Riddick Bowe, was he the avoider or the avoidee?

I read a newspaper clipping (you can find it on Google) where Newman said they were eyeing up Foreman as Bowes next opponent.

I think was just before or just after the 1st Holyfield fight. I cant remember why that fight didn't materialise.

There was a clip on youtube after a Bowe fight where Foreman was commentating and I think Merchant or Lampley asked Foreman when are you going to fight Bowe, to which Foreman starts mumbling incoherently and mentions something about sanctioning bodies or something.

From that clip, I gathered Foreman was definitely scared of Bowe.

I find Bowe really disrespectful towards Tyson as of late. After the Holyfield fight, Bowe was giving shout outs to Tyson and was cheering him on at the Ruddock weigh in, Tyson said him and Bowe were friends and he didn't want to fight him, fast forward to a few years later and Bowe is constantly calling out Tyson.

 

The whole thing of "Bowe and Tyson were friends" makes no sense to me.
Bowe and Holyfield were friends too, that didn't stop them tearing into each other for 3 fights, did it?

 

Signing a contract to defend against a mandatory then publicly being seen throwing a belt in the garbage rather than face that mandatory is pretty black and white for me.

 

yes mercer blew his chance vs bowe losing to ferguson... and once more earlier

so mercer blew his chance twice against bowe and some people on this board are accusing bowe for ducking mercer lol

 

Frazier and Norton did the exact same thing.

 

The garbage can publicity stunt notwithstanding, Lennox Lewis did the same thing in 2000.
He signed a contract to defend against the WBA manadatory contender (Ruiz) but had no intention of doing so. He broke the contract.
I think most of these issues are brought about by the sanctioning bodies insane and corrupt decision-making processes.

 

Bowe and Holyfield were "friends".

 

Regardless, the answer to the thread question is pretty clear in my mind.

 

That's fair.
I do remember Lewis's manager admitted later that he'd rejected a very good offer from the Bowe camp in 1993 though. That suggests it wasn't a one-way street.

 

It's not all Bowe's fault. Rarely can everything be pinned to one man or his management but at the end of the day he just didn't fight enough quality opponents during a loaded era in the division. I think Rock Newman clearly steered him away from some big fights and I think circumstances beyond his control also contributed (Mercer losing to Ferguson) to his very weak resume.

 

He threw the belt in the trash...you tell me...

 

I've never heard that claim before. Not saying its false, but for 25 years its been the consensus that Bowe's camp steered wide and clear of Lewis, particularly in 1993 - the year that Bowe was stripped.

 

Plenty of proof around, all for Lewis........