bowe.

I'm watching Vitali-Lewis as I type this, and what a fight it was. Lewis was in the worst shape of his career to be fair though, and Vitali came to fight. He landed some bombs early on against Lennox that pretty much disproved the notion that Lewis had a weak chin. Vitali was really hungry in that fight, he's not even close to the same guy now as he was back then.

I think Bowe is in trouble against skilled SHW's with good straight shots. His style/strengths/weaknesses make him very tough to beat if you're a brawler, but against guys like Lennox/Vitali/Golota the holes in his game get exploited. It's hard for me to pick guys under 220 to beat Bowe, the guy's the best superheavy of all time on the inside and one of the two best offensive superheavies of all time in my opinion, maybe the best. He also is one of the toughest SOB's to ever step in the ring. I give the edge to Vitali based primarily on styles, but it would be a brawl.

 

By 80's contenders do you mean everyone not named Tyson or Holmes?

I'm fairly impressed by Tucker on film but there's a few 80's alpha champs who I'd not only rank above him in terms of resume (more than a few if it's resume) but head to head as well.
Witherspoon, Dokes, and Thomas were three really, really good fighters that I'd pick to beat any version of Tucker assuming they themselves were close to their A game.

I do agree though that Tucker had potential coming out of his ears. It's a pity, being 6'5 with his agility and chin he should of been able to accomplish so much more.

 

Exactly Tucker was a good fighter, but overrated.

He beat nobody of note prior to fighting Tyson despite his unbeaten record going in.

He won the vacant IBF title against a nobody named Buster Douglas. He was never truly a world Champion when you consider the the title was made vacant by the unbeaten Michael Spinks in 1987, who was the man who beat the man, while Tucker beat a Buster Douglas who was a nobody.

 

I like Vitali here. Bowe was not much for defense, and tended to lose focus at times.

 

Yes. I rate him highly from a skill point. He may not have accomplished as much as those guys you mentioned, but I think he was a better fighter overall.