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

:rofl:rofl:rofl

Anyway, Lewis by KO

 

Lewis by stoppage in the 5th.

 

Weather or not Bowe had the ability to beat Lewis is one thing. He certainly never had the belief.

 

I dont know about that. Bowe really felt like he got a bum decision in the olympics. He always felt the ref stopped the fight prematurely and watching it, I agree. Also Bowe was progressing a lot quicker as a pro compared to Lewis. Lewis looked great against Ruddock but he had some fairly inconsistent performances after that against Bruno and Mcall which proved he really wasnt ready to fight guys on the level of Holyfield and Bowe.
Bowe had beaten the worlds best in Evander Holyfield as well, so to say he was scared of Lewis or thought he couldnt beat him was pure speculation.
Lewis wasnt equipped at that point to keep the fight on balance and at range, and would have most likely fought like he did against his other opponents at that time, and that was at closer range, without a calculated jab and with poor balance. That would have played into Bowe's style perfectly and Bowe was technically a far better fighter than Lewis was at that point in time.
How many fighters have beaten fighters in the olympics and lost to them in pros? Lewis is the only one that everyone automatically assumes would beat Bowe because he beat him in the olympics, and that is purely based on the fact that Bowe trashed the WBC belt to maximize his earning potential, before facing Lewis down the line.
Facts are Bowe had more fights against better competition, he was trained by Eddie Futch who completely changed and improved his style, and Lewis went on to prove how green he really was at that time as a pro by his inconsistent performances.
Lewis was lucky he didnt get Bowe at that time, because Bowe would have most likely done a number on him had they fought that early.

 

I believe the two were on their way to fighting each other again when Bowe took a "tune-up" against Golota.

Lewis would surely beat that version of Bowe. The Bowe who fought Holyfield the first time might take advantage of Lewis's flaws in 1992-1993 although it could still go either way but prime for prime I'd say that Lewis would win.

 

But Lefthook, I'm not trying to be rude here, this isn't about them fighting in '93...it's '92 Bowe vs '99 Lewis, basically prime vs prime.

In which case, I don't think I need to post my pick, for people to guess what it is.
I'll just say that Lewis and Holyfield are different fighters that present different obstacles to overcome, and I'm not confident Bowe is capable of that against the very best Lewis.

 

Lennox would have always knocked Bowe out, Bowe knew it, NEwman knew it, Lennox knew it, its just some posters on ESB that don't know

 

Whats there to figure out here, Lennox loved smashing big guys with open defenses and Bowe would have just been another 1 of those. See the Golota/Rudduck/Grant fights to see how this goes. Not to mention Bowe couldnt get past a jab to save his life

 

Your right, I guess it didnt register. Im probably one of the few that believes the best Bowe could beat any version of Lennox Lewis. Lewis never faced anyone like Bowe at his best. Beating guys like Mike Grant and Shannon Briggs was not in the same league as a prime Bowe. Bowe had a good chin, he was mean, and could fight just as well on the outside as the inside when he wanted to. He would have presented some serious challenges to Lewis, who never looked great against the better techincally skilled fighters. Lewis was outjabbed by Bruno and outfought on the inside by Mercer. Bowe was a big man who brought both of these dimensions to a fight only better, and I think with Futch in his corner, he would have outclassed any version of Lennox.

 

So your putting Bowe in the same class as those guys because of his height??:-(

 

I favor Lewis imo.

 

I think Bowe's better but styles make fights, Lennox has the speed advantage, will find Bowe easy to hit with big rights and control with his jab. Lennox is the most effective punchers in the last 20years, even Vitali's defense succumbed to a past it Lennox's punches. Actually Golota/Rudduck certainly performed aswell as Bowe, Golota retiring him for 1

Bowe never fought any big punchers and his lapse defense would be punnished against any version of Lennox

 

Since when is struggling like hell winning 9 rounds in a 12round fight? Holyfield was bigger/stronger and more tactically aware.

 

Thats not true, he faced some big punchers and blasted them out. He was capable of taking a pretty good shot to get inside. Lack of defense? Or willingness to get inside to mix it up, ie, Ray Mercer, who didnt have near the fire power or infighting ability as Bowe, but still managed to do a number on Lewis.

 

He never faced any proven HW punchers though, he took good shots because he wasnt in with big punchers. When Herbie Hide is the biggest puncher you've faced it says you havent been in with the big punchers, which the 90s was stacked with

Since when does winning 4 rounds equate to Mercer doing a number on Lewis? Why look at 1 of Lewis's worst performances? Doing a number on someone is more like what Golota did to Bowe or McCall to Lewis. I wouldn't even call Tubbs/Holyfield jabbing Bowe to pieces doing a number, but that clearly exposed his weakness to the jab, something Lennox had in abundance with a more substancial reach

I'm not saying Bowe loses to anyone, just Lennox who is a great KO artist and excellent jabber, its all wrong for Big Daddy