What if Bowe had faced Lewis in his first defense

Show me where I said he was an average fighter. He did have an average outside game, and is extremely overrated because of being in the right place at the right time to fight Holyfield, who was tailor made for Bowe stylistically.

Please direct me to a fight where he defeated a decent opponent utilizing his outside game and maybe I'll believe you when you say it's above average. The Holyfield fights his best work was done on the inside and he got his ass kicked by Golota from long range. His outside game looked very average against them and they're the only top flight heavyweights he ever fought. If I'm to judge how he'd fare against Lewis in a fight contested from long distance the only fight I can really go on is his fight against Golota, because Golota's the only decent big man he ever fought against. You can say we're not talking about the Bowe that fought Golota but how am I supposed to judge how Bowe matches up against LL when he was fighting tomato cans, journeymen, glass jawed fringe contenders most of his career?

With Bowe he only fought two legit top level heavyweights, so those are the only fights I can judge him on when stacking him up against someone like LL. In his 5 fights against Golota and Holyfield he showed he had a poor defense, a low ring IQ and that he was susceptible to both the jab and the right hand from range. Bowe fans love to say he was "shot" when he fought Golota, but Holyfield never had any problem hitting him with clean shots either

 

Donald was a fringe contender, a solid opponent but never even close to a top level fighter, not to mention packs little punch, so bringing him up is useless in trying figure how a fight against Lennox Lewis would pan out. Sorry but defeating a light punching fringe contender like Donald tells very little about how he'd fare against Lewis

You seem confused about what you're trying to say. You continue to mention Rahman in your posts but then you say we're talking about 1993 so which is it?

You can twist and turn all you want but the fact is Bowe was steered clear of big punchers for basically his entire career by his management. Normally there's a reason for that. And aside from Holyfield and Golota his level of opposition was so low that it's useless to bring up any of his fights aside from the Holyfield and Golota fights when talking about how he would fare against other top level heavyweights

 

I can't stand Roy Jones and pretty much only follow heavyweights. Again, Bowe had two chances with Golota. He gave it his best and he had his moments. Bottom line, he got destroyed BOTH times. However, I believe Lewis would have had his hands full with Bowe, regardless.

 

Well if that's the case, why couldn't one just as easily say that Douglas too achieved his potential and just couldn't sustain it. Isn't longivity one of the key components in judging a fighter?

And as far as Ruddock goes, HBO certainly has a different take on Ruddock than you do.

"Undefeated at 21-0, Lewis challenged the ferocious Donovan "Razor" Ruddock on Halloween, 1992. The winner of the bout was expected to battle the winner of the Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe bout in a heavyweight elimination tournament that had been agreed upon by all four combatants.

Lewis propelled himself to the top of the heavyweight class by flooring the menacing Ruddock three times to earn a second round stoppage. The victory had seemingly assured Lewis of a shot at the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world (TKO 2)."

And of course we all know that Bowe reneged on his comment to fight Lewis and potentially avenge his olympic defeat and perhaps prove to Lewis who the better pro was. Why?

The answer's so obvious that it's not worth restating. :yep

 

Too bad Bowe himself didn't believe that, then we wouldn't be guessing about the outcome.

 

Do you actually have any logical evidence or arguments to back that up?

The fact that you're even referencing glass jawed journeymen like Bert Cooper and Bruce Seldon in Bowe's defense shows how shallow his resume really is

 

Ya know, as a general rule, I don't think it's fair to discredit a fighter who trains stays in shape and is ready to fight against other fighter who chooses not to do so. These are PROFESSIONAL fighters THEY ARE PAID, to be in fighting shape. So if Tua, or Bowe or Douglas show up fat and out of shape and get their asses kicked in the ring, full value to the guy who did the ass kicking. That was exactly what he was suppose to do and he made the effort to train and be in shape. It's certainly not his fault if his opponent never.

 

there is too much if x beat y he must beat z going on here..styles make fights.....you cant judge how fighters would do against each other thru results against common oposition...to take this 'argument' one stage further, and clarify things, for me anyhow...the bowe who beat holyfield first time out beats the lewis who beat ruddock........anytime thereafter, bowe loses....to ll, burger king, mcdonalds and the ****ing marine corps.....burnt brightly for, oh, about two seconds...yes i still think he woulda beat lewis at that time..but the fight was never made...so lewis will be remembered as an atg, and bowe as a never was........'cept by me...i remember big daddy giving me some great nights of boxing and some great interviews too.....but hey, i always like the underdog...

 

I hate to be a boxrec warrior, but I don't have these things committed to memory, so in a time line from Lewis-Ruddock -> Bowe v Hide, we have this...

October 92
Lewis TKO 2 Ruddock

Nov 92
Bowe UD Holyfield (Undisputed champ)

Feb 03
Bowe TKO 1 Dokes (WBA, IBF)

May 93
Lewis UD Tucker (WBC)
Bowe KO 2 Ferguson (WBA, IBF)

October 93
Lewis TKO 7 Bruno (WBC)

Nov 93
Bowe LOSS MD Holyfield (WBA, IBF)

May 94
Lewis TKO 8 Jackson (WBC)

August 94
Bowe NC Mathis

Sept 94
Lewis LOSS TKO 2 McCall (WBC)

Dec 94
Bowe UD Donald

Mar 05
Bowe KO 6 Hide (WBO)


Not much difference really.

Lewis 4-1-0 with 3 title wins.
Bowe 5-1-0 + 1 NC - which by rights should have been a DQ loss. with 3 title wins. (WBO at this time not worth a *******)


And what you fail badly to mention is that Bowe only had FOUR more fights in him in that part of his career - 2 of which he was getting hammered in, and won by DQ

Bowe beats Holy, Dokes, Ferguson, Donald, Hide.
Lewis beats Ruddock, Tucker, Bruno, jackson.

Holy is better than Ruddock.
Bruno far better than any of Bowes other opponents.

The MD loss to Holy is better than the TKO loss to McCall IMO, although neither guy should really have lost either of those fights.

(one thing that did stand out, is both of these guys are FAAAAAAAAAAR more active than the guys going around today......)