Riddick Bowe's Power - Top 20 All Time?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Russell, Sep 30, 2008.

  1. Bokaj

    Bokaj Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    I think I'd have him in my top 20 of the hardest punchers. Probably 80-90% of those is from 1985 onwards, the era of the superheavies. He might even make it in the top 10, seeing how he's was a big banger in an era of big bangers.
     
  2. he grant

    he grant Historian/Film Maker

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    The Holyfield comment is interesting because he said in the George Foreman Sports Century doc that George Foreman hit him the hardest he was ever hit ...
     
  3. kickbxn5

    kickbxn5 Active Member Full Member

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    I agree. Bowe did not have many 1 punch ko's. If he learned to throw a straight right hand instaed of looping it, that might have made a difference.
     
  4. PowerPuncher

    PowerPuncher Loyal Member Full Member

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    No chance, just from the last 20years I'd rate the following to have better power in 1punch:

    Lennox Lewis
    Tua
    Tyson
    Bruno
    Rudduck
    McCall

    And possibly

    Morrison
    Wlad Klit
    Sanders
    Rahman
    Ibeauchi

    I just don't see Bowe as having murderous 1 punch power
     
  5. DINAMITA

    DINAMITA Guest

    Ibeabuchi and both Klitschko brothers are harder punchers than McCall and Bruno IMO. Bowe hit harder than Bruno or McCall but not as hard as the Klits. I'm unsure about if he hit harder than Ike.
     
  6. mr. magoo

    mr. magoo VIP Member Full Member

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    No problem. If you don't think he's top 20, then fine. Just remember to list a fighter's stats correctly along with some of the more pertinant facts that lie beneath the surface.
     
  7. DINAMITA

    DINAMITA Guest

    Fair enough, but the difference between what I said and what was true was never really enough to make a difference in this discussion, was it? It was a rather pedantic correction in this context. No offence though, you were right and I was wrong ultimately. Do you yourself think Bowe is one of the top 20 then mate?
     
  8. Sweet Pea

    Sweet Pea Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    I think you underestimate Bruno's power. The guy hit with clubbing force that would've sent damn near any HW reeling if he landed cleanly. Better than Ike and either Klitschko IMO.
     
  9. DINAMITA

    DINAMITA Guest

    I think Bruno's KO ratio is misleading. His standard of opposition is utterly pitiful. And the word you used, "clubbing", is my point in not rating Bruno's power as high as that of the Klitschkos. Bruno didn't punch cleanly and knock people out all the time, he often used his strength to club them to death. His single-punch power was very good, but not great. To KO a top fighter, you need technique and accuracy as well as brute strength. A well-placed hook from Vitali Klitschko would be more concussive than a clubbing swing from Frank Bruno.
     
  10. mr. magoo

    mr. magoo VIP Member Full Member

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    From the standpoint of actual one punch power? No, probably not. In terms of his overall ability to get a fighter out of there before the final bell? He may well be as good as most of them. Again, some of the men who took him the distance were durable fighters who a lot of big punchers couldn't take out either during or even past their primes, while others were a result of technicalities like DQ's or NC's. Joe Louis for example, was able to destroy a lot of fighters due to his composite punching ability, and not necessarily one punch power. Now if you ask a lot of posters if Louis was one of the hardest punchers of all time, most of them will probably say, hell yes, regardless of weather or not his one punch power coincides with that of Marciano, Shavers, Tyson, Foreman, etc..

    P.S. Don't worry about the pedantic stuff.
     
  11. mr. magoo

    mr. magoo VIP Member Full Member

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    I agree with much of what you're saying here, but in all fairness I don't think that Vitali's power is necessarily of the one-punch variety either. Sure, he may hit harder and more cleanly than Bruno, but he also pounded a lot of fighters to submission in similar fashion as Frank. The Corrie Sanders fight, is one example that I would like to refer to. Sanders was never known as being a particularly durable fighter, and he was noticably deconditioned and past his prime when he met Vitali. If you look at the 7th and 8th rounds of that match, Sanders is practically sleep walking with his arms down by his sides, while Vitali continues to nail him with punch after punch, before the eventual stoppage took place. I realize that we can't just draw conclusions with one example, but he actually had several performances like this. On the flipside, if we look at Bruno's performance against Gerrie Coetzee, he cleanly knocked Coetzee through the ropes with a monsterous right cross.
     
  12. DINAMITA

    DINAMITA Guest

    Good post, cheers :good
     
  13. PowerPuncher

    PowerPuncher Loyal Member Full Member

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    Bruno came above Tyson, Foreman and Bowe in a PSI test. Bruno has brutal 1 punch power if you've seen his KOs

    McCall has many 1punch KOs against Lewis, Akiwande and Maskeev

    Wlad Klitchko has excellent 1 punch KO power Vitali DOES NOT have big 1 punch KO power and hasnt ko'd a ranked opponent with 1 shot

    Ibeabuchi has very good 1 punch KO power and did Byrd in with 1 shot pretty much. However I don't think his 1punch power was as great as Bruno or McCall even if he beats them both
     
  14. Russell

    Russell Loyal Member Full Member

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    The truth.

    He launched McCall, literally, backwards across the entire ring into the ropes.

    He made Oliver go into a shell, where as Lennox just pissed him off and taunt him for more.
     
  15. Russell

    Russell Loyal Member Full Member

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    McCall's punch is massively underrated.

    Just because he didn't have great handspeed and technique or even boxing ability to set those shots up doesn't mean he didn't have a lot of raw power.

    When he had Steward giving him directions on how to actually connect with Lennox... Well, we saw what happened there.