Would you vote Riddick Bowe into the Hall of Fame

This is a stupid question. Of course he should be in the Hall of Fame. If Jess Willard and James J. Braddock get in, then it would be highway robbery if Bowe doesn't.:good

 

He would get my vote.

 

Of course.

If Jess Willard, James J. Braddock, Barry Mcguigan and Ken Norton get in then Bowe should get in without a doubt.

Personally if I controlled the IBHOF I would make sure it was a hall of fame for the true 'elites' of the sport, entry to the hall would be far far stricter.
And the aforementioned names would not be inducted.

 

Good point.

 

He should get in based on others who are in but IMO the credibility of the HoF has long since been tarnished.

 

Yeah, i'm not sure i could put in a guy who threw his belt in the bin to avoid fighting someone. Not the antics of a HOF'er maybe.

 

Not before Carnera. Big Duddy should be inducted into the same class as Beanfart and Mia St. John (Hefner could give the presentation speech for St. John, either Hugh or Christie).

 

Yes

 

Yes.

Unless I get the opportunity to reshuffle the Hall of Fame and release it's worst members from their enshrinement. Then I can bring the overall measure of the HOF up.

As it is, Bowe qualifies by the standard the HOF has mistakenly set over these many years.

 

Well, I don't know if I'd insult him that badly by placing him in the same class as old Beanfart. Afterall, he did have some noteable accomplishments. Taking two out of three against Evander, when Holy still had a lot of juice left in him. Plus he had some pretty decent wins over prime prospects such as Hide, Donald, Gonzales, Seldon, and Coetzer. The negatives of course, is that he never faced a lot of the top heavys of his era, Lewis, Moorer, Tyson, Foreman, Morrison, Ruddock, Mercer, etc. As John Thomas already pointed, he publicly refused to face Lewis, and in so doing disgarded the WBC title in a most disrespectful manner. I don't hold the Golata performances against him so much, as I believe part of that was due to Golata's terrible display of poor sportsmanship that evening. We also can't begrudge a good fighter because one guy had his number in some 45 pro fights. I guess my biggest criticism is what I've already touched upon, and that was his failure to meet some of the best of his period.

That said, I suppose he deserves an induction, but just barely.

 

Okay, he should be inducted before Beanfart, but not before Carnera. (Primo put the title up three times within a year, and won his first two defenses against conquerors of Max Baer. Between 1910 and 1938, Carnera was the only HW Champion to defend thrice in such a brief period.)

Bowe in effect admitted at the press conference following the rubber match with Holyfield that he was elevated by that rivalry alone, and the nature of character that Holyfield outwardly displayed. That symbolic gesture with the WBC belt gives me very serious pause for thought. (In my mind, much of the HOF worthiness of Tommy Burns and Floyd Patterson is invested in the fact of who they chose to defend their titles against in losing them.)

It could be argued that defending the title in a rematch with the former champion was honorable on Bowe's part, as it was for Leon Spinks against Ali, but Leon didn't make a demonstration of open mockery for the WBC Title that Bowe did.

 

If Bowe get in the hof then so should Buster Douglas.

They both had a prime of 1 fight each!

 

Your right here to an extent , Tyson still did more than Bowe though

 

Personally, hell no, but this is a different era, so he'll sneak in.