What Kept Bowe from Fightning Tyson?

I don't know for sure but I think it comes down to Don King not owning both fighters.

 

Both lost before a match could take place

 

By the time Bowe reached the big time, Mike Tyson was in one of these:

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This.

By the time Tyson got out, Bowe was only about a year away from retiring.

 

I wish he were only a year away from actually retiring. Yet he fought in December of 08 and I'm not sure he's done.

 

Bowe would have been a tough fight for Tyson. A naturally bigger guy who was good. I always thought Bowe or Witherspoon or Lennox could have all beaten a prime Mike Tyson. Also George Foreman at the time he fought Cooney might have been tough for Mike. Everyone else Mike would have beaten I think. The naturally big guys with decent chins and decent punches would have been a little trouble.

 

Tyson beat a lot of naturally big guys with decent punches and chins......But I agree that Bowe would have been a tough fight for Tyson......

 

I can remember Bowe stating openly in several interviews that he had no interest in fighting Tyson, because they were both from the same hard parts of town and they were friends.

At the time, i thought that Bowe, thought Tyson would have KOd him, thus the excuse for not fighting, but it would have been a good fight.

 

Right. After one of Bowe's fights, he's asked about Tyson and he mentions that his thoughts are with Mike and he hopes all goes well with his trial. This was pre-Holyfield and the kid gloves were still on Riddick at this point in time.

By the time Rock Neuman took off the kid gloves on Bowe, Tyson was locked up. When Tyson got out, Bowe was cooked.

Just poor timing.

 

prison

 

basically what everyone has already said,

The simple fact of the matter is that the career paths of these two men never properly crossed when they were at their best. Bowe was a prospect when Tyson fought the last match of his first career against Ruddock.. Over the next 4 years, Riddick Bowe would make his mark on the division, while Tyson sat in prison. By 1996, Bowe's career was basically over, while Tyson was trying to relaunch his.

 

What kept them apart was steel bars.

 

The shot Bowe that got beat up by Golota would have put a serious whooping on 95 Tyson.

 

as alot of you said, when bowe was on top, tyson was in jail and when tyson was released and went on his comeback, bowe was just about washed up. but even if they were going to crosspaths,based on history, bowe and newman would have avoided tyson at all costs.

 

Shortly after Bowe beat Jorge Luis Gonzalez, Rock Newman had an interview with Charlie Rose where he spent 20 minutes talking about how Bowe-Tyson needed to happen and how the boxing world wanted to see it more than anything else. He proposed March 1996 (the 25th anniversary of the FOTC) as a fight date.


They would have taken a Tyson fight for the money alone, regardless of whether thet thought Bowe would win. For what it's worth, I think Bowe could have beaten Tyson.