BoxRec

Prime vs Prime, who wins?

Your being serious Keith, right

bengulnaci1 wrote:Your being serious Keith, right

Some numpty on British scene says Bowe would win.

By early KO?

bengulnaci1 wrote:By early KO?

Oh yes.

I'm going to surprise folks and pick Bowe. Vastly underated at his best. Best day vs Best day, Bowe wins this. I know the Louis fans are going to be aghast, but the facts are going to support a Bowe win here. It's almost a crime against nature to go against Louis on this blog, but a dose of reality here and there does no harm

A big guy with a bad defense vs Louis =Brutal beating for Bowe. Bowe wins a round at best

dempseyfire wrote:A big guy with a bad defense vs Louis =Brutal beating for Bowe.

Bowe is very overrated.
Joe Louis although the same size as Holyfield would of slipped more punches and landed with more accuracy then what EH did in that 1st fight. Therefore RB would of by the 6th round be sucking it up even harder then he was in that fight. Louis gets him out between 8 and 11.

Yeah, Louis wins this IMO.

dempseyfire wrote:A big guy with a bad defense vs Louis =Brutal beating for Bowe. Bowe wins a round at best

Duran Fan wrote:Bowe is very overrated.
Joe Louis although the same size as Holyfield would of slipped more punches and landed with more accuracy then what EH did in that 1st fight. Therefore RB would of by the 6th round be sucking it up even harder then he was in that fight. Louis gets him out between 8 and 11.

I wouldn't say Bowe is Over-rated at all. At his all-too-brief best, he was a Wonderful fighter, very adept at fighting on the inside, especially for a Big Guy. Its been said many times, but his lack of discipline & eating habits killed off any chance or hope he had of cementing his place among the greats at Heavyweight. He was good at his best, very good, make no mistake about it!

However, he would receive a hiding at the hands of Louis. Joe would be simply too good & the likelihood of Louis landing is very high & once he has Bowe in trouble... we all know it would be just a matter of time!

Louis.
And pretty comfortably too.

This whole Riddick Bowe mania comes from this fighter having one or two good performance in the 90s.


The same mania could be given to James Douglas or Leon Spinks.

Crease wrote:Louis.
And pretty comfortably too.

This whole Riddick Bowe mania comes from this fighter having one or two good performance in the 90s.


The same mania could be given to James Douglas or Leon Spinks.

Excellent point Crease.

The Douglas who beat Tyson, on that night in Tokyo, was simply flawless...the jab...the combinations, the chin, the power.....on that night he would hammer Bowe, at his best.

Bowe was way overrated, big guy, not exactly easy to miss and likes to fight on the inside. Against Joe Louis, he gets chewed up, those short, fast shots, fired with sublime accuracy, in 2's and 3's, means only one thing - Conclusive beatdown.

Bowe's best night was Holyfield I and III. If he fought that way against Joe Louis.....he gets bludgeoned.

Whilst I do think it would be a great fight and Bowe would come out of it with a lot of credit… There’s only one winner…

Louis is much more likely to struggle with Walcott (as he did) or Tunney…

Ezzard wrote:Louis is much more likely to struggle with Walcott (as he did) or Tunney…

Exactly. It's all about styles, and Bowe was there to be hit, even when he was trying to not get hit.

Obviously you have to go with Louis. However, it could be a difficult fight. Styles are important. However you have to take into consideration that not only would Bowe have height and reach advantages, he could fight on the inside and had very good handspeed for a big man.

Usually Louis rolled over his opponents, but not always. Louis got knocked down by Braddock, Buddy Baer and Galento, and Farr and Godoy went the distance in competitive fights. None of those guys are in Bowe's class. It's no far fetched at all to think he could hurt Louis, and be competitive for several rounds.

Ambling Alp wrote:Obviously you have to go with Louis. However, it could be a difficult fight. Styles are important. However you have to take into consideration that not only would Bowe have height and reach advantages, he could fight on the inside and had very good handspeed for a big man.

Usually Louis rolled over his opponents, but not always. Louis got knocked down by Braddock, Buddy Baer and Galento, and Farr and Godoy went the distance in competitive fights. None of those guys are in Bowe's class. It's no far fetched at all to think he could hurt Louis, and be competitive for several rounds.

I'd favor Farr over Bowe. Buddy Baer-Riddick Bowe would've been a helluva war.

It's not inconceivable that Bowe could have hurt Louis and knocked him down. However, Louis had a good record of getting up off the canvas to win fights and I think the same would happen here.

Louis is roughly the same size as Holyfield, but chin aside, Holyfield has nothing over Louis. Combine Louis's power and precision with Bowe's leaky defense and I can't see this one going the distance. I have Louis going down in round 2, but winning virtually every other round on the way to an 8th round stoppage, Louis ahead 67-65 and 68-64 x 2.

8 posters have Bowe beating Louis!!??

Perhaps there should be a link to this thread in the most over-rated HW thread.

Easy to point out some misteps from Louis over that long career. Too bad Bowe's prime lasted like two nights. The guy was repeatedly beaten to the punch by the Polish nutjob TWICE ffs...

dempseyfire wrote:

Ambling Alp wrote:Obviously you have to go with Louis. However, it could be a difficult fight. Styles are important. However you have to take into consideration that not only would Bowe have height and reach advantages, he could fight on the inside and had very good handspeed for a big man.

Usually Louis rolled over his opponents, but not always. Louis got knocked down by Braddock, Buddy Baer and Galento, and Farr and Godoy went the distance in competitive fights. None of those guys are in Bowe's class. It's no far fetched at all to think he could hurt Louis, and be competitive for several rounds.

I'd favor Farr over Bowe. Buddy Baer-Riddick Bowe would've been a helluva war.

Farr over Bowe? Come on. Bowe vs Baer? Bowe was better than Baer at virtually everything. It would have been a one-sided beating.
I know that Farr and Baer birth certificates probably show they were older than Bowe, but this is taking the whole "they were better in the old days" to a ridiculaus extreme.

I don't think Farr would have matched up well with Bowe at all, but Buddy Baer-Bowe seems to me like a pretty interesting matchup.

Bowe is underrated if Tommy Farr is going to beat him. And Riddick would flatten Buddy Baer in 1 or 2 rounds. He would fare much better against Louis than either of them would against him.

Bowe at his best might well be the best HW champ of all time. However his prime could probably be considered to be a bout 6 months in duration.

Peak vs Peak he may well beat anyone including Louis. However outside of that that thin amount of time, I would agree with everyone here. With such a short prime I suppose you have to downgrade him. Duration should be a factor. And Louis and Ali were unrivaled in that area.