I would say Holyfield makes Hide look like **** in that department and yet he was only able to badly hurt Bowe in the third fight, which more proves the point Im making here.
-Oh come on..Evander is superior overall to Hide but he is not a KO artist like he was, certainly wasn't the type to put guys out cold and leave them in comas. -Evander was packing some crazy upper body bulk in the third fight, and Bowe was sloppier than usual. Not surprising anyway, going toe to toe with Evander for three fights, a perfect monster left hook like that was bound to connect eventually. Evander had developed that punch pretty well around this time, even dropping the sturdy Mercer with it. -Sure Bowe slacked off as a fighter..but a noticable decline in punch resistance? I don't see any overwhelming evidence.
A little too much hyperbole. Not a surprise. Boxing fans tend to think in extremes far too often. Shot should be reserved for two instances; being so foregone you literally can't pull the trigger or avoid punches you should, and actually being literally shot. So in my definition, shot is Ali against Holmes or Berbick and Cleveland Williams against Ali.
[url]http://www.examiner.com/sports-profile-in-national/biofile-interview-with-riddick-bowe[/url] Hardest Puncher: "I think Herbie Hide got that department. (Really?) Absolutely. With either hand. A guy like that...look how many guys Herbie has knocked out. That's an understatement. I mean, guys remember our fight as a mismatch but Herbie Hide was the hardest hitting guy I ever fought, big or small. No question. Herbie Hide. Actually, I'm gonna tell you something I never told nobody before...Herbie Hide had me out on my feet. It was instinct. I never went down. But fatigue beat him. And because I had enough chance to maintain my composure. He was somewhat scared and leery that he burned himself out. But Herbie Hide is the hardest hitting guy I ever fought." there you go...from bowe's mouth
he was already shot by the 3 rd holy fight........even though he won and his weight was down ....he didnt look as good as in 92/93...:smoke
Look I never said Hide couldnt punch. I know he had a stellar KO record. All Im saying is Bowe might not have ever gotten hurt by Hide if he was in better shape, just like he might not ever have gone down against Holyfield if he was in better shape, (he had taken comparable punches in two prior fights). Same goes for Golota...THe point is Bowe was not a well conditioned fighter who kept himself in proper shape, so the punches he was hit with in the last two years of his first career, did a lot more damage and affected him more and proof was how easily he was getting hurt and going down when he hadnt in the past.
Holyfield has knocked down Mike Tyson, Ray Mercer and Riddick Bowe. What has Hide done to prove he is a more accurate sharpshooter than Holyfield? Yes he punches hard and had a big KO percentage but besides hurting Bowe, he never hurt another top class fighter. Bowe was sloppy against Hide as well. Holyfield hit Bowe just as cleanly in two prior fights, its just Bowe could no longer take flush clean power shots. You dont see any overwhelming evidence? Look at the last two years of his first career 95,96 and what happen in the last five or six fights. I think the evidence is very clear.
What you are describing is a fighter who though poor discipline has declined steadily over a period of time. I would not regard that as a definition of shot, a shot fighter can be in great physical condition and have an excellent level of fitness but still be unable to pull the trigger and lack the same co-ordination he had while during his prime. Holyfield for example is now shot despite looking after himself and training as hard as he ever had. Bowe simply got lazy, fat and complacent. Other fighters like Toney have shown just as bad discipline while fighting at the highest level like Bowe yet nobody said Toney was shot during his physical prime when he lost to Griffin and Thadzi at a similar age to when Bowe lost to Golota. Why does Bowe get an easy pass and get called shot when he suddenly loses but an equally lazy and undisicplined fighter like Toney is just undisciplined and lazy. Yes he was in a steady decline since he won the title but when did he suddenly go from being just lazy and fat to being shot? Seems too convenient that Bowe suddenly became shot when he faced or just before he faced Golota.
Bowe was in his prime for the first Holyfield bout and he gave an exceptional performance. He was never the same. His conditioning and focus went down hill ... he did look O.K. against Hide and Gonzalez but not that good. He was very sloppy. His conditioning and muscle tone were poor. He was clearly a fighter who did enough in training camp to defeat limited opposition but he was no where near the man who first fought Evander . He was also getting hit far too much. Bowe looked bad against Golata. He was slow. His body lacked muscle tone. He got hit a lot and his ability to absorb punishment seemed to have deteriorated ... he seemed weak and his own punches lacked snap ... he was simply a watered down version of himself. In the rematch he tried to be inbetter shape but it seemed that he lost weight and muscle .. he looked terribly thin in the upper body and his ability to absorb punches was less than ever .. he was simply a fighter on the downward slide ...
Bowe was completely shot in my opinion in the 3rd Evander Holyfield fight. Win or not, his reaction time and ability to take a punch were gone. Yes he was on a steady decline because of laziness and lack of preparation, but that also contributes to a fighter becoming shot and there were plenty of signs of his decline leading up the Holy 3. Bowe was very determined in the last Golota fight, but his reflexes and legs were pretty much gone.. As far as Toney, you never saw him getting knocked down or hurt badly or taking a lot of punishment. He may have also become lazy and complacent in his training, but his ability to fight and defend himself was still very much in tact. Bowe just became a stationary punching bag with a lot of heart, and that got him through fights against Holyfield and Golota. There is no comparison to Holyfield. Bowe was going life and death with club level fighters in his comeback, whereas Holyfield is still competitive in some sense with top 25-30 level competitiors. Holyfield may be shot, but hes not completely shot like Bowe has become. A fighter can become completely shot in a relatively short period of time, but as always there are tell tale signs as in the case with Bowe. Look at Jones Jr, his decline was somewhat hidden by the fact that he continued to win, but there were signs he was slowing. Once he was knocked out by Tarver he really was never the same.
Bowe wasn't shot in the first fight in my opinion, he simply took Golota lightly and had already shown signs of slowing down and lacking motivation in his recent fights. He obviously drained himself in training for the rematch and took a horrible beating, after which he could never have been the same.
Bowe wasnt shot - he was just never that good unless he had a masssive weight advantage or was fighting sub par opposition. Hence his running like a girls away from Lewis
Tyson was a bit overweight against Nielson. But that's about the verge of being very past it to shot. Against Lewis, I think he was actually a somewhat capable fighter for a few rounds but he was practically a tranquilized animal the way he walked into the ring and looked before the opening bell in comparison to his ferocious heyday. He was shot against Williams (Although fighting decently till his knee injury). He was zero doubt shot against McBride. Bowe against Golota, though; was just past his prime. Not shot, it's just not fair to Golota. Peak Bowe would beat Golota up but it's not like Golota wouldn't give him some trouble. I'm sure Bowe would handle himself far better, though.