BoxRec

What would have happened if this fight would have taken place.

The top two unbeaten heavyweights at that time.

Sadly never happened.

nobleart1978 wrote: ↑16 Feb 2018, 09:54 What would have happened if this fight would have taken place.

The top two unbeaten heavyweights at that time.

Sadly never happened.

Bowe was very good at out-muscling smaller opponents but he couldn't have leaned on Lewis and moved him around the ring at will. Lennox had the superior skill set imo but Pepe Correa was not a good fit for him as a trainer so at the time in question - May 1993 - Riddick would have had a better chance than he would have had against the Manny Steward trained version of Lewis.

nobleart1978 wrote: ↑16 Feb 2018, 09:54 What would have happened if this fight would have taken place.

The top two unbeaten heavyweights at that time.

Sadly never happened.

Bowe's move was downright stupid. I don't think Bowe was scared himself, but Rock Newman was. Lewis looked great against Ruddock, but was nowhere near as good as he was in 1997-2001 (his prime years). Bowe would have had much bettter chances of beating pre-prime Lewis than older, more polished version of Lennox. I think Ruddock fight was the only one fight of pre-Steward version of Lewis where Lennox showed his real potential. He didn't look as good before (Mason, Weaver, Billups fights) or since (Tucker, Bruno, Jackson fights) that fight until he started working with Steward. But it was enough to scare Newman badly.

That stoppage in the Olympics was total BS. There was no reason at all for it being stopped.

This was one of the biggest boxing disappointments of my boxing fan life. I'm sure by not fighting Lewis ruined Bowes life, win or lose would have been better

I wish Bowe would have fought Lewis as well. However, we also have to look at it from the context of the time. I didn't really care about the garbage can thing at the time. I and most fans were more interested in a Bowe-Holyfield rematch. Most people thought that Bowe and Lewis eventually meet. Most of us all thought Lewis and Holyfield would have fought much sooner as well.

golden oldie wrote: ↑17 Feb 2018, 06:09 Probably true, but it wasn't Newman that Lewis stopped 5 years earlier was it? If Bowe had truly " wanted " the fight I'm sure he could have overruled Newman.

Bowe wasn't a coward. He agreed to have a rematch with Golota after getting battered by him. In rematch he got even worse beating, but wasn't going to quit.

In the amateurs he got beaten much, much worse by Jorge Luis Gonzalez than he was beaten by Lennox Lewis. Gonzalez floored him 4 times, here you can watch Riddick being dropped really hard by Cuban's right hand:


Did Bowe duck Gonzalez in the pros? No, he didn't. He fought him when JLG had 23-0 (22 KOs) record and KTFOed him.

So I don't think Bowe was scared of Lewis. He was aware that Lewis was dangerous opponent, and Newman probably told him that he can have two easy defenses and get about $5 millions for each and later fight Evander Holyfield in the rematch that would bring him more money than Lewis fight. They underestimated Holyfield just like King did in 1996. Newman and King didn't expect that Holyfield would be able to beat Bowe and Tyson respectively in 1993 and 1996. They cosidered him a low-risk/high-reward opponent, while Lewis was considered exactly opposite - high-risk/low-reward. It turned out to be a wrong decision in both cases.

Bowe should have insisted this fight be made. Instead he can only think, what if. His life would have turned out better, win or lose.

tennessee wrote: ↑27 Feb 2018, 12:02 Bowe should have insisted this fight be made. Instead he can only think, what if. His life would have turned out better, win or lose.

Definitely.

It wasn't in Bowe's character to fight Lewis.... He was a coward at heart - and his career and life played out like that.

This is probably the only time when Bowe might've had a chance. It was his brief prime. If he did everything Eddie Futch told him, in the ring and out, he might've been able to do something against a pre-prime Lewis. That's a whole lot of ifs and maybes, though. Too many, in fact. Gotta pick Lewis.