i can see why Newman did that. Bowe wasn't really showing signs of slippage - He lost it all at once after the third Holyfield fight. And Lewis had been starched by McCall the year before.
Don king was not dokes promoter by this time !! Mercer lost to Ferguson ( bribe fight ) on the bowe v dokes undercard … I can see giving dokes a quick title shot because he beat Ferguson and ribalta … but giving Ferguson a title shot just for beating Mercer was a disgrace because Ferguson was on a loosing streak .. .. it should have never ever been bowe v Ferguson rock Newman screwed riddicks career !!! Bowe v anybody else would have been better !!! Even bowe v Damiami at this point
Done the right thing and fought Lennox Lewis like he signed to do ( the final four ) and he and Rock Newman farggged up bowe la legacy for a lifetime ask Holyfield he always bugs bowe on camera for not fighting Lewis it’s up on YouTube It’s a 2 min 38 second clip pretty funny
Bowe gives up a belt rather than fight Lewis: “He’s a coward, this is a travesty!” Tyson gives up a belt rather than fight Lewis: “Well, you see, Tyson is a badass and a monument to bravery!”
which in both cases is pure nonsense, right? no one praises Tyson for avoiding Lewis, just as no one praises him for challenging him in 2002 under much worse circumstances than in 1996.
Tyson and King offered Lewis step aside money and Lewis accepted. He could have denied Tyson like he denied Rahman who was wanting to make a mandatory defence. Or Lewis could have taken legal action to force Tyson into the ring like he did in 2003 to get Tyson to take a rematch. When Lewis wanted a fight he forced it. When he didn't want fights he priced himself out and took step aside monies
He stepped aside one time. Not again. That’s why Tyson had to give up the belt, ducking his mandatory. I guess they figured they could pay off Lewis forever and keep kicking that can down the road. If it quacks like a duck …
You can slice it anyway you want it but by 1993 everyone knew Michael Dokes was an out of shape 34 year old empty shell with a long history of drug abuse. He was shot. Mike Tyson was a 20 year old juggernaut Dokes beat Jameson and Cobb in 1985 and looked terrible. He was a coke addict. Jameson lasted the distance and KO mag thought Dokes was lucky the Cobb fight ended after only a few rounds on a technical decision. He was gassed and his skin was grey. He beat Ribalta and Ferguson seven years after Tyson beat them The unranked Dokes got the shot at Bowe because he had a name and was a soft touch. Dokes had a commendable comeback culminating with competitive Holyfield war and deserved the showdown with Ruddock. But his career as a condender ended when he was knocked out cold by Ruddock.
As I said, he wasn’t at the front of the line but he’s far from the worst title challenger in heavyweight history.
Lewis did take legal action, resulting in Tyson being prohibited from fighting anyone but Lewis for the WBC Title. The step-aside money was to allow the Tyson/Seldon bout to go ahead, with the proviso that the winner would fight Lewis next. Lewis was paid step-aside money in relation to a fight for a title that Tyson ended up vacating anyway. I find it strange that some people overlook the obvious. That is, Lewis could accept the $4M for doing nothing or accept nothing. Tyson wasn't going to fight him, either way.
The crazy thing about this is that Lewis refused a career best offer (at that time) of 13,5 million dollars.
Ferguson deserved it more than Dokes just by beating Mercer. Two easy big money fights between two Holyfield wars was smart. Bowe made a ton of money. He did get lackadasical and out of shape but I don't know if you can blame Newman for that.