Why didn't Bowe face many punchers?

Bowe didn't like getting socked in the kisser.

There's a reason he fought featherfists like Coetzer (and nearly came unstuck against them too).

He thought Golota was a "bum" and would never have fought him otherwise.

Boy, that was a mistake.

 

Coetzer had 27kos in 39 wins for a 61ko % , not too shabby.

 

I've known quite a few boxers and like myself I've never met one who enjoyed being punched in the mouth.

 

Gonzalez was a puncher 27 kos in 31 wins for a 69ko%. When he fought Bowe, Gonzalez was 23-0-0 with only one guy seeing the last round.
Seldon
Thomas
Cooper
Were all decent punchers.

 

To be fair Coetzer had "ok" power. But when you're comparing him to guys like Lewis, Tyson, Morrison ... naw, man.

 

We can definitely find hard hitting guys on Bowe's resume. Add Golota and Holy who both could hit hard enough.

Surery Bowe had faced far less pucnhers than Lennox or Evander, but his active years were 89-96, only 7 years.

 

Bowe didn't have the best chin.

Terrific recovery abilities though.

Sort of like Marquez and his chin + recuperation

 

My beef exactly with those who say his chin is superior to Lewis'.

Lewis actually had the more proven resilience despite his rep for being chinny. He withstood Mason, Mercer, Bruno, Tua, Morrison, Briggs, Vitali, Tyson. No chinny fighter survives that lot.

He had two blips. One vs McCall was what happens when two men launch punches simultaneously. The one that lands first hits an unsuspecting target with the added forward momentum of the victim. That is the perfect storm for a knockout. The second v Rahman was because Lewis was exhausted and had his mouth open. These are not excuses for Lewis but explain why a chin that otherwise consistently stood up to bombs from big hitters could fail him so dramatically.

Bowe, in contrast to Lewis, has a rep for being durable. Yet he was badly dropped by Holyfield in fight 3 when Evander was not looking good. For all his qualities, Evander was never a big one punch hitter at heavyweight but, even in that state, he had Bowe in a whole world of trouble. Was this an aberration? We don't know for 100% sure as Bowe's record never seemed to feature other big hitters.

McVey has listed a few hitters on Bowe's CV but, with respect, I don't see Seldon or an old Thomas as top drawer bangers. Cooper was a blown up cruiserweight - as were Hide and Holyfield; see a pattern here? - and Gonzalez was never meant to be a pro and never kayoed anyone of note in the pro ranks. Golota was never a top drawer banger either but he showed that Bowe's chin could fail him.

Bowe never lacked courage but I feel Rock Newman did. Or, more likely, he knew Bowe's limitations and, though it pains me to say it, he did a good job getting him as far as he did without exposing the achilles heel unduly. To get to the point, for all the praise he gets for being durable, Bowe's chin is a bit of an unknown quantity.

 

I would agree they are not top drawer, but still respectable punchers.Holyfield hit hard enough to drop Mercer, no easy feat. Mac Foster never ko'd a ranked fighter ,did Ron Lyle? Both are considered hard punchers.

 

I think Holyfield broke Mercer's rib when Mercer got dropped.

And broken ribs tend more to be certain circumstances rather than being a very hard punchers as even for people like Foreman or Morrison breaking a rib is rather rare.

Only Pipino Cuevas reliably broke his opponents bones.

 

Lewis would have likely pulled a Ruddock on Bowe.

 

It's not Bowe's fault that he didn't fight some of those guys. Ray Mercer was in line to fight Bowe but got beat by Jesse Furgeson who in turn was demolished by Bowe inside 2 rounds. Morrison and his manager Bill Cayton wanted no part of a fight with Bowe; Foreman openly admitted on TV that Bowe was too dangerous; Bowe signed to fight Lewis for march 95 but was derailed after Lewis was destroyed by a bum; Tua was an absolute non factor at HW when Bowe was on top from 92-95.

 

Bowe was never knocked out in his entire career despite having an all out aggressive style. Lewis was twice KTFO by single punches. That's all we need to know.

 

Bowe would have likely pulled a Ferguson on Lewis.