Very good or great? Volume 7: Riddick Bowe

I wanted Rock Newman to run into the ring and start something with Holyfield. God help me, I really did. Evander would sort of curl that eyebrow, expose his mouthpiece and tilt his head the way a confused pitbull does so it can figure out what it is he's about to bite in half.


.................God, that would have been so cool.

 

Newman was a *****. Even more so than Lou Duva. I couldn't stand the guy's mouth or his attitude and it went beyond show business. I think he was a genuine ass.

 

I think the problem with a guy like Bowe is that whether or not you think he was great had nothing to do with how you felt his resume stacked up, or even how good you thought he looked on film but rather what you define greatness as. We'll call it the Tokyo Douglas conundrum: does a brilliant performance mean that you were, even for one night a great fighter, or did you merely fight great? Is Bowe a fighter who fought great a few times, or is he great fighter who underachieved? I started this sure I had a point... Maybe its that unlike other guys in the series with Bowe this really depends on how you define greatness in boxing. With Genaro Hernandez or Terry Norris or whoever that's more about how you weigh the various elements of greatness: resume, dominance, quality of opposition etc. for Bowe its a difficult, more semantic question.

 

very good with the potential to have become agreat one. but did not live up to his potential.
to bad cause he had the right atributes. just not the right mindset.

 

This guy beat a 100% prime holyfield, that alone makes him great.

 

Bowe was great, he just had a short prime.

 

Unquestionably great :yep

Great attributes, great wins, great fights & he packed so much entertainment into a fairly short time, even his manager & corner got involved in the wild, crazy but unmissable career of Bowe.

 

He might have be able to do it without suffering brain damage had he beaten him on the outside.

No offense to Bowe, he was a great infighter but when you're a shw fighting mother****ing Holyfield it's best to stay outside.
He could do it, but not the smartest fight ever.

Oh well, terrific infighter for a shw

 

Very good and very far from great. Had all the tools and ability just not the dedication. Great win versus prime Holyfield.

 

Outside of the Holyfield wins, his resume is poor.

Definitely not great, just very good.

 

Bowe was very good. He never had a good enough defense. This prevented him from ever being a great fighter.

 

Back and forth on this one but you know what I consider Bowe to be great... I feel when on top of his game he was in the same league as any heavyweight who ever lived and his great trilogy vs a clearly great fighter Evander Holyfield which he got the best of solidifies Bowe as a great for me....:thumbsup