When fighters have clearly ducked another fighter?

[Hagler]

First one that came to mind. Bowe was an odd cat

There's been a lot of talking about Bowe's fear of Lewis after the 88 Olympics but all the mind games played by Rock Newman also did have an impact.

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

There's been a lot of talking about Bowe's fear of Lewis after the 88 Olympics but all the mind games played by Rock Newman also did have an impact.

Makes sense. Honestly, I think some fighters are acutely aware of who potentially has their number.

As a fan, I think "Big Daddy Bowe is a bad motherfucker, can't believe he ducked Lewis like that"
When in reality, he likely knew way better than anyone how it would go.
We tend to assume these guys are war machines when it's likely the opposite.

 

[aries]

I don't think Garcia was ever going to get down to 135 again once he had gone up to fight Spence. People can consider it a duck if they want, but I don't think most would really fault Garcia for taking the path he took considering he fought a far more dangerous opponent than Lomachenko, got paid more, and didn't have to work with Arum (perhaps the biggest piece in all of this). It's unfortunate for Lomachenko, as Garcia would have been the biggest fight for him by far, but that's how things play out sometimes.

It probably was a lot to do with the Arum factor but Garcia talked a lot of how he was going to beat Loma. Guess I'll have to accept he was full of shit. I thought he wanted to leave a legacy but he was content to go up to WW and put on that shit show against Spence. I agree with you BUT the Spence fight would have still have been there if he'd have fought Loma first. Assuming he won.

 

[toogreen]

Errol “shawn porter got a belt too” Spence

 

[JayE]

It probably was a lot to do with the Arum factor but Garcia talked a lot of how he was going to beat Loma. Guess I'll have to accept he was full of shit. I thought he wanted to leave a legacy but he was content to go up to WW and put on that shit show against Spence. I agree with you BUT the Spence fight would have still have been there if he'd have fought Loma first. Assuming he won.

Again, it's unfortunate, especially for Lomachenko, but Garcia clearly made the decision to take guaranteed money and a Hail Mary shot at beating the top WW instead of making a deal with Arum and Lomachenko, getting that win, and then looking for the big payday.

 

[tekkennlee]

I don't believe it's a duck but certain fighters want to keep their belts while growing as fighters and getting better and also building the mega fight to make more money, these guys are worriers and don't back down from anybody even Tyson with his incredible power fighters didn't duck him and remember your getting a bigger payday and the spotlight fighting Tyson then fighting a nobody you will earn way less, I believe Spence and Crawford know they aren't getting beat until they face each other and both are building this mega fight like Pac and Floyd did and both were still prime and Pac just beat Keith, so he wasn't past prime, when he fought Floyd.

Remember you have to market yourself and build your fan base this brings more money then you sign that big contract, then you make the big super fight and your set financially for life .

 

[tekkennlee]

Bowe signed to fight Holyfield with an agreement to fight the winner of the Ruddock-Lewis fight, he was all mouth and didnt want anything to do with Lewis at all

Riddick Bowe wasn't ducking Lennox Lewis did you watch the Olympics fight they had Bowe was beating Lewis until he got robbed.

Lennox Lewis vs. Riddick Bowe in Gold-Medal Round at 1988 Seoul Olympic Games

 

[defjaam]

Emanuel Steward talked about that potential fight in an interview once. Obviously that fight would have happened before Steward became Lennox' coach... And Steward said that Bowe was always a boy inside, whereas Lennox was a man, and that might have made the difference in favor of Lennox.

Bowe for sure was less disciplined. Didn't train hard, and wasn't consistent with his jab, which for instance made the Holyfield fights tougher than they needed to be for him. He could have kept Holyfield at lenght all day long.