BoxRec

Really sad to hear how slurred his speech is and how delusional he seems. Having said that, he seemed to remember the glory years in detail. Loved how he described Golota, Papa Smurf and his vivid description of warring with Holyfield

How good was he? before my time just about, barring his comeback in the 2000s

Bleak wrote:How good was he? before my time just about, barring his comeback in the 2000s

Watch Holyfield v Bowe 1, you really won't regret it. He was outstanding. Great jab, brilliant in fighter, good range of punches and a lot of heart. Charismatic too in a way.

He was close to the perfect heavyweight - for his defining night against Holyfield the first time around - then never quite the same again. Down on his luck now - he doesn't even have his championship belts any more but he's still a warm, jovial giant. Lennox and Riddick never fought but it does seem that Lewis is the winner in the bigger game.

cheers lads, sound like I must take a few of his on you tube

He was excellent and had almost everything.

I always felt he'd come off the rails though and wish I'd have been wrong on that one.

I think he always would have lost to Lewis personally.

I see many parallels with Big John Tate.

He'd have been too good for the k bros

I think (not, know, it's just an opinion) that Bowe is over-eulogised. His peak was seemingly one fight against Evander. He was lucky to squeak past a faded Tubbs and has no other notable win on his CV (Herbie? Donald? Gonzalez? Biggs? Dokes?C'mon!!) so there is a lot of wishful conjecture regarding his skills. And he fell so far so quickly that I can't help but question how good he was in the first place.

He was very good and suprisingly fast; both physically and mentally. He was a quick thinker and brave, though he didn't want the Lewis bout. He had a 4 year prime as a pro and the Golota bouts put a lot of miles on him; he was like a clocked car after those bouts. Bowe v Tyson would have been a good bout at one time.

Very good heavyweight who would have lost to Lewis who was an all time great.

The Holyfield trilogy was thrilling

Bowe could do everything. You just had to watch him, he had it all. There was no playing around with a guy beneath him, he just splattered them. He was brutal and had all the moves, and punched 'through' opponents, rather than at him.

His trilogy with Holyfield was absolutely epic. Even weight drained and ill prepared in the Golota rematch he decked the Pole and broke his jaw!

I think Bowe would have beaten Lewis had they fought. Lewis seemed to become lost when you took his jab away from him. I think Bowe would have KOd him.

Always thought Lewis was too powerful for Bowe, too quick also. I don't think Bowe would have slipped the jab as easy as he was describing on Ringside.

But I really hope he doesn't fight again..... his speech was poor, his eyes were vacant at times and that lump on the side of his head wasn't nice.

Great interview - Ed Robinson should do a book - The Chronicles of Riddick

Bowe had all the talent, but not all the brains.

One of the most talented boxers of his generation, but he joins a huge list of American heavyweight title holders that wasted their best years.

Bowe's former publicist Kelly Swanson now works with Mayweather and she's a very good judge. In her opinion Bowe at his peak was the best fighter she's ever seen. He's probably the best heavyweight I've seen.

Glyn Leach wrote:Bowe's former publicist Kelly Swanson now works with Mayweather and she's a very good judge. In her opinion Bowe at his peak was the best fighter she's ever seen. He's probably the best heavyweight I've seen.

He was special no doubt but Holyfield had the best all round skillset though of any HW in history.

loaded_gloves wrote:I think Bowe would have beaten Lewis had they fought. Lewis seemed to become lost when you took his jab away from him. I think Bowe would have KOd him.

When the fight should have happened (1993), I think Bowe had the tools to beat Lewis then, but not the belief.

He was terrified of Lewis & I think that would have impacted on his performance.

Syntax Error wrote:

loaded_gloves wrote:I think Bowe would have beaten Lewis had they fought. Lewis seemed to become lost when you took his jab away from him. I think Bowe would have KOd him.

When the fight should have happened (1993), I think Bowe had the tools to beat Lewis then, but not the belief.

He was terrified of Lewis & I think that would have impacted on his performance.

seems about right, i think bowe would of beat him but didnt belive he could

Who knows what would have happened. Rock Newman certainly didn't seem to fancy it and that can't have given Riddick much confidence.

Early Lewis could seem very crude and amateurish but he still got the job done up until McCall. It was interesting to hear Leonard say the other day that Pepe Correa trained him day to day, not Dundee. Pepe was the fall guy when Lewis was stopped by McCall but maybe it was losing, as much as bringing Steward on board, that saw Lennox improve technically.

I saw Pepe in D.C. recently and he's still working with fighters, he's got a young hope called Dusty Harrison out there.

MachoMan09 wrote:

ed robinson wrote:Who knows what would have happened. Rock Newman certainly didn't seem to fancy it and that can't have given Riddick much confidence.

That's the key point. I've never thought Bowe was scared of Lewis in the 'soiling his trousers' sense. Newman saw Lennox as a significant threat and, almost certainly, convinced Riddick that fighting him was not a shrewd move.

Bowe was wary of Lewis at the very least. I remember when I interviewed Bowe in NYC that he seemed preoccupied with Lewis's power, as in 'all he's got is a big right hand'. The tone of voice changed when he mentioned it and when he tried to convince me that Holyfield hit as hard as Lewis, I felt he was as much trying to convince himself. Very nice fella though and I found his people great to deal with.

Lewis and Bowe actually signed to fight in 1994. Bowe had to write a grovelling letter to the WBC to get it sanctioned.

Then Lewis lost to McCall (the first fight I ever attended incidentally) and the fight was off for good.

Glyn Leach wrote: Very nice fella though and I found his people great to deal with.

Thats interesting and surprising given the press Rock Newman got. And also the ridiculous entourage for the Golota bouts

Well there's no entourage now and he's not spoken to Newman for years. It crazy the damage that 1988 team mates Roy Jones, Ray Mercer and Bowe must have done to themselves with fights past their peak.

There were a lot of controversial moments in Bowe's career - way before the marines and the kidnapping. The first Tillery fight was just mad, attacking Donald at the presser, hitting Buster Mathis junior on the deck etc. although when you meet him now he just doesn't seem to have any spiteful edge.

It's very sad, I guess every generation thinks they won't make the mistakes of those before them but I never thought Jones or Bowe would end up down on their luck.