Obviously the Golota fights really showed him slipping, but which fight or fights showed the beginning of the end?
Well his weight after 1st Holyfield fight was all over the place, but it wasn't really effecting his performances much though. But i would say the 3rd fight Holyfield was the first real sign of it, Bowe was floored heavy for the 1st time and looked very beatable. And was lucky to be quite frank that Holyfield was under par due to Hepatitis, which zapped his energy and he couldn't finish Bowe off in 6th round. But I also think Golota was a bad style match up for Bowe aswell, and I don't think enough credit is given to Golota. Bowe had never fought Super Heavyweight like Golota with his skills. Bowe even said he could not handle Golota's jab, plus Golota would turn on the inside taking away Bowe's uppercut and out fight him. Overall as I said I would say 3rd Holyfield fight was the first real sign of it, but I also think Golota would always be a tough match up for Bowe.
Yes he wasn't to good in the third Holyfield fight was he. That kd he suffered certainly shook him up.
Good point on a tough question because before Golota and after the third Holyfield he still looked dominant and strong against Gonzales ... that seems to be when it started to become obvious ..
Yeah Bowe was considered the number 1 Heavyweight coming into Golota fight, i still feel like the Golota fight was a bit of cherry pick gone wrong personally. Bowe even said prior to the fight "Why do i have to train so hard to fight a bum" well he certainly found out during the fight. I know alot of people will disagree with me but i feel like Golota would always give Bowe issues, i'm not saying a prime Bowe wouldn't beat Golota at his best. But style wise Golota is a tough prospect for him IMO. But looking at Bowe's performances after the 1st Holyfield fight.....he blew away Ferguson, Dokes, who shouldn't of been in the ring with him. Looked good vs Holyfield despite losing and being heavier but it still was a very good performance from him in which he barely lost. Looked good vs Mathis who again had no business in the ring with him, and was lucky not to get DQ'ed after hitting him while he was down but prior to that Bowe had looked good. Won easily by Donald in a boring fight but Donald didn't want to engage maybe after that press conference he didn't want to make Bowe mad ? Against Hide Bowe looked a bit shaky here and there getting rocked a few times, but still had Hide on the floor about 100 times. Destroyed Gonzalez in a good performance, then we had the 3rd Holyfield fight where Bowe looked more beatable against a less than stellar Holyfield and then well the Golota fights........ Looking at all of Bowe's performances between Holyfield 1/Golota 1 Bowe despite his weight going up and down, there was no signs of Bowe looking shot. The only real signs i think was actually vs Holyfield 3rd time when he started to look beatable, so maybe it's just the case of bad training habits finally caught up to him ?
The deterioration started immediately after the Holyfield 1 fight, which is Riddick's absolute peak. Never again did Bowe enter the ring in such form.
I never thought that he was as good as many claim. How can you say somebody is THAT good based on one night? Against a fighter who during that phase of his career constantly went to war and put in undisciplined performances(Holyfield). Maybe bowe was just a stylistic nightmare for him? Bowe struggled against real HWs with boxing skills like tubbs and biggs, got badly wobbled by biggs but when he struggles vs golota hes Shot? He never fought any dangerous punchers either. He got hit way too much and is still living off one night where a 30lb smaller holyfield just wouldnt stop trading with him. Holyfield came in the lightest weight of his entire title reign and then decided to go into a slugfest. Foreman would have stopped Evander the year before had he stayed in front of him that long.
