Riddick Bowe on Ringside

[john welsh]

Riddick bowe is a waste of space,he was so arrogant as a pro and a wasted talent.

[yiddo14]

Lewis could have arguably continued against McCall. Did that book genuinely suggest he could have continued against Rahman!? That's a load of nonsense if so!

[loaded_gloves]

I'm with Larry Merchant on Lewis/McCall: McCall would have finished him off. Lewis looked out of it for a long time after the stoppage. Even as he was trying to protest his legs were failing him, and he looked unsteady like a newborn deer trying to take its first steps. McCall was in scary form that night, probably better for Lewis he didn't go on, could've ended very badly.

[safeerah]

I'm with Larry Merchant on Lewis/McCall: McCall would have finished him off. Lewis looked out of it for a long time after the stoppage. Even as he was trying to protest his legs were failing him, and he looked unsteady like a newborn deer trying to take its first steps. McCall was in scary form that night, probably better for Lewis he didn't go on, could've ended very badly.

Lewis might of survived, he would of grabbed hold till his head cleared, remember Bruno, McCall could not finish him.

[Deserter]

I'm with Larry Merchant on Lewis/McCall: McCall would have finished him off. Lewis looked out of it for a long time after the stoppage. Even as he was trying to protest his legs were failing him, and he looked unsteady like a newborn deer trying to take its first steps. McCall was in scary form that night, probably better for Lewis he didn't go on, could've ended very badly.

Lewis might of survived, he would of grabbed hold till his head cleared, remember Bruno, McCall could not finish him.

Don't think that's a valid comparison. Lewis was completely gone in a way that Bruno never was. I'm with loaded_gloves on this one.

[safeerah]

I'm with Larry Merchant on Lewis/McCall: McCall would have finished him off. Lewis looked out of it for a long time after the stoppage. Even as he was trying to protest his legs were failing him, and he looked unsteady like a newborn deer trying to take its first steps. McCall was in scary form that night, probably better for Lewis he didn't go on, could've ended very badly.

Lewis might of survived, he would of grabbed hold till his head cleared, remember Bruno, McCall could not finish him.

Don't think that's a valid comparison. Lewis was completely gone in a way that Bruno never was. I'm with loaded_gloves on this one.

Hard to say, but McCall never had the skills, Bruno was knackered and on the verge, but McCall kept missing and could not finish him, Most good heavies would have finished Bruno.

[loaded_gloves]

There's no comparison between the focussed Oliver McCall who fought Lennox Lewis and the partied out Oliver McCall who defended against Frank Bruno. Still a very dangerous guy, but just nowhere near his top form.

For the Lennox Lewis fight McCall for the first and last time in his life had a full, disciplined training camp with no distractions, drugs, partying and whatever other bad habits he engaged in, and was trained to perfection by an elite trainer in Manny Steward, programmed to capitalise on Lewis's obvious mistakes. Even in round 1 McCall came close with a booming right hand that forced Lewis to hold on for a considerable time.

He was back to his old ways almost immediately after the biggest win of his life and we inevitably never saw that scary Oliver McCall ever again.

[orbtastic]

Again though Ezzard, you can't get around the corruption of the WBC. Don King-controlled WBC champs throughout the divisions were allowed to defend against whoever they like. But Bowe and Newman, outrageously independent from the Suilaman and King gang, were given no slack, no leeway, and they had to go straight in with Lewis after an epic with Holyfield? Ridiculous.

Ultimately Holyfield and Oliver McCall swung their spanners in the works as well.

It's a fair point but it's hard for me to have sympathy with a guy just because he was being forced to fight the best contender out there.

Okay, it should be consistent across the board but even so.

The DK controlled belt holders in the post and pre Tyson incarceration vacuum largely defended against other DK fighters in the sanctioning bodies' top ten.

Look at all the belt holders and then look at who they defended against. Moorer was another who ended up out in the wilderness for a while due to him not playing ball, I think the IBF even removed him from their rankings for a while after filing a lawsuit against them.