REMEMBER WHEN RIDDICK BOWE SIGNED TO FIGHT LENNOX LEWIS?

[SteveO]

Yeah Golota was a solid fighter. If he had his head on straight he could've won a title. He's one of the better Heavyweights never to have won a title, and I thought he did deserve the WBA title in his fight with John Ruiz.

Yes, Golota should have won the WBA title that night IMO.
He also should have won the IBF title against Chris Byrd also in my opinion. I think the judges got it wrong both times.
Can't argue that he was a dirty fighter though and you never knew which version of Golota would show up on the night.

[Ambling Alp II]

Golota was crazy. He headbutted Darnell Nicholson for no reason at all, and actually bit some journeyman once. He probably would have beaten Grant if he would not have quit.

I thought he won the Byrd fight but at least it was arguable. The Ruiz fight was a farce. He should have won got that decision easily. Ruiz always seemed to get the breaks.
If Golota got either decision he would have been thought much differently today.

[Kalan]

I'm flabbergasted when people praise Golota.. He was one of the clumsiest and most punchable heavyweights I've ever seen.. Brewster, Tyson, and Lewis hammered the oaf non-stop from the opening bell and got rid of him.. Byrd easily out-boxed Golota and was robbed.. Golota should have had points taken for rabbit punching and hitting on the break.. Byrd also scored a knockdown that wasn't counted when the ropes held Golota up.. It was one of the worst refereed fights I've ever seen.

Michael Grant was so big, slow, and clumsy I thought Golota had a chance to beat him -- but Grant decked Golota hard and was starting to get the range when the fouler quit... He got up and walked away from the referee -- a sign of great disrespect.. By that time referee Randy Neumann was tired of looking at him and snapped at him.. "Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?" ... He didn't.

[BoxBuzz]

I'm flabbergasted .

This explains a lot. I'm guessing it's why you end up missing a lot of the story with some of these fighters. You often focus on the "worst moments" of many fighters. As if that is what defines them. In spite of any demonstrated success that would run counter to your opinion.

Sometimes it's about mental state, another dynamic you often ignore. I suggest that it's a good idea to more often factor in the very best of a fighter. IF you did that, you'd probably have a different take on a fighter like this.

Now granted in Golata's case you have a big buffet table of deficits to draw from. But in some of your critiques you take great fighters..E.G. (Let's take two examples from the first letter of the alphabet...let's say ALI and ARMSTRONG) and do NOTHING but put the microscope on what you consider to be their greatest weakness....and you seem unable to process how they themselves were able to extricate themselves from their own weaknesses. And you give little if any genuine recognition to their amazing abilities which directly led to their remarkable success.

I may have one eye, but I would opine that compared to you, I'm not the one who is more compromised in vision, when it comes to contextually assessing some of these talents.

[PredatorHayds]

I always thought Golota brought out the funniest of Lou Duva. He knew he had a nutter on his hands.

[Tuan_Jim]

Golota was crazy. He headbutted Darnell Nicholson for no reason at all, and actually bit some journeyman once. He probably would have beaten Grant if he would not have quit.

I thought he won the Byrd fight but at least it was arguable. The Ruiz fight was a farce. He should have won got that decision easily. Ruiz always seemed to get the breaks.
If Golota got either decision he would have been thought much differently today.

He took a bite out of Samson Pouha. Because, he said, "I wanted him to stop hitting me." He always had a comical deadpan wit.

Golota was too demented to put it all together at elite level but he repeatedly showed elite level skills. He should have done much better versus Lennox Lewis. For some reason the sequence of horrible distractions he suffered that night prior to the fight are never brought up. He was well past his prime by the time he was boxing Byrd, Ruiz and Brewster, but had a fine run 95-2000 and was hugely entertaining. Shame Bowe so badly underestimated him the first time.

[orbtastic]

Joe Cortex was almost comical with Golota in the dressing room before the fight.

[Kalan]

I'm flabbergasted .

This explains a lot. I'm guessing it's why you end up missing a lot of the story with some of these fighters. You often focus on the "worst moments" of many fighters. As if that is what defines them. In spite of any demonstrated success that would run counter to your opinion.

Sometimes it's about mental state, another dynamic you often ignore. I suggest that it's a good idea to more often factor in the very best of a fighter. IF you did that, you'd probably have a different take on a fighter like this.

