Stupid and random. How good was Riddick bowe

J

Jeffy37

Brown Belt
@Brown
Joined
Mar 14, 2020
Messages
3,104
Reaction score
1,882
I was young in the early 90's and obviously grew up on Tyson. Remember Evander holyfield. Knew Lenox Lewis would become the best. Remember Bowe but just randomly looked up his record today and saw how great his record was. Was he that good?
 
on his very best night which is one way we look at fighters, he was damned good. big, fast, skilled, probably the most skilled big guy up until Fury. He just didn't have a body that could take a lot of wars and his decline was one of the fastest I've ever seen and that's not to consider his lack of discipline, between the two of those, he was pretty much finished by the time he was 29 or so. But on the night he beat Holyfield he was incredible. That was one of his only good nights (at that level) and he had plenty of bad ones after that.
 
Last edited:
mozfonky said:
on his very best night which is one way we look at fighters, he was damned good. big, fast, skilled, probably the most skilled big guy up until Fury. He just didn't have a body that could take a lot of wars and his decline was one of the fastest I've ever seen and that's not to consider his lack of discipline, between the two of those, he was pretty much finished by the time he was 29 or so. But on the night he beat Holyfield he was incredible. That was one of his only good nights (at that level) and he had plenty of bad ones after that.
Click to expand...

Also he was inconsistent with his jab, hence his tendency to brawl.
That's why I'd pick Vitali Klitschko to beat Riddick Bowe even at Bowe's best.

I always wondered how he got so shopworn at such a young age for an athlete. Looked totally lethargic going into the Golota fight.
 
defjaam said:
Also he was inconsistent with his jab, hence his tendency to brawl.
That's why I'd pick Vitali Klitschko to beat Riddick Bowe even at Bowe's best.

I always wondered how he got so shopworn at such a young age for an athlete. Looked totally lethargic going into the Golota fight.
Click to expand...

He used his jab well the night he beat evander, evander said it more than once that Bowe's quick jab gave him trouble in the first two fights. He also was rare in how well he fought inside for his size. We were and are used to seeing big guys waste a lot of motion and rely on their size, Bowe, for a short time, fought like a much smaller man.

Why he got shopworn so fast? It's a tough sport and not everyone can take the abuse. It only takes one war to ruin a man and he had at least 2 or 3 tough fights by the time he got to golota who just finished him off then and there. I recall how his speech sounded worse right after the second fight.

I knew an old boxer who would say that age had nothing to do with it, he'd say he'd seen 18 year olds ruined by tough fights. It's usually not quite as dramatic as it was with bowe though is it? One day he's one of the top heavyweights, the next day he's being told to retire.
 
defjaam said:
He lacked heart and determination.
Arbitrarily sucker punching someone you know isn't going to fight back...




... not doing anything to a guy who's talking shit to your face, but who you know is going to swing back full blast...

Click to expand...

the press hated bowe and they rightly pointed out how he always had some bullshit going on around him. The elijah tillery fight, the larry mcdonald thing, the golota riot. He was surrounded by jackasses starting with his manager.
 
For all his shortcomings and flaws Bowe still did pretty well. That's how talented he was. As Moz said he offensive moves he could pull together were pretty amazing for a man of this size.
 
Another interesting difference between then and now is that in those days, if a heavyweight came in 5-10 pounds heavier, people expected a less than stellar performance and with Bowe, he came in heavier against Holyfield the second time. Buster Douglas similarly came in about 10 pounds more than when he beat tyson when he fought Holyfield. I found myself lost when Fury was doing whatever he wanted with his weight in his recent fights and it just confirmed that for whatever reason, the sport is very different today.
 
mozfonky said:
He used his jab well the night he beat evander, evander said it more than once that Bowe's quick jab gave him trouble in the first two fights. He also was rare in how well he fought inside for his size. We were and are used to seeing big guys waste a lot of motion and rely on their size, Bowe, for a short time, fought like a much smaller man.

Why he got shopworn so fast? It's a tough sport and not everyone can take the abuse. It only takes one war to ruin a man and he had at least 2 or 3 tough fights by the time he got to golota who just finished him off then and there. I recall how his speech sounded worse right after the second fight.

I knew an old boxer who would say that age had nothing to do with it, he'd say he'd seen 18 year olds ruined by tough fights. It's usually not quite as dramatic as it was with bowe though is it? One day he's one of the top heavyweights, the next day he's being told to retire.
Click to expand...

