The Riddick Bowe who beat Holyfield in their first fight vs Lennox Lewis who beat

Lewis UD12

 

This is a good question. And is never fully addressed by those who are so harsh in their criticism of Bowe and his manager.

I actually accept the simple statement "Bowe ducked Lewis" in the immediate aftermath of his win over Holyfield. But I really cant imagine other fighters doing otherwise in similar circumstances. It's tradition for a new young champion to look for an easy first defence, esp. after such a gruelling fight.
Lewis was not the easy fight they were looking for, and he'd hardly broken a sweat dispatching Ruddock so of course he'd be keen to press for an immediate fight.
There's no precedent for Bowe to have followed where he jumps straight from a gruelling 12-round super performance over someone as tough as Holyfield to fighting this bona fide undefeated young "killer" 4 months later.

What's under-acknowledged is that the WBC had beef with Bowe's manager Rock Newman going back a year or 18 months prior, and it wasn't connected in any way to Lennox Lewis. The WBC were eager to put pressure on Bowe, support Lewis, and of course they were keen to do the work of Don King who had Ruddock and then Tucker lined up as his ways back into controlling the division (which he'd lost when Holyfield had become Champion).

The WBC are not consistent, there's no principle of fairness that dicatates their decisions. They would have bent over backwards to give Bowe the chance at a "gimme" defense and a respite if they'd been on better terms with Rock Newman.
Then again, Newman and Bowe knew all this before they got the Holyfield fight. It's all politics and horse-trading.

Another thing that is under-acknowledge is that Frank Maloney, Lewis's manager, actually admitted that Newman made him two offers to fight Lewis and the time, and one of them was reasonable (and included them both having an easy warm-up for big money), but he "felt obliged to go along with the WBC, because they'd been good to us".

Bowe and Newman brought in on themselves really, all's fair in war and politics, and being "outsiders" didn't help them. Sometimes you have to play the game a bit better, with the crooks like Sulaiman and King and boxing establishment. Some people just aren't worth pissing off.
But if Bowe had thrashed Holyfield in the rematch 12 months later like he was supposed to, things might have turned out better for them.

Yes, Bowe ducked Lewis. But people need to study the context and the reality.

 

Yeah, that's my point.
Lewis gets almost praised for struggling with Mercer, who was actually in the same category as old Dokes, Tubbs and Ferguson - three guys who Bowe gets no respect for fighting, whether he struggles or blows them away.

 

I agree with your statements, but also Im sure holding onto two more belts was a big factor in their decision. Had Bowe only had the WBC title, Im quite certain Newman would have made the Lewis fight, because they were not a controlling factor in the division. It was Bowe and Newman, and Bowe was shopped around on a fight by fight basis.

 

The thing your happily ignoring about Tubbs is HE HADNT FACED ANYONE WHO WAS TOP 100 IN THE WORLD AFTER TYSON. Ofcourse hes not going to have losses. And no its not a case of '**** happens' with Tubbs being KO'd 2 years after Bowe he was twice KO'd in the first round by complete nobodies who probably werent top100 fighters either

You claim I'm biased then say 'not losing to the Jesse Fergusons of this world', no your right it took great fighters like Lionel Butler and Jimmy Ellis to KO Tubbs in the first. I suppose you consider Lionel Buttler a great win for Lennox

Mercer was a hot and cold fighter but we know he was at his very best against Lewis and Holyfield giving both close fights. Tubbs never gave an elite HW other than Bowe a close fight (and Witherspoon/Page arent up there with this class) and showed nothing post-Tyson outside of beating Bowe to put him up there as a contender

 

Ferguson was 6-9 in his last 15 coming into the Bowe fight. Dokes was destroyed by Rudduck and Holyfield and nearly 35 but I suppose he did beat the great Jesse Ferguson since those loses Theres a good reason both those fights were widely considered jokes as title defenses

Again Mercer was a top10 contender throughout the 90s at his best when Lennox fought him, Tubbs/Dokes/Ferguson were not

 

Not true. In 1989, he defeated a prime top 10 contender in Orlin Norris, but the decision was reversed to a no contest due to Marijuana showing up in Tubbs urine.

As you say, his first round KO loss to Butler came two years after the Bowe defeat, while his defeat to Ellis came even later. A lot can change about a fighter in this time frame, especially when reaching the age of 34-35. As it stands, he was in great form for the Bowe fight, and let's not pretend that he troubled the man who beat Evander Holyfield, as Riddick was still about 10 fights away from taking the title.

Common, he was 35 years of age, off for full year, hadn't beaten a rated contender since 1991, was at a near career high weight and coming off a mixed bag of losses, draws or close wins against lesser opposition. Making a single strong effort against an elite fighter does not always reflect being at a person's best. When Chris Pontius and I have this debate, I at least accept his claim that Lewis " fought a stupid fight ", but claiming that Mercer was at his best is just pure damage control.

 

1. Im concede I wasnt aware of that
2. No the Butler KO1 loss came 1 year after Bowe, the Ellis KO1 2years after
3. When had Mercer ever looked as impressive as when he gave Lewis and Holyfield tough fights? Maybe Mercer wasnt performing well in other fights because he just needed a big fight to get up for?

 

Tyson unified the belts Bowe broke them up .

Tyson did more in 3 years then Bowe did in most of his carreer

Tyson ducked NOBODY in his first reign Bowe clearly ducked Lewis and in the second best hw era suspiciously did not fight most elite punchers.

Bowe got his ass kicked by Golota TWICE only to ''win'' because of Golotats own stupidity Every elite HW Golota fought destroyed him within a few rounds its only Bowe who needed luck to get the ''win'' over Golota

Bowe is easily the biggest waste of HW talent ever


those are just a few of the reasons why rightly or wrongly Tyson will always be better regarded then Bowe.

 

Tyson didnt have Lewis as his first defense either. He also unified the title against Trevor Berbick, Bonecrusher Smith and Tony Tucker. Different circumstances my friend.

 

Tubbs only fought two elite fighters. 1 out of 2 aint bad. He got caught by a nasty lefthook from Tyson but was boxing ok up until that point. Tubbs also had drug problems and would later admit going into a lot of fights after Bowe high on cocaine, but I would say he was a very good fighter, and prime for prime I would pick him over Mercer.

 

No,no,no!
Mercer was a lot better than Ferguson, and Dokes was pretty far gone by the time Bowe fought him. Tubbs was a good win though.
It also has too be noted that Mercer was the very model of inconsistancy!

 

Mercer was beaten by Ferguson and the rematch was almost the same thing.

 

1. No problem. It was a rather obscure affair anyway.

2. Okay, I'll concede that one, but I think we can both agree that it doesn't take long for a fighter in his mid 30's to take a plunge even after a competitive performance.

3. Was it really a matter of Mercer looking impressive, or were Lewis and Holy just not up to their very best? Remember, Evander was coming off a layoff following a loss and some health issues, yet he became the first man to deck Mercer. Lewis had just changed management ( albeit for the better ), and was fighting Mercer's type of fight rather than utilizing a sizeable reach and far superior boxing ability..

 

I think it was Mercer looking impressive. To me those two fights were the best he could be. It was kind of last chance for him too after the big disappointment of losing to Ferguson and Holmes. He was never a great fighter, but he showed a lot of heart and always had a good chin and jab, just somewhat limited overall.
Mercer was also like Bowe in that he was represented by a manager who shopped him on a fight basis, and he was always having trouble getting big fights. If it wasnt for both Lewis and Holyfield having to prove something he probably wouldnt have ever gotten a big fight.