Now granted in Golata's case you have a big buffet table of deficits to draw from. But in some of your critiques you take great fighters..E.G. (Let's take two examples from the first letter of the alphabet...let's say ALI and ARMSTRONG) and do NOTHING but put the microscope on what you consider to be their greatest weakness....and you seem unable to process how they themselves were able to extricate themselves from their own weaknesses. And you give little if any genuine recognition to their amazing abilities which directly led to their remarkable success.

I may have one eye, but I would opine that compared to you, I'm not the one who is more compromised in vision, when it comes to contextually assessing some of these talents.

You don't address anything with an unbiased mind and you have preconceived notions... I always considered Ali and Armstrong great fighters... But they were vastly overrated and very beatable fighters. You can talk about a great fighter's weaknesses and vulnerabilities in relationship to much better boxers and punchers can't you??? Otherwise you're going to get obvious winners wrong.. Frazier was a big favorite to beat Foreman.. Why do you think that was??? I know you won't answer that---but it was because Frazier was undefeated and fought much better fighters than Foreman did at that point.. But because of skill, style, power, height, weight, reach, power, and strength deficits Frazier didn't have the chance of a snowflake in Hell... and if they fought in different eras probably most people would believe Frazier would win. All that doesn't mean Frazier wasn't great.

Shane Mosley was a great fighter. He was 38-0 and ranked the #1 fighter on the planet... Did that mean he should be a 7/1 favorite to beat Vernon Forrest??? NO, because Shane couldn't jab very well.. Shane was wide open for the right hand counter.. And Shane gave up height and range.. Forrest had a great jab at that particular time. He had a real good right hand counter -- and he had better timing and hand speed and dominated Mosley.

Now taking Ali... Ali didn't get beaten as often or have as many problems as Armstrong did...but if Ali faced a good boxer who had his same height, weight, reach, and range---such as Larry Holmes---he immediately had problems because of his many technical deficits.

Armstrong was very easy to hit but never fought a great puncher other than Robinson... SRR beat him every round very easily and Armstrong never tried to bother SRR... It wasn't a fight... It stunk... It was one guy standing there taking punches... Edwin Valero could box and punch... and you never actually studied his fights or Armstrong's fight -- relying entirely on public opinion, which is often wrong.

[1686003]

The Bowe defence didn't come off because Lewis lost against McCall. You are are sad man that hoards magazines from decades ago, but for purposes of balance can you post all the articles from the previous year when Bowe dumped his title belt rather than fight Lewis.

[img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t6g8FVmhRa0/Tcgdj-ckRPI/AAAAAAAAJz0/ECqhSIMCQWQ/s1600/Riddick-Bowe.jpg[/img]

So rather than admit you were wrong you resort to personal insults, and - even in the face of irrefutable evidence - continue to bleat on about Bowe not wanting to fight Lewis. Bowe dumped the WBC belt to milk his title. Lennox Lewis did the exact same thing with the WBA belt and Ruiz. Bowe demonstrably wasn't afraid of Lewis. Lewis 'probably' wasn't afraid of Ruiz.

Act like a rational adult and admit you were wrong. The facts are here for all to see.

I partially agree with you. I don’t understand the opinion of many fans who believed that Riddick Bowe was afraid to face Lennox Lewis, but I also can’t say that Lewis was afraid of him.

In my opinion, the main issue was the incompetence and greed of the managers and promoters. As was rightly mentioned, the first attempt to organize their fight happened back in 1992. At that time, a contract for a mandatory title defense against Lewis had already been signed (it was signed by all participants of the tournament — Bowe and Evander Holyfield).

However, as history showed, Rock Newman presented a completely unfavorable offer — a 90/10 split. About $30 million was allocated for purses: $3 million for Lewis and $27 million for Bowe. Of course, Kellie Maloney did not agree to such terms and wanted a better split, around 75/25. After the refusal, he was eventually ready to accept the original terms, but by then Newman started playing hardball and said that the time had run out.

That said, I believe that at that time, technically, Bowe had nothing to fear from Lewis. I thought he could pose very serious competition at close range during exchanges (where Lewis didn’t feel very comfortable — as shown in his fight against Frank Bruno).

I’m all for respectful communication and discussion — sticking to facts and avoiding personal attacks. But you are also overlooking some facts. I hope you understand my point — I’m originally from Ukraine, and my English isn’t very good.

[keithmoonhangover]

Act like a rational adult and admit you were wrong. The facts are here for all to see.

So rather than admit you were wrong you resort to personal insults

Says the guy with about forty seven different accounts, who's posted some of the most childish and petty insults the forum has ever known.

[Cent0089]

They did not fought each other. It does not matter who avoided who