1993, Bowe and Lewis should have been squaring off to fight each other but Rock Newman (Bowe's manager) seemed to go out of his way to insult and avoid Lewis rather than sign his boy to fight him. Instead Bowe fought a washed-up Mike Dokes in Januray 1993, and finished him inside a round. A few months later Lewis (wearing the WBC belt) was matched with a washed-up Tony Tucker, who had yet again been gifted a mandatory shot at a title by associating himself with Don King. Tucker took Lewis the distance. Lewis tends to get more credit for beating Tucker. Bowe gets slated for fighting Dokes, regardless of the fact that he destroyed him. I know there's a Tony Tucker appreciation club here on ESB classic, and others who think Don King-rigged-WBC-ratings mean something, and they will no doubt claim Tucker was much better than Dokes. I disagree. My point is to say that Riddick Bowe, despite blatantly ducking Lewis, actually produced a good devastating follow-up to the win over Holyfield. Lewis's win over Tucker was decent too, but a little bit disappointing follow-up to his KO of Ruddock.
I'll say this, Lewis - Dokes would have been ugly. For Dokes. Tucker was awkward, he would have given Bowe a better workout than Dokes. Hell, who wouldn't.
Tucker had one win significant win going into this fight, the one against McCall, whereas Dokes had none at all. Watch the film and Tucker is clearly more competant than Dokes, who didn't make it out of the first round. The only thing that made Tucker last the distance was his durability, but he lost every single round nonetheless and couldn't make much of a fight out of it. He also seemed mentally discouraged from the first knockdown in round 3, and after the second knockdown in the 9th he looked like he completely gave up. Can't blame Lewis though. He wanted to fight the best fighter out there, Bowe, but Bowe pussied out of the fight and dropped his title to avoid Lewis. So whoever is worse of the two, it's Bowe's fault because he was too afraid to fight a live opponent in Lewis.
Probably Bowe's blowout of Dokes, though Lewis put up a good performance against Tucker. Interestingly, I think Dokes-Tucker would've been a good match at that time, Tucker may have edged Dokes, but Dokes may stop him late.
A win over McCall wasn't particularly significant. A better win than Dokes's wins over the likes of old trialhorses Ferguson and Ribalta, but not leagues better. Truth is, both Dokes and Tucker were probably washed-up going in. Dokes may have slipped more, but he was better than Tucker to start with, IMO.
Agreed with all of that. In hindsight it's clear that Tucker was better though, as he at least made it out of the first round (and the entire fight) against the harder-than-Bowe-hitting champion. But yeah, both were washed up. As i said though, i don't really think you can blame Lewis as he wanted to fight the best out there (Bowe) and Bowe pussied out of the signed fight.
...... or maybe Lewis should have done something similar to Tucker. I agree. But I'm judging Lewis and Bowe here on their performances in 1993. I cant blame Lewis for Bowe ducking him, but what happens between Lewis and Tucker in a boxing ring can hardly be blamed on Bowe either. Lewis's performance was okay. I reckon Bowe's KO of Dokes was better though.
Well one thing you gotta take into account here is durability. Dokes had been stopped during every single fight he lost; by Coetzee (good right hand), by Ruddock and even by the relatively light hitting Holyfield. Tucker, on the other, was the only one to go 12 rounds against Tyson without holding all the time like Smith, and he was never really staggered or hurt. Clearly the man has a very strong chin. Lewis hit him plenty, knocked him down twice and won every round. While Lewis carried a lot of flaws, i don't think you can take a lot away from his performance against Tucker. It was a rather boring fight because Tucker couldn't make much of it but he dominated him nonetheless. Had Bowe fought Tucker, i think it would've also gone the distance, with Bowe winning a landslide decision. I wouldn't be suprised to have seen Lewis stopping Dokes in one, either.
Dokes was not even rated in the top 10 which is a fairly good reason why Bowe would not recieve credit for beating him. Many heavyweights would be favored to beat Dokes in 1993. Tucker may have been past it but he was more highly regarded than Dokes by far in 1993.
