Maybe Bowe did have some balls?

[Chopping Right]

I actually watched the Bowe-Gonzalez fight again the other day. Bowe really looked the bollies in that fight, he showed the kind of determination and relentness that would have meant big trouble for any opponent, including Lennox. Difficult to say when Bowe actually reached his peak, either late 1992 or late 1995, but he would have beaten a lot of guys in the form he showed against Gonzalez. Had Bowe and Lewis fought in 1993 maybe Lewis was in the better form, in 1995 maybe it was Bowe.

[Chopping Right]

....I notice his BoxRec record actually states in the notes for the first Holyfield fight:

"Shortly thereafter Bowe relinquished the WBC title to avoid fighting Lennox Lewis, his mandatory challenger"

...which seems to carve it into the record book, but what was the official reason Bowe gave at the time?

Some little tinker has been rewriting history, cos it don't say that anymore

[dempseyfire]

Bowe was more interested in calling him a fa**ot that night!

Lewis beat him handily in the Olympics.

I wouldn't say that. Bowe was soundly outboxing him until Lewis landed a big right . .Bowe was stunned but not seriously hurt and then the ref stops the fight. Far from a dominating performance or something that would show "who" was superior.

[Chopping Right]

I think you got your quotes in a tangle there, I never actually said " Lewis beat him handily in the Olympics", someone else did. Saying that I'm not sure the statement "Bowe was soundly outboxing him until Lewis landed a big right" is accurate either. It was a close fight, Lewis got on top and won. You know what amateur refs are like, Bowe's head got rocked about a bit and it was waved off. Unfortunately there's only so much you can deduce from about 3 minutes of amateur boxing.

[overhand_right]

Lol. Bowe destroys Gonzalez so hes a threat to Lewis.

When you destroy someone like Razor Ruddock who went 19 rds with Tyson, that is something to sit up & take notice off.

When Bowe bludgeons a huge undertrained, under-devloped lazy pug who had no defence or stamina, that is less of a dynamic statement.

Lewis oozed total confidence & was always willing to fight Bowe, at any time. Bowe, particulary in his emotinal & expletive ridden face off with a grinning Lewis after his 1992 title winning fight, did not look a confident or brave man, and it was no surprise when he binned his WBC belt shortly after.

Lewis like it or not always chased the biggest names & went for #1, Bowe always wanted to play it safe & fight carefully selected opponents who would fall down, you have to wonder why that is.

[Chopping Right]

Bowe destroys Gonzalez so hes a threat to Lewis.

I certainly wasn't making that statement. For me this thread is just about exploring Bowe's strange mindset. Personally I'm happy enough that he did dodge Lewis in a big way, I'm just puzzled about why he didn't fancy his own chances more.

[Guest]

Lewis beat him handily in the Olympics.

I wouldn't say that. Bowe was soundly outboxing him until Lewis landed a big right . .Bowe was stunned but not seriously hurt and then the ref stops the fight. Far from a dominating performance or something that would show "who" was superior.

Man, that is just wrong

Lewis was whacking him around like a pinjata, up and down the ring, he rocked him a couple times, was leading on the scorecards, the ref stepped in, in the 2nd round, but Bowe basically quit, he got dummied, straight up, i got the fight on tape, you should look at it again, your memory is playing tricks on you.

Lewis is coming out of retirement to fight for one of the World Title belts, soon, he's fit and ready to go, i know who he's gonna fight, if some of you guys here weren't so damn rude and negative i'd let you in on some more privy information.

I'm scheduled to be one of his sparring partners, i'm getting my video camera ready, it will be a very cool momento, i'm gonna hit him with something, i guarantee it, maybe a steel chair.

We might still see Lewis vs Bowe, it's a longshot but it could happen, that fight would generate as much money and interest as just about any other Heavy title fight, maybe more.

[Chopping Right]

Lewis is coming out of retirement to fight for one of the World Title belts, soon, he's fit and ready to go, i know who he's gonna fight, if some of you guys here weren't so damn rude and negative i'd let you in on some more privy information.

I'm not rude or negative, so let's hear all about it.

[J]

Lewis beat him handily in the Olympics.

I wouldn't say that. Bowe was soundly outboxing him until Lewis landed a big right . .Bowe was stunned but not seriously hurt and then the ref stops the fight. Far from a dominating performance or something that would show "who" was superior.

rubbish i have this on dvd lewis was all over bowe and the referee gave him a standing count, lewis waded in again and then the ref stopped itcso Bowe was not firing back at all.

at least watch the fight if you are going to comment mate.

i watched it friday night as it goes let me know if you would like a copy to refresh your memory

[J]

I wouldn't say that. Bowe was soundly outboxing him until Lewis landed a big right . .Bowe was stunned but not seriously hurt and then the ref stops the fight. Far from a dominating performance or something that would show "who" was superior.