If it takes two or three, then I wonder why not more boxers are ruined.
Both Chisora and Dillian Whyte have been in multiple wars (also against each other), have been knocked out cold more than once - how come that neither guy is in a similar state like Bowe?
Why was Ken Norton fine up until his car accident? Wars with Ali and Holmes... knocked out by Foreman, Shavers and Cooney.

Maybe I should have an better eye for it after watching boxing for so many years, but I genuinely don't see how, let's say Eduard Gutknecht, took more punishment in the George Groves fight than other boxers at that weight class (Gutknecht collapsed in the dressing room & has been a nursing case since then).
 
Last edited:
mozfonky said:
He used his jab well the night he beat evander, evander said it more than once that Bowe's quick jab gave him trouble in the first two fights. He also was rare in how well he fought inside for his size. We were and are used to seeing big guys waste a lot of motion and rely on their size, Bowe, for a short time, fought like a much smaller man.

Why he got shopworn so fast? It's a tough sport and not everyone can take the abuse. It only takes one war to ruin a man and he had at least 2 or 3 tough fights by the time he got to golota who just finished him off then and there. I recall how his speech sounded worse right after the second fight.

I knew an old boxer who would say that age had nothing to do with it, he'd say he'd seen 18 year olds ruined by tough fights. It's usually not quite as dramatic as it was with bowe though is it? One day he's one of the top heavyweights, the next day he's being told to retire.
Click to expand...
His biggest flaws were probably the fact that he was rather stationary and not a great mover + he could always get drawn into a brawl. Great inside game and handspeed for such a big guy. Stylewise a big puncher with good footwork/movement would probably the most problematic for him.
 
mozfonky said:
on his very best night which is one way we look at fighters, he was damned good. big, fast, skilled, probably the most skilled big guy up until Fury. He just didn't have a body that could take a lot of wars and his decline was one of the fastest I've ever seen and that's not to consider his lack of discipline, between the two of those, he was pretty much finished by the time he was 29 or so. But on the night he beat Holyfield he was incredible. That was one of his only good nights (at that level) and he had plenty of bad ones after that.
Click to expand...
He had a fridge put in his bedroom from what I heard after winning the title
 
He had a very good career but he probably underachieved based on how good he actually was! I’m not sure why he looked so bad in some fights, and great in others. I always put it down to his training regime and maybe a confidence issue, but that’s pure guesswork
 
Jonny Ninja said:
He had a very good career but he probably underachieved based on how good he actually was! I’m not sure why he looked so bad in some fights, and great in others. I always put it down to his training regime and maybe a confidence issue, but that’s pure guesswork
Click to expand...

It wasnt his training, it was him. A lot of guys can reach the elite level of sports almost purely on talent while missing lots of other intangibles. Bowe is one of them.
 
Sharkhunter said:
He had a fridge put in his bedroom from what I heard after winning the title
Click to expand...
I remember those kinds of stories, I think it was said that he'd gain up to 50 pounds or more between fights too.
 
defjaam said:
If it takes two or three, then I wonder why not more boxers are ruined.
Both Chisora and Dillian Whyte have been in multiple wars (also against each other), have been knocked out cold more than once - how come that neither guy is in a similar state like Bowe?
Why was Ken Norton fine up until his car accident? Wars with Ali and Holmes... knocked out by Foreman, Shavers and Cooney.

Maybe I should have an better eye for it after watching boxing for so many years, but I genuinely don't see how, let's Eduard Gutknecht, took more punishment in the George Groves fight than other boxers at that weight class (Gutknecht collapsed in the dressing room & has been a nursing case since then).
Click to expand...

Like I said, everyone is different and everyone has a different biological/mental constitution. Some guys fight wars every time out and crave it, others have just one tough fight or a tough loss and they are never the same. Donald Curry quit against Honeyghan, didn't take that much punishment and went from pound to pound being in the top two to an ordinary fighter. Hector Camacho had one really rough fight with Edwin Rosario in which he wasn't even put down, but was put into trouble a couple times and that changed him. Then we have guys like Evander Holyfield who just never seemed to go away when everyone predicted that his career was over and fought a multitude of wars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,267,115
Messages
57,450,562
Members
175,716
Latest member
Kombat Konnoisseur

Share this page

Back
Top