Lewis v Bowe 1993 "Why it never happened"

[BattlingNelson]

Likely chain of events (as I recall and the Bowe offer info supplied here):

1: Lewis becomes WBC mandatory.
2: Bowe offers a 75/25 split.
3: Lewis rejects and asks for the fight to go to purseoffer where the WBC has a rule of a 60/40 split (I think).
4: Bowe dumps his WBC belt in the bin and elects to fight Holyfield instead.

As I further recall Lewis had been waiting for his shot the longest of the alphabetmandatorys.

It was the common perception that Bowe (Rock Newman) wanted to avoid Lennox who was more dangerous and brought a smaller purse than Holyfield.

[sonnyboyx2]

Who cares what Bowe got to face Holyfield that is a different scenario.

Bowe got his ass stomped in the Olympics by Lewis and Holyfield was undisputed Champ, Bowe would not have been Undisputed Champ if he had not faced Lewis because he would have had to drop a belt and Lewis could of laid claim to being a Heavyweight Champ.

Bowe made every possible attempt to dodge Lewis and its so obvious you would have to have a mental disorder not to see it.


Newman wisely ducked a commitment to the World Boxing Council to fight the winner of the October 1992 Lennox Lewis-Razor Ruddock fight—a commitment he had agreed to keep if Bowe won the title—and then called a press conference in London, Lewis's hometown, where Bowe deposited his WBC belt in a garbage can before the organization had the chance to strip him and give the belt to Lewis. And at times it has been a show of artful dodging, as when Newman deflected the heat he got in the aftermath of February's Bowe-Michael Dokes one-round fiasco by grandly proposing a $32 million, winner-take-all fight contract with Lewis, which he had mined with terms so unacceptable to Lewis's camp that the contract blew up at first touch.

Did not Lennox Lewis dump his IBF belt days before he was to be stripped of it for not fighting Chris Byrd, didn`t Lewis dump his WBA belt (or was he stripped) for not fighting John Ruiz, didn`t Lewis dump his WBC belt days before he was to be stripped of it for refusing Vitali Klitschko a multi-million dollar rematch...

Double-Standards its called... its OK for Lewis to do that but not ok for Riddick Bowe

[DC Fight Fan]

D Kid, why is this so personal to you? You are looking like a Lewis stalker or something.

Further, what happened in the amateurs has ABSOLUTELY no bearing on professional negotiations! NONE! Anyone who remembers the mid 90's knows that after beating Evander, Bowe's name and popularity was 10X's that of Lennox Lewis. Lewis was a challenger wanting to make it to the top. Bowe was an UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. When a challenger really wants what a champion has it should not be about money it should be about opportunity. As was the case when Bowe accepted short money to face and beat Holyfield.

I will also go on to say, although the window of prime was brief, in his prime and at his best Riddick Bowe has been the best Heavyweight since Ali. His combination of power, fast hands, inside game, outside game, footwork and defense was unreal. He obviously had no self discipline and surely has some mental issues which led to his quick demise, but I contend that a prime Bowe KO's a prime Lewis. You have to remember Lewis's chin. A fight with Bowe would have surely been 12 rounds were LEwis to have a shot of winning because I don't think he would have stopped Bowe. In that 12 rounds who truly believes that Lewis wouldn't have taken one of Bowe's best punches flush on the chin? He would have and it would have been good night Lennox!.

[Dynamite Kid]

Likely chain of events (as I recall and the Bowe offer info supplied here):

1: Lewis becomes WBC mandatory.
2: Bowe offers a 75/25 split.
3: Lewis rejects and asks for the fight to go to purseoffer where the WBC has a rule of a 60/40 split (I think).
4: Bowe dumps his WBC belt in the bin and elects to fight Holyfield instead.

As I further recall Lewis had been waiting for his shot the longest of the alphabetmandatorys.

It was the common perception that Bowe (Rock Newman) wanted to avoid Lennox who was more dangerous and brought a smaller purse than Holyfield.

