Where do you rank Riddick Bowe in his era? All Time?

[The Green Lantern]

Spoiler

Riddick Bowe is a former undisputed heavyweight champion. The first man to defeat Evander Holyfield (in their first fight), and the only man to knock him out in the third fight of one of the more entertaining trilogies in boxing history. Only one loss on his record (to Evander) and 1 NC. (43-1-0-1NC)

How does "Big Daddy" rank in your opinion for his era? Is he the best HW of his time?

How does he rank vs Lennox? vs Tyson? How would he have done against them?

 

[Cheese]

He was a great fighter and his skills were real but he seemed mentally weak at times. Called Lewis out forever, Throws belt in the thrash? dam near killed Mathis by KO'ing him while on the graound, Blows and becomes "Big Mac" Bowe. Gets 2 wins cause Golotta goes into Nut Shot Beast Mode. He time at the top was a weird run.Joins the Army and goes AWOL. Then get arrested for kidnapping his own kids

 

[The Green Lantern]

His story is definitely one of the stranger ones in boxing history, but he was a bad ass imo. I get the feeling that he is somewhat overlooked and forgotten. I follow him on facebook and he has very little (almost no) followers.

 

[Buzzard**]

Last..

 

[Uncommon Valor]

Didn't he say he didn't want to fight Lewis because Lewis was gay (or so he believed)?

 

[AznCezi187]

Tremendous fighter, Only Big HW I know that could fight inside as well as outside.

Those Uppercuts!

 

[mozfonky]

the first holyfield fight, he would have been a handful or just about anyone. Technical big man, short prime. Never understood the Lewis ducking, at the time, Lewis wasn't that impressive. Lewis was struggling with guys like Bruno and getting kayoed by McCall so I'll never get why they all ducked him. Even if, based on just being fighters, they shouldn't be ducking no one. Usually, those things are management, not the fighters themselves I think.

 

[MC Paul Barman]

moz, that's a pretty limited focus on Lewis.
Guys like Bruno? You say that like Bruno was some chump. There weren't many guys like Bruno. And aside from that, he still TKOd the guy.

And around the loss to McCall he won alot fights.

 

[burningspear]

I favoured Bowe at the time; but he robbed us of an all time classic, a bit like Floyd is doing in this era. I sort of get where moz is coming from, Frank was decent but Tyson beat him as if he were Kellie Maloney, twice.

 

[Cheese]

Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down
[Yt]1CiJRY8a1Q0[/MEDIA]

 

[Breakfast Bar]

Poor Bruce Seldon. He reminds me of Andrei Arlovski in MMA. If you saw the guy shadow boxing and hitting pads in the gym, you'd think nobody in the world was going to be able to stop him. But boxing champions aren't the guys who would score the highest in the NFL combine drills and he just had something (like a solid chin and defensive instincts) that was missing.

 

[JayElectra]

On his best night, he could beat anyone else in his era. Poor discipline and questionable decisions regarding promoters, sanctioning bodies and so on (the whole Lewis fiasco, essentially) really hampered him. He was genuinely one of the most talented HWs to ever fight and he is my favorite HW from that great era.

 

[XThe GreatestX]

some of the best inside fighting that i have ever seen a big man have. In his prime could have beaten a lot of atg's.

 

[nastyleft]

Prime Bowe was Top 10 ATG-HW good. Shame he fizzled so quickly.

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

Yeah...joining the marines was odd as well.

 

[heavyarms21]

Did he duck Lewis becuase Lewis whooped him as an amateur , I was a kid when that happened and I don't recall the circumstances.

 

[mozfonky]

some people have said that, Lewis definitely would have had a mental edge in a fight with him, but Bowe proved his heart as a pro, even more that Lewis did. At the time, the threw the belt away using the excuse that they had some affiliation with south Africa. Usually, those decisions are based on money though, and specifically, money for less risk. He beat Dokes in a defense that should not have happened, Ferguson in a fight that shouldn't have happened then lost a close rematch with holyfield. He probably made more money and took less risks doing that. Because lets be honest, with the lack of consistency he showed, no telling how a Lewis fight would turn out. The Bowe the night of the Holyfield fight I'd pick handily over the Lewis of that time who was still improving.

 

[Poseidon]

guy was a head case.....atg? em no

 

[RyanMctWrestler]

One of the toughest fighters ever. Lacked motivation but always came to fight

 

[Vukovic]

1. Lennox
2. Tyson
3. Holyfield
4. Bowe
5. Moorer

I think that Tyson in his prime 1986-1988 was best ever...