Wladimir Klitschko vs. Riddick Bowe. Prime for Prime. Who wins?

Who voted along racial lines?

 

I think Riddick Bowe. Wladimir is a very good boxer, but he looks great when he has signficiant advantage in size.

 

At least the fact that Klitschko is behind by only 17 votes (and not 100 or something) proves that he gets respect around here despite the hate towards him.

 

Even when not in that good shape against Holyfield in the rematch, Bowe still threw a LOT of punches.

 

natural ability- bowe
speed- bowe
chin- bowe by a landslide
power- maybe about equal, slightly in wlad's favor perhaps. klitschko has never put anyone down with a prime holyfield's whiskers though...
heart- bowe
ring smarts- klitschko, I dont think it would matter though, because everything else I mentioned would help bowe overcome this disadvantage.

in short, there is no way a prime bowe wouldn't absolutely cream klitschko

 

Footwork- Slight edge to Bowe
Power- Wlad
Hand speed- Bowe.
Jab-Wlad
Defence- Hm... Wlad's...
Left Hook- Wlad. (look at the Chambers KO. Brtual.)
Right Cross- Bowe
Uppercut- Bowe
Ring IQ- Wlad(now)
Chin- Bowe
Stamina- Bowe
Conditioning- Wlad

 

I recommend you watching some Bowe´s fights, then you will see that he was good. He clearly would´ve been the wrong opponent for Wlad to shine. Bowe was a fighter who was able to compete in wars, Wlad is not.

 

Holyfields "prime" may be the hardest of any boxer in history to define.

 

Holyfield was arguably his best ever when Bowe first beat him.........that shows how good Bowe was in that first fight.

Wlad would have close to zero chance against that Bowe

Seriously, anyone that voted for Wlad should see that fight

 

Wlad could´nt even keep Peter and Brewster at range all night. Bowe is a class above those two, bigger and faster and for his size a great infighter. It´s doubtfull that Wlad could keep him at range all night.

 

I don't find it doubtful at all. Bowe had a tendency to take away his own size advantages (bad tactics like that are why he lost the rematch vs Holyfield) and literally never fought a good, big heavyweight outside of Golota. To put it in perspective, Bowe held the same weight advantage Klitschko held over Chambers when he fought Holyfield. So when people hold up the Holyfield standard as why he'd beat Wlad, I really don't see the correlation there between a 6'2, 205 lb Holyfield and what he'd face in Wlad.

There's simply no evidence in Bowe's career to suggest he'd be able to get inside on Klitschko and stop Wlad's outside assault because he didn't show one time in his career he could do it. Had he fought Lennox, he would've had a perfect opportunity to prove it and show what he could do against a man with a wicked jab and excellent power he didn't hold a size advantage over. He didn't.

Simply put, Bowe gets hit too damn much on the outside and if you're facing an ATG puncher like Wlad, that's a recipe for utter disaster.

 

Good post,

I have given Bowe the edge in this match, but often go back and forth for the very reasons you stated. Nearly every time that Bowe faced a good boxer with a decent wing span and strait jab, he got outboxed and had trouble... We saw this against Tony Tubbs, Andrew Golata, and in the second meeting with Holyfield, when Evander opted to box more, and not try to brawl with him quite so much... Even Tyrell Biggs had his moments against Bowe, before breaking down late... The primary difference between any of these men and Wlad is that he is bigger, stronger, more polished from an outside boxing sense, and would not be past his prime the way that some of these guys were...

 

Yeah but Golota had a solid chin back then. Wlad would not be able to take those punches that Golota did. Plus Wlad has weak skin he would be cut all up.

 

bowe wups his ass