Man, that is just wrong

Lewis was whacking him around like a pinjata, up and down the ring, he rocked him a couple times, was leading on the scorecards, the ref stepped in, in the 2nd round, but Bowe basically quit, he got dummied, straight up, i got the fight on tape, you should look at it again, your memory is playing tricks on you.

Lewis is coming out of retirement to fight for one of the World Title belts, soon, he's fit and ready to go, i know who he's gonna fight, if some of you guys here weren't so damn rude and negative i'd let you in on some more privy information.

I'm scheduled to be one of his sparring partners, i'm getting my video camera ready, it will be a very cool momento, i'm gonna hit him with something, i guarantee it, maybe a steel chair.

We might still see Lewis vs Bowe, it's a longshot but it could happen, that fight would generate as much money and interest as just about any other Heavy title fight, maybe more.

pm e pm me lewis is one of my fave fighters!!!

i want him to stay retiured but heck if he comes back ill be sat up til 4 five am agian with a few of my buddies screaming or if i can sort it out ill be there.

[Guest]

Lewis is coming out of retirement to fight for one of the World Title belts, soon, he's fit and ready to go, i know who he's gonna fight, if some of you guys here weren't so damn rude and negative i'd let you in on some more privy information.

I'm not rude or negative, so let's hear all about it.

Yes that is true CR, you are indeed a polite fellow

I shouldn't have mentioned it, but it is in fact very true, there are however circumstances which must take place, the most important one being that Lewis' opponent retains his title in his next title defense, if that should go as planned expect an announcement soon after, with the fight taking place within the next year.

It's still a bit early to let the cat out of the bag, you don't want to jinx it.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Bowe was more interested in calling him a fa**ot that night!

Bowe did show his lack of class when he used to say that. There was definitely plenty of bad blood there.

Someone say Bad Blood

Ok here is what i remember, i really liked Bowe and was training here with Lewis, and as far as i remember, the biggest reason they didn't fight was because they both had massive ego's and refused to acknowledge the other as ever being superior in any way, whether it was boxing or bowling.

Lewis was the mandatory challenger for only one of Bowe's belts, the one he chucked in the garbage, not the other belts though, they had different mandatory challengers and fighters ranked ahead of Lewis, they issued an ultimatum to Bowe and he responded in kind, with a "who the f#%k are you, i'm the champ" attitude.

They were planning to fight, but McCrackhead and the Polish Peckerwrecker got in the way of those plans, it's true, we were denied a great fight, but from a business standpoint Bowe did what was best for him, he made good money from those Holyfield fights, which he might have missed out on if he lost to Lewis, and it was very possible he would lose, Lewis beat him handily in the Olympics.

Yes, that is what I've read about the situation, the two men loathed one another so much, that they just couldn't make the fight happen. Every time they met up, a slanging match ensued, and Bowe resented that Lewis was his mandatory challenger. Lewis was looking into fighting Bowe, then got whacked by McCall, and Bowe pissed himself laughing, and when he won back the title, he told Lewis to go fornicate himself, then lost to Golota.

[Chopping Right]

...and Bowe pissed himself laughing, and when he won back the title, he told Lewis to go fornicate himself, then lost to Golota.

Sorry, the phrase "won back to the title" cannot be used in conjunction with relieving Herbie Hide of his WBO belt.

[Lexus]

Bowe did show his lack of class when he used to say that. There was definitely plenty of bad blood there.

Someone say Bad Blood

Ok here is what i remember, i really liked Bowe and was training here with Lewis, and as far as i remember, the biggest reason they didn't fight was because they both had massive ego's and refused to acknowledge the other as ever being superior in any way, whether it was boxing or bowling.

Lewis was the mandatory challenger for only one of Bowe's belts, the one he chucked in the garbage, not the other belts though, they had different mandatory challengers and fighters ranked ahead of Lewis, they issued an ultimatum to Bowe and he responded in kind, with a "who the f#%k are you, i'm the champ" attitude.

They were planning to fight, but McCrackhead and the Polish Peckerwrecker got in the way of those plans, it's true, we were denied a great fight, but from a business standpoint Bowe did what was best for him, he made good money from those Holyfield fights, which he might have missed out on if he lost to Lewis, and it was very possible he would lose, Lewis beat him handily in the Olympics.

