Where'd it go wrong for Riddick Bowe

Disagree. Good to great resume. Lineal champ, correct me
if Im wrong about that. Beast H2H. Not top 10 material for most,
but a rare talent.

 

I would put Bowe above the other two as far as career accomplishment goes.

Regardless of what you think of Wlad, blowing out a HW who will be one of its longest reigning champs in history by the time it's all said and done is a heck of an accomplishment. Wlad's also fought everyone regardless of who may or may not have matched up well with him stylistically, so calling him out for lack of a Sanders rematch isn't entirely fair- he'll fight anyone and has proven it.

The thing I don't like about Bowe's resume, conversely, is a similar complaint I have about Lennox's, but to a much greater extent- it's too one-dimensional. Lennox didn't fight southpaws or slick guys, but he fought punchers.

Bowe rarely fought punchers or southpaws, and he didn't stick around long enough to give his resume much variety. It has minimal depth. We really don't know how he'd do against different types of opponents.

 

Bowe does not have any of the expected attributes of an ATG. He was a good contender and became the true champion but his time at the top or near the top was short. I would say if he had great dedication to the sport he could have been somebody special...he squandered all that potential however.

 

Good to great resume?

 

Fixed. [Sorry Sal, but somebody had to call a C OCK a COC K!]

 

Fine; no complaints here......

 

Bowes consistency is owed to better matchmaking that Olympians get within their grooming. It is easier to produce consistency if you don't meet any unbeaten contenders or are fed mostly smaller fighters until you are ready for a title shot. At world level only the first Holyfeild fight stands out. Everything else was rank ordinary, producing wins that most good contenders would be expected to duplicate.

 

The beginning of the end was when he dropped the WBC title to avoid fighting Lewis.

 

I think all points have pretty much been covered by now.

Ray Mercer wanted nothing to do with Bowe, I know that. He claimed that Bowe had no heart.
They were room mates at the Olympics and Mercer claimed that Bowe had a negative attitude, and was constantly worried about losing.

I must say, that apart from a very promsing start to his reign (beating Evander) Bowe was a pretty disgraceful champ. Chucking belts in garbage cans to avoid the number one guy was appalling. If Wlad had done that, we never would have heard the end of it.

 

I think Bowe is a nice guy, I just think deep down winning the title was the limit of his ambition. Buster Douglas was the same, a lot of talented boxers are the same. lets not forget that the undisputed title is not nothing big! it is a huge human achievement.

Bowe got good backing, the right matchmaking from day one, fulfilled his potential all in one fight then kind of "got over himself" and his focus slid away. Did anything go wrong with him or was he just like most of us? Sometimes people expect too much from a fighter. Special fighters keep the drive going, some don't.

 

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Who was the famous heavyweight boxer who used to post here? Wasn't that Magnasakki was it??

 

The kitchen is the only correct answer to this.

 

Wlad did not fight Sanders again and only fought Brewster and Rachman when they were half dead. He fought Peter again well after he topped out as well ... I give Wlad al the credit in the world for developing a style that maximized hs strengths and hid his chin despite terribly boring he is to watch ... that being said I do not feel this style would have been effective against more than a few great past fighters and he would have been crushed. I have never seen a super heavyweight fight a scared fight against a light heavyweight than when he defeated Haye.

AS far as Bowe goes, Butler, Thomas, Cooper, Seldon, Coetzer, Hide and Gonzales not to mention Golata were all able tro hit quite hard. At his best he was at least the second best heavyweight of the 90's ... to Me Tyson and Holyfield peaked in the 80's ...