Why did Bowe fight Ferguson and Dokes?

dinovelvet is still the worst poster on this forum. You can ignore anything he says about Bowe ducking Lewis (or about Tyson ducking Lewis in '96).

 

Lewis WAS a major force. Lewis was an undefeated gold medalist and he had JUST destroyed Ruddock who was the #1 contender! Ruddock had the momentum of the Tyson fights and people favored him to beat Lewis! The potential Lewis/Bowe fight had tons of momentum because they were former rivals from the amateurs and both were skilled big men with power. Nothing about that is "revisionist nonsense". Lewis deserved more than 25% because a fight like that would've done crazy numbers and Newman knew it. They then proceeded to throw the belt in the trash rather than keep negotiating to make a huge fight happen the public wanted to see. It was the biggest duck in the history of HW boxing and Bowe's team was greedy and scared. Name one champion who dropped his belt to avoid facing a deserving, prime, #1 contender.

 

Holmes did.

 

Lewis being a major force AND being a major force who could demand more than his obligated mandatory split are two completely different things.
He was in no position and didn't have the status to demand more than Bowe who accepted his 25% cut for the undisputed fight against Holyfield. He was ranked #9 by Ring when Bowe became #1 by beating Holyfield.

Holfield had just beaten Douglas , the purse for that fight at the time was the biggest in HW history. Bowe , Holy , and Tyson were bigger than Lewis at this point.

Lewis camp initially rejected the obligatory 25% as a mandatory challenger infuriating both Bowe and Newman as they had just happily accepted the exact same terms. Thats not my version of events. Thats a fact.

When Vitali was #1 WBC challenger , he fought Lewis for $1.4M. Thats about 700K in 1992. He didn't complain and demand a bigger split. He just wanted the title shot because when you win the title , then you make the demands. Thats how it works.
You don't make unreasonable demands as challenger. But Lewis was being instructed to do that by Don King.

If that wasn't bad enough , Maloney was blackmailing team Bowe with the offer they got from King to fight Tony Tucker for 10 million.

Maloney is on record saying they wouldn't fight Bowe for less than 9 million.

When Holmes dumped his belt against Don King backed Tate - because of politics
When Lewis dumped his belt to dodge Byrd and Ruiz - because of politics
When Bowe dumped his belt becauise he was being lowballed and blackmailed by Don King - because of politics.

 

Good call.

Ducking Lewis was probably more egregious given the context.

 

You're just shifting the goal posts now. You were wrong claiming Lewis wasn't a major force in the division.

I don't care if Newman and Bowe were mad Lewis rejected 25%. They were happy to just move on and then throw away the belt because they didn't want the fight. A real champion is going to try to make a big legacy fight happen. If Mayweather retired without taking Pac, nobody would ever forgive him. If Spence and Crawford never fought, same thing. Bowe was more than happy to just throw his belt away and blamed it all on Lewis and Holyfield called him out for his BS:

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You give Larry a pass for dumping his belt but not Bowe. Explain the difference??

 

That's called pricing yourself out. At least you're now admitting that Lewis and his team were at fault . Game over

 

I didn't give Larry a pass. I forgot and then John reminded me. Both were terrible, but Bowe's was arguably worse.

25% is the bare minimum, it isn't stated anywhere in the rules you can't negotiate for a different amount lol. They made zero effort to try to find another deal and were more than happy to throw the belt away. Nothing you write will change that fact. He worked so hard to become champion and then gave up his championship rather than face the best opponent of that era for a legacy defining fight, period.

 

Everything that has been posted to you has been ignored anddismissed like it never happened. You have tunnel vision and a brain block when it comes Lewis playing hard ball.
For example maloneys claim that they wanted Newman to pay lewis over 10 mil just went in one ear and out the other.
You couldn't process this information as if it was cathulus monster.
U prefer to live in ignorance than accept that fact Lewis was cheating an blackmailing at the negotiation table

You haven't explained the difference between larry and Bowe dumping their belts. Well, what is it?

 

Bowe gave up his belt instead of trying to negotiate with Lewis. That's a duck no matter how you slice it. It was the biggest fight that could've been made in the 90's and his former rival from the amateurs. The biggest duck in the history of boxing and ruined that whole decade. By all means, defend Bowe if you want with mental gymnastics, but nothing will change those facts.

 

Like others have said. They wanted a couple of easy fights for nice paydays.

I know I've harped this before: Bowe not fighting Lewis during that time has to be one of the biggest missed opportunity moments I've ever seen in boxing. An absolute coward move on the part of Bowe to toss a belt away simply because he didn't like being "dictated to".

 

You can't even tell me what the difference is. Society simply tells you Larry isn't a coward ducker so you can't go against hat narrative . Everything you understand about the two events you heard parroted from others.
Nobody who is eager to fight for the title puts up so many roadblocks. History is filled with top guys happily taking the lower end of the split just to get the shot. Lewis acted exactly like all the guys in history who priced themselves out

Lewis also had two huge incentives to doge the fight.
One was Don Kings plan to get him the vacant belt for more money.
The second was the very real possibility he would lose to Bowe.
Most pick Bowe to beat Lewis in 1992.

Look at his feet when Olly stopped him. That was a technique issue. Lewis was was making too many mistakes. He was too raw and not ready for Bowe.

This man waited till all the big names were shadows of themselves before he foughtt them. He was a smart business man and knew when and when not to fight guys. We all saw how Bowe fought in the ring. He feared no man. Your guy who was terrified to engage with evaders leftovers was the true ducker. He was stripped of, and relenquished every belt he ever won in the ring. Dont forget that

 

If Bowe had gone on to an ATG resumee i would tolerate it.
Hell i'll even give Tyson fury a pass for the same because he fought wilder again after Wallin and Schwartz and knocked him out. Knocked out whyte who was a consensus top 5 for years. Might still fight usyk after the chisora and ngannou circuses.

But bowes resumee is dreadful, he got wobbled by tyrell biggs, went life and death with tubbs and right when he started fighting live contenders again hes conveniently shot and lost all of the abilities and chin he is praised for by his fans.
I call that having a fortunate style matchup with Holyfield(who was overdue a loss due to foolishly trading and going life and death with everybody from stewart to cooper in the last few years) and consequently being exposed.

Somehow Bowe and Liston get passes for a paper thin top heavy resumee(Bowe) and outrageous quitting and diving(liston) that nobody else gets

 

I can tell you Holmes wasn't ducking the biggest fight of that decade, he wasn't ducking a former rival who beat him in the amateurs, he wasn't ducking one of the biggest paydays he could've gotten, and he wasn't ducking an elite, prime, undefeated gold medalist. Holmes also didn't immediately throw his belt in the trash, he was stripped.

So yes, both Holmes and Bowe were duckers, but Bowe's ducking was clearly worse. All of this is just you coping because you cannot deny throwing your belt away to avoid a #1 contender is a pretty cowardly act for a champion. Doesn't matter what you "think" Lewis was scheming and cooking up or being difficult on purpose. The facts of the matter are that he has every right to fight for the belt and Bowe would rather throw the belt away to continue beating up washed up older fighters/tiny cruisers like Dokes, Tubbs, Hide, Cooper, etc.