Yes, that is what I've read about the situation, the two men loathed one another so much, that they just couldn't make the fight happen. Every time they met up, a slanging match ensued, and Bowe resented that Lewis was his mandatory challenger. Lewis was looking into fighting Bowe, then got whacked by McCall, and Bowe pissed himself laughing, and when he won back the title, he told Lewis to go fornicate himself, then lost to Golota.

I remember reading a while ago something about Bowe challenging Lewis to a rubber match when they were both making comebacks. From what I heard, Lewis said he was more interested in fighting Michael Moorer. Do you know if this is true?

[wlvrne]

In the Bowe vs Gonzales fight, it was pretty even until Bowe hit Jorge about 2 seconds after the bell and dropped him like a rock. After that, Bowe threw over-hand rights over Gonzales's LOW left and and eventually KO'd him. He fought Gonzales because of Jorge's bad habit of keeping his left hand low and letting anybody with a right hand whack him with it.
Oh, and for Bowe having balls; didn't Golota pulverize them in their two fights?

[Hesketh Vampire]

In the Bowe vs Gonzales fight, it was pretty even until Bowe hit Jorge about 2 seconds after the bell and dropped him like a rock. After that, Bowe threw over-hand rights over Gonzales's LOW left and and eventually KO'd him. He fought Gonzales because of Jorge's bad habit of keeping his left hand low and letting anybody with a right hand whack him with it.
Oh, and for Bowe having balls; didn't Golota pulverize them in their two fights?

Eh? As I remember it Gonzalez wasn't even on the canvas until he was actually knocked out in the 6th round. And I don't remember the fight being at all "even" from about the first bell onwards!
Going back to the main point Bowe fought Gonzalez because he knew he'd win. As a pro Jorge was a big, lazy lug who had built his record starching a bunch of easy stiffs and he trained even less than Bowe. The only decent fighter he beat was an aged Reynaldo Snipes, and that went the distance. Bowe knew Gonzalez was there for his taking.

[wlvrne]

that's because bowe hit him after the bell in the 5th round and dropped him. please note* after the bell.

[Hesketh Vampire]

that's because bowe hit him after the bell in the 5th round and dropped him. please note* after the bell.

But you felt the fight was even up until that point? Personally I thought the knockdown was the result of a continual pounding. You are quite right though, Jorge Luis was on the canvas before the ending.

[overhand_right]

You're all wrong. I watched the fight literally two days ago. Jorge was NOT DOWN until he was knocked out in the 6th rd.

He took a bad beating from the opening bell but yes Bowe did hit him after the 4th or 5th rd bell. Didnt make any distance as Jorges chances of winning were already loooong gone.

[zslayton]

Riddick Bowe would have fought Lennox Lewis. Bowe wasn't scared and tried to get Lennox in the ring until the Golata fights showed he was done. Bowe peaked a few years before Lennox did as a pro. I think at their peaks, if they were at the same time, Bowe would have knocked Lennox out.

[Hesketh Vampire]

You're all wrong. I watched the fight literally two days ago. Jorge was NOT DOWN until he was knocked out in the 6th rd.

I should have stuck to my guns. Maybe this fight is being confused with the subsequent Gonzalez v Witherspoon fight, where I do believe JL was on the floor right at the end of a round, and maybe the fight finished in the next.

Regardless, as a professional Gonzalez was a useless pile of turd, and facing him doesn't add much to Bowe's legacy. Actually, wasn't the build-up to Bowe v Gonzalez a lot better than the fight?

[Syntax Error]

You also need to remember that Bowe returned to boxing after 8 long years in retirement! Why? Because Lennox Lewis had just retired!

Now tell me he isn't scared of Lewis!

If Lennox suddenly announced that he was coming out of retirement & he wanted Bowe, Riddick would take off quicker than a Harrier jump jet!

[Cojimar 1945]

I seem to recall that Riddick Bowe was in prison for a while and only was released in May 2004 following Lennox Lewis's retirement. I don't think he could have started his comeback while in prison.

[dempseyfire]

That's true. Bowe was in prison for kidnapping his wife and children. He also was in court for awhile finding a state which would sanction Bowe, who had testified before that he had suffered brain damage due to boxing.

He didn't come back b/c Lewis retired. Actually the main gist of his comeback was that it would get Lewis back into the ring and it would be a big $ fight. Bowe vs any other of the palooka champions would not be too profitable . . .

[Sweet Scientist]

So the brain damage is cured? How's that work...I remember slurred speech from interviews during the Golota fights...