Yep thats pretty much the size of it.

Money came before pride rightly or wrongly.

[Dynamite Kid]

D Kid, why is this so personal to you? You are looking like a Lewis stalker or something.

Further, what happened in the amateurs has ABSOLUTELY no bearing on professional negotiations! NONE! Anyone who remembers the mid 90's knows that after beating Evander, Bowe's name and popularity was 10X's that of Lennox Lewis. Lewis was a challenger wanting to make it to the top. Bowe was an UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. When a challenger really wants what a champion has it should not be about money it should be about opportunity. As was the case when Bowe accepted short money to face and beat Holyfield.

I will also go on to say, although the window of prime was brief, in his prime and at his best Riddick Bowe has been the best Heavyweight since Ali. His combination of power, fast hands, inside game, outside game, footwork and defense was unreal. He obviously had no self discipline and surely has some mental issues which led to his quick demise, but I contend that a prime Bowe KO's a prime Lewis. You have to remember Lewis's chin. A fight with Bowe would have surely been 12 rounds were LEwis to have a shot of winning because I don't think he would have stopped Bowe. In that 12 rounds who truly believes that Lewis wouldn't have taken one of Bowe's best punches flush on the chin? He would have and it would have been good night Lennox!.

Im not a Lewis stalker, Sonnybox is caning the guy are tearing strips of him and i dont agree with being biased and unobjective because you dont like a fighter, what is wrong with that?

I agree that, that Bowe would of beaten Lewis, but Sonnybox is trying to say that it was Lewis who actually ducked Bowe when if push came to shove and you really did have to say who found a way out of the fight it was Bowe and Newman.

Lewis already had an opportunity though, he was GOING to fight for the title regardless whether it be with Bowe or someone else and Bowe is the man that would of wanted to exact his revenge, no matter what you say amateur or Pro you cant tell me that did not play on Bowe's mind.

Whether you dont think the Amateur victory was a just reason to demand a little more money surely you must agree that having a guaranteed title shot means you would not want the short end of the stick, well not a low figure like 25% anyway, especially when you are going to be taking one of the belts off the Undisputed Champ.

Bowe's defence was unreal ? Best HW since Ali? I dont agree with any of those statements and i suspect not many others will. Bowe's defence was very leaky.

[DC Fight Fan]

In their primes....name a heavyweight with a better skill set than Bowe since Ali.

[Dynamite Kid]

In their primes....name a heavyweight with a better skill set than Bowe since Ali.

You have seen Bowe's fights with Tubbs and Biggs, Golota 1+2 ?

Bowe was an excellent HW but he was too easy to hit and he could be offset with lateral movement, he got too flat footed sometimes and compromised his technique when he got aggressive/into exchanges, plus he did not face many big hitters.

[DC Fight Fan]

You have seen Bowe's fights with Tubbs and Biggs, Golota 1+2 ?

Bowe was an excellent HW but he was too easy to hit and he could be offset with lateral movement, he got too flat footed sometimes and compromised his technique when he got aggressive/into exchanges, plus he did not face many big hitters.

You didn't answer my question

[BattlingNelson]

I agree that, that Bowe would of beaten Lewis, but Sonnybox is trying to say that it was Lewis who actually ducked Bowe when if push came to shove and you really did have to say who found a way out of the fight it was Bowe and Newman.

Is that what he's trying to say? I've never heard that one before. Sounds ******ed.

[Dynamite Kid]

You didn't answer my question

Is that what he's trying to say? I've never heard that one before. Sounds ******ed.

Hey DC Fight Fan.

Bowe did have a great arsenal/skillset but he never really faced enough punchers for me to say he was the best HW since Ali, he had the potential to be but to say he was is a bit over the top imo, he needed to prove more than he did. The night he beat Holyfield he looked something special.


He also thinks Tyson paying Lewis step aside Money is why Lewis ducked Tyson.

He was scared of Berbick and thats why he left Canada, he ducked Hide and he was no better than Frank Bruno.