What if these two had met..... 1) Who do you think would have won and how? 2) Where do you think it could have been ranked, amongst the all-time great Heavyweight title fights? 3) To the winner, where could it have ranked them, amongst the all-time Heavyweight greats. To the loser, how could losing this fight have effected their career, or do you feel it would have made no real difference? (To both questions) 4) Would this fight have propelled both fighters, in terms of respect/popularity, or again, have made no difference? 5) With Bowe refusing to fight (due to whatever circumstances), a victory in itself for Lewis? Your opinions please. opcorn:
Lewis would have won, by knockout, but not before being outboxed by Bowe. I'd say 6 rounds. Wouldn't have been a GREAT fight..but would have been exciting. Wouldn't have made a difference to Lewis' career...but would certainly have ended Bowe's claim to being one of the great Heavies The fight would have propelled Lewis' career earlier, naturally, but Lewis would probably still have been KTFO by someone at some point just like he had With Bowe refusing to fight it wasn't a victory for either fighter.
it's hard to say it was a different Lewis it probably would have been a brawl...so i dont know whether Lewis's power would win him the fight or his chin fails him
I love Bowe, and his relationship with Cock Newman, I love that sort of thing, it's basically a centuries worth of bellicose Yank ignorance summed up in 2 men over a 8 year period. I love it. Lewis would have kicked his face in. Bowe was a good guy who teamed up with some useless, useless people who got him hurt and fostered his bad side while neglecting his good side.
It's strange to understand why bowe/his management went ahead with the holyfield 1st fight with no issues at all and once the challenge from lewis arose, they didn't want to accept the fight. Was it a case of bowe's team running scared? Did they refuse the fight, to opt out for "easier defenses" of the title?
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Bowe was scared of guys his size that also had skill. He was a bully who would take on smaller guys(Holyfield, Hide), old men (Tubbs) or useless talents (Jorge Luis Gonzales). The first time he took on a man his size that had any skill (Golota)...we know how that turned out...
Lewis was way too green in 1993 to beat Bowe. It would've been interesting, but there'd have only been one winner. There just flat isn't enough between these two fellas at the peak of their powers for Lewis to take on a prime Bowe while still learning his craft. Lewis was a solid three-to-five years away from peaking in 1993. Bowe wins that fight almost certainly. If it's prime-against-prime (Bowe circa 1991-92, Lewis circa 1997-02), I back Bowe, but I've softened that stance in recent years. It's closer in my eyes now than it had been, but I still feel Bowe was the more dangerous fighter.
Yeah, of course the referee also stepped in and stopped the action at the 4:00 minute mark of the video after Lewis backed him against the ropes, with a left hook - yes, a left hook- over a lazy right hand of Bowe...not too bad from the "green" Lewis.
The, "green" Lewis I was referring to was in the pros --- this was the Ams, where Lewis had already made an Olympic journey prior to Seoul, & was extensively more experienced than Bowe as an amateur. When they hit the pros, it was Bowe who reached the peak of his powers quickly, while Lewis developed over many, many years.
That night was insane and one of the craziest, most jaw dropping moments in sports history :jaw: It seemed wherever bowe fought, something out of the ordinary occurred :blackcloud: For the life of me I can't understand why the hell Golota lost the plot. :scared2:
Bowe was, at heart, a bully & a lowly thug, & he surrounded himself with a lot of people who fit that mould, that image. His manager was a classic example of said classless hordes. It's less surprising when you realise this that strange things seemed to follow Bowe. There's no understanding Golota, I don't think --- not even for the man himself.
It's strange, because Bowe came across as a sort of joker/clown, but as you say, at heart was a bully/lowly thug. Could the influence of poor management/personal dealings with Bowe affected his behaviour?
Bowe was lead up the Garden path [no pun intended] by his handlers. Rock Newman tried to use the Fan-Man incident to paint the Bowe camp as some sort of an unlucky scene where "shit just finds us". It's BS. They manufactured their own bad luck. Golota was hand-picked for Bowe and the attempt to make out that Bowe did badly on account of his weight was also BS. They didn't do their homework and simply followed the jaded old philosophy that Golota was obviously another Euro softy who would fold in due course.
The second fight was a spectacularly exciting fight from a fans' perspective, but Bowe took a horrific beating --- ironically doing significantly more damage to Golota than he'd achieved in the previous fight.
That was the official line anyways. The truth of the matter is anyone who thinks Kentucky Fried chicken did more damage to Bowe than Golota needs examining. He took an awful lot of clean head-shots in the first fight and was never the same after them. For the rematch, he came in lighter. Bowes people had assumed that fitness had played a major role in the difficulties he had experienced first time out. Wrong. Bowe himself said that Golota was the first opponent who could jab with him, and that this "threw me off". Bowes camp made physical, but no technical adjustments for the rematch. Net result? He took a similar pounding.
Ive said it a million times before and I'll say it again... in the early 90's Bowe wins. After 95, Lewis would kill him. Both in thier primes, 92-93 Bowe vs 99-00 Lewis... its basically a pick em, but I'd slightly favor Lewis.
This is pretty close to my take. I agree Lewis just wasn't ready in the early-90's, & from around 95-onward --- yes --- Lewis would be as Bowe slid. Prime-for-prime, I'd probably favour Bowe if pushed, but not as convinced as I have been in the past.
For an amateur fight that was a perfectly normal stoppage situation. Therefore there was nothing terrible in it, though it must also be noted that therefore it doesn't tell us much about them fighting as professionals (which Lewis would also win)
Not in a pro bout, I'll agree with that. Ammy bout that's a regulation stoppage. Just one of the reasons I don't watch am fights anymore.
LOL. Bowe "reached the peak of his powers" against a 205 pound heavyweight who was willing to trade with him.
