Should Riddick Bowe have swallowed his pride and retired after Gollata 1?

No one knew or thought he was shot until after the rematch at the time though.

He was slammed in the press for taking Golota too lightly and coming in fat and unmotivated (and his entourage were blasted for their post fight conduct, Rock Newman in particular) in the first fight. The smart money was on Bowe coming into the rematch in much better shape, motivated and destroying Golota subsequently though. From memory Ring magazine ran a front page article saying just that.

It didn't happen and Bowe looked like absolute sh1t in the rematch and was pounded even worse, which raised queries for some about whether he was shot for both Golota bouts or was he ever that good to begin with. I think a bit of both applies.

 

Maybe he should maybe he shouldn't but in the end at least he tried to do better the second time around. Unfortunately his body wasn't up to it and he was facing a golata who had some thing to prove. He could have said screw this to a rematch but he wanted to avenge for what had happened before. U can't fault the guy for that.

 

He had balls unlike lewis who ducked vitali rematch

 

Listen to how Bowe spoke before the Holyfield fights. Listen to him after their 3rd fight but before the Golota fight. He was already showing signs of brain damage. Of course the Golota fights made it way worse. Which is why he should of retired before the Golota fights.

 

And who was Bowe fighting at the age of 37? Oh, that's right. Gene Pukall.

 

Is something wrong with you? How the hell did Lewis duck Vitali? Lewis was past his prime when they fough. He still won. He took the best Vitali had to offer and still won no matter how you look at it. So you are saying a past his prime fighter has to keep fighting to prove a point? I could see if Lewis refused a rematch and fought somebody else. He just retired. He was past his prime and accomplished all he wanted too.

 

Tell me about it. Lewis beat Vitali when he was 37-38. He was out of shape and unmotivated and still beat a prime Vitali. These people act like Lewis had to stick around and keep boxing way past his prime to prove a point.

 

Yeah some balls, he ducked Lewis & ducked Tyson.

 

I just watched Bowe vs Golota 1 for the first time in years today and man, I forgot how dominate Golota was in this fight. If he could have kept from fouling like crazy to the point of DQ and a stand clearing riot, he would have won the fight easy. If not for the point deductions Golota won every round until the ref had to stop it.

 

Golota should've won that fight.
But he stopped himself from doing that for some reason.

 

He thought the first Golota fight was a fluke. He didn't realize how far his skills had decline.

 

It might have been the 1st fight where Bowe was being interviewed and I couldn't understand a word he said. That shocked me. What's odd is he didn't seem to notice himself. Maybe it just works that way. His first sentence was really slurred but he'd sounded fine before the fight.

 

He should have retired instead of going for the rematch. Golota used Bowe's nuts as a heavybag in both fights. Those shots were vicous, particularly that 3 punch combo that dq'd Golota in the second fight.

 

It clearly did nothing for his legacy fighting on, so I guess it comes down to whether the pay day justified it.

 

I think Bowe is one of the most overrated fighters ever.