BoxRec

i think he should have fought lewis because i think at that stage of their career,s bowe would win

why??

workrate and skills at this time

lewis as he got older , got better especially with manny steward training him

its just a pity bowe crapped out of this fight

boxerbob.....I concur with your astute observation. Not sure Bowe believed it though....or he would have made a beeline to get the job done, instead of alerting the media about tossing some garbage into the garbage. By the way...how was that considered news? Isn't that where such items belong? About as captivating a headline as "Man drinks glass of water".

Yes, Bowe would have beaten him then. Lewis was a good deal clumsier & less-composed back then than he would be during his prime (97-02, IMO), & even that later Lewis would've had all he could handle against the peak Bowe of the early-90's.

Bowe missed the boat, but that was his business. I thought he edged out Holyfield in their rematch, but he made it closer than need be by coming in under-trained.

boxerbob wrote:i think he should have fought lewis because i think at that stage of their career,s bowe would win

why??

workrate and skills at this time

lewis as he got older , got better especially with manny steward training him

its just a pity bowe crapped out of this fight

I agree..
Even although I am british I don't buy into this Bowe ran scared of Lewis...
I do agree that Lewis improved a lot later in life.

Duran Fan wrote:Even although I am british I don't buy into this Bowe ran scared of Lewis....

But what possible justification was there for Bowe not fighting him? Many fighters have had excuses, many of them valid, for not meeting their main rivals at certain times, but Bowe never had one. Look at who he fought instead...

Seem to remember him calling him a ponytailed faggot, so maybe he didn't care for his haircut? Seems fair to me.

oliverfennell wrote:

Duran Fan wrote:Even although I am british I don't buy into this Bowe ran scared of Lewis....

But what possible justification was there for Bowe not fighting him? Many fighters have had excuses, many of them valid, for not meeting their main rivals at certain times, but Bowe never had one. Look at who he fought instead...

That's beacuse he knew he couldn't beat Lewis. Besides the Holyfield fights Bowe accomplished very little in his career, and seemed to be best at avoiding challenges. Everyone attributes his problems against Golota to him somehow being no longer the same fighter, but it was more likely that Golota actually had some skill and power and he presented Bowe with issues he hadn't had to deal with before. Bowe was just lucky that Golota had very little heart.

With his size and skills Bowe was a very formidibale fighter, but Lewis was something he didn't want any part of, most likely due to the fact that Bowe wasn't very good at avoiding punches and Lewis punched very hard, as I'm sure Bowe remembered from their am days. Possibly with different career management Bowe may have developed into one of the best of all time, but as it ended up he is probably nothing more than an underacheiver.

He absolutely had it in him to beat Lewis. He was hands-down a better fighter than Lewis was in 1993, & is quite arguably better at his peak than the very best Lewis ever (late-90's).

Goodnight, Irene wrote:He absolutely had it in him to beat Lewis. He was hands-down a better fighter than Lewis was in 1993, & is quite arguably better at his peak than the very best Lewis ever (late-90's).

Yeah I guess that's why he avoided fighting anyone with a pulse besides Holyfield. Pinky had already fallen off the cliff, his "win" over Tubbs was somewhat controversial, Biggs, Coetzer were decent guys who fell short, Seldon was, well... Seldon, and Donald was still a novice. There's very little there to establish him as much of anything besides the Holyfield trilogy, and in boxing you really should have to prove yourself. At least most people think accomplishments matter.

I guess he absolutely had it in him to beat Lewis because you think so? Obviously he and his management didn't think so. In fact, I don't think they felt very strongly about his chances against most of the other top HWs as well because they sure did a good job avoiding top HWs. I'm sure going in to the fight they thought Golota was going to be an easy touch based on his folding against Grant, and as it turned out, I guess they were right. Oh yeah, I forgot. Bowe was "damaged goods" and completely shot by the time he fought Golota.

Most likely Bowe was not much more than a difficult style matchup for Holyfield. He certainly wasn't nearly as difficult Golota a style matchup for Golota.

the bowe that beat holyfield the first time would have given any heavyweight past or present nightmares.....shame he pissed all that talent away with a lack of balls and an unhealthy lifestyle....and btw bowe was well shot by the time he fought golata.....he was punch drunk and could barely put a sentence together for heavens sake! anyone who watched the fight can see bowe's reflexes, speed and punch resistance had declined quite badly...

orbtastic wrote:Seem to remember him calling him a ponytailed faggot, so maybe he didn't care for his haircut? Seems fair to me.

I'm sure he commented on Lennox's sexuality but Lennox didn't have long hair back then. He DID have a moustache on the back of his neck, though, which may well have counted against him.

The Great John L wrote:Yeah I guess that's why he avoided fighting anyone with a pulse besides Holyfield.

Yep - and he only fought Holyfield the first time because obviously that was the way to the title, and the second time because he was over-confident, having beaten him already.

I agree with those who say Bowe was very talented and the version who beat Holyfield the first time would have fared well against almost anyone, but I'd also have to agree with those who criticise his resume.

Pinky, Tubbs, Coetzer etc were fine for an up-and-coming contender, though - but, Holyfield aside, his title and post-title career was nothing to write about.