Mythical Match Up #2: Rid**** Bowe vs. Lennox Lewis (Fall, 1994)

[sleazyfellow]

Bowes willingness to fight on the inside and lennox being a boxer who wanted his space would of made it interesting... but bowe is just not up to it, all that trash talk about him owing lennox one and how lennox got help from the ref in their amateur fight, all bs. lennox had his number and its the reason he blatantly ducked him..

[Tommo1]

Yeah as much as I like Bowe that was among the most shameful things I've seen at HW. Right up there with the QUITschko affair.

He was probably wise to duck really. Golota is a vastly underrated HW with real skills who probably deserved the HW title on more than one occasion. When he was blown out by Lennox you could swear you could see it on his face "****, THIS is why Bowe threw the belt in the trash!" lol

[fight_professor]

Prime Bowe is a decent match for anyone. Taking him at his apex (H1 fight), he was strong, great jab, good inside game for a big guy and pretty snappy with his punches. Lots of heart too. I'd favour that Bowe over Lewis. But LL had longevity.

[Anthony342]

Lewis by late TKO. If Bowe holds up, a UD win for Lewis.

[Ham Porter]

I've always picked Lewis and have no doubt that Bowe blatantly ducked him.

Bowe ducked the WBC, not Lewis. That whole dumping the belt in the trash was designed to diminish and demean the WBC rather than any attempt to avoid a fight with Lewis. It obviously backfired as others interpreted that as him ducking the fight, but Bowe was willing to fight Lewis as long as the WBC weren't involved.

[Sugarj]

The early 90s version of Bowe would have beaten the early 90s version of Lewis; he was a superior fighting machine at that time. The Bowe that narrowly lost to Holyfield in their return match would surely have beaten the Lewis that met Bruno or McCall.

Their primes never collided. Lewis's prime came around 1997 with Steward in his corner by which time Bowe was near shot after the Golota fights.

[lazy]

Based on the amateurs I would have picked Lewis but the way they did against Holyfield I would have picked Bowe. But Rock Neuman would have none of it.

[Ham Porter]

Lewis Ko's Offer To Fight Bowe

July 21, 1993



LONDON — Lennox Lewis, the WBC heavyweight champion, has rejected a deal to fight Rid**** Bowe for the undisputed title.

"The deal was $21 million for Bowe and a 50-50 split if the final purse went above $32 million," Frank Maloney, who represents Lewis, said Tuesday. Lewis was guaranteed $11 million.

The Bowe fight won't happen until the summer of 1994," Maloney said.

Bowe said Lewis is a "pitiful disgrace to the manly art of boxing" in a statement released through his manager, Rock Newman.

"Lennox Lewis is a pompous, arrogant, phony British punk who is simply afraid to fight me," Bowe's statement said.

Dan Duva, who has promotional ties with both champions, said Newman made the offer to Lewis' management group, headed by Panos Eliades.

"Their response was, `We've made commitments for two fights,' " Duva said.

The fights will be against Frank Bruno in London in October and against Tommy Morrison at Las Vegas in March, according to Duva.




http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1...-frank-maloney

[fight_professor]

I do not accept that Bowe ducked LL.

[Anthony342]

Well I do.