Which heavyweight you rank higher ATG, Vitali Klitschko or Riddick Bowe

Vitali accomplished far more but what a match up if the best Bowe showed up ..

 

Im not mocking his longevity. It just wasn't very good. Bowe beat better guys, was the HW champion and looked like a more complete and skilled HW.

Wlad and Vitlai messed up the system , its a complex situation that isn't simply solved by comparing it to former era's.

 

Bowe beat Holyfeild so he beat a better guy right there but then he kind of imploded. I think outside of Holyfeild (a guy who Bowe beat twice but only once when he was regarded as the world's best heavyweight) vitali beat more of the same kind of guys Bowe beat. Over a longer time.

I think vitali retired Lewis in the way Archie Moore retired Marciano. Vitali deserved to be regarded as the link in the chain every bit much as Moore was. And by beating Sanders he deserved universal recognition. He did not get it because he shared that with his brother (whom he would never fight) but I think that Vitali did as much as Floyd Patterson ever did to achieve universal recognition.

 

Ha ha, brilliant! Go on McG! :happy

 

You said everything I was going to say.

 

Vitali's comeback suggests to me he could have accomplished more than his brother. Some people laugh about it now, but he had a 4-year hiatus, came back against the 3rd ranked and made him quit just past the halfway mark.


I rate Vitali's resume higher and think he would win H2H.

 

Vitali was unequivocally the top heavyweight on the planet between the time he chased Lewis into retirement and before his hiatus.

 

McGrain is a gem to the forum, by the way.


What has influenced my perception of Bowe is the former poster MagnaNasaki. I exchanged some PMs with him on an unrelated personal subject, and because of the impression that he made on me I trust him completely.

He said that Bowe had a bad attitude, was lazy, ****sure, dumb, an underachiever, you name it -- basically painting a picture of him how he was in the Golota fights, but earlier on. He also said that Holyfield fought the wrong fight the first time around -- that he should and could have outboxed him by using angles, shooting jabs off-rythm, doing what he did in the rematch.

Instead Holyfield bumped into Bowe all night in the first fight. Bowe was a significantly larger man with inside fighting ability, and it made him shine. I'm basically saying Holyfield made him look better than he was.

Bowe never fought Lewis in the pros, never fought Tyson. His entire claim is off of that first absolute peach of a fight with Holyfield. Whatever the tactical errors, I've never seen a better heavyweight match than that one. But without that fight, his thin sheet of accomplishments crumples.

It is possible that if Holyfield fought a smarter fight the first time around, Bowe never rises above the elite contender level.

Vitaly has no opponent that compares to Holyfield. But he did fight good heavyweights and made it look easy. He can fight well tall, times good, can take a shot, and is an excellent ring general. He won't be near a top 15 anytime soon, but he's a bit of an underachiever in my book and still managed to do so much more than Bowe that I stand rock firm on this question.

I like your posts McGrain, and I like you, so I thought I'd elaborate my point a bit. To get back on topic.

 

I like Vitali, I loved the way he dispatched Kirk Johnson and Danny Williams and I thought he would have been better prepared to be Lennox in a rematch because of the confidence he gained from the 1st fight. I like the way he took out Herbie Hide and battered Sam Peter after 4 years off. He took out Solis in 1 and beat up Adamek and Areola and Chisora and battered Briggs even at 40. Bowe's best fight was 2-1 with Evander good win but he got hit too much and just grew out of proportion and he was lucky that Golota was a ****** because he would have had 2 more loses on his record.

Vitali did well despite the 4 year layoff, he was always in condition and was ahead in every battle even the 2 he lost on injuries

 

What a joke of a reply. Let's me guess Dino you voted for Bowe.

 

Thanks:good

To be honest I think vitali was more the linear champ than his brother was by virtue of being the last man to fight "the man" and beating Sanders after Corrie knocked out Wlad. Sharing #1 and #2 at different periods with his brother I can accept why some have the younger brother highest though because being the best heavyweight can surpass being linear in some situations. Old George and Shannon Briggs can claim linear credit but they were no more than top 5 contenders at best in actual terms of being the best out there.

 

Between the two of them, they fought some of the worse opposition ever.

Both have fancy records, but an L next to the best fighters they fought, although Bowe did beat Holyfield twice.

Depends what you value more, long time dominance over poor opposition or 1 ATG and a load of poor opposition.