Grade a fighter day 32: What grade do you give Rid**** Bowe?

**famicommander** · 03-28-2021, 12:53 PM

Heavyweight champs beaten:
Pinklon Thomas
Tony Tubbs
Bruce Seldon
Evander Holyfield
Michael Dokes
Herbie Hide (WBO champ prior to the title's widespread recognition so discount it if you'd like)
Evander Holyfield again

Heavyweight champs lost to:
Evander Holyfield

Heavyweight champs ducked:
Lennox Lewis

He's an A fighter for sure.

**LeOoze** · 03-28-2021, 01:37 PM

B+

Trash resume but he beat Holyfield twice

**PRINCEKOOL** · 03-28-2021, 02:11 PM

A-.

Great fighter, one of the last of his kind? Heavyweights especially big heavyweights cannot really fight on the inside anymore 'Not to the level of Rid**** Bowe or even Lennox Lewis'.

Somebody will now come in here and mention Tyson Fury 'Listen Fury has not shown elite level inside fighting ability b far too clumsy, although yes he gives it a go etc

Rid**** Bowe vs Evander Holyfield behind Joe Frazier vs Muhammad Ali is the second greatest rivalry in heavyweight boxing history.

I also enjoyed both Bowe vs Golota fights 'The rematch in my opinion, is one of the most underrated fights of the 90's'. Yes Bowe was over trained and dropped too much weight in a short amount of time, which seemed to have affected his durability 'But he was extremely game in the fight, and seriously trying to prove a point'

There seems to be some myth that Golota destroyed Rid**** Bowe, which well is clearly not what happened. Bowe fought hard in that second fight, and both fighters where beaten up real bad.

I believe Rid**** Bowe dropped almost 80 pounds from the 1st fight.

Note: I could of graded Bowe A, but I decided not to because? He should of fought Lennox Lewis, and really should been around at the top for longer '1996 is when he retired, 1996? Soon as he arrived he went off the scene'.

**boxing551** · 03-28-2021, 04:50 PM

It's hard to grade a blatant ducker highly.

**Nash out** · 03-28-2021, 05:10 PM

C+. The most overrated HW of all time. Beat Holyfield 2-1 when Holyfield was very undersized, and still finding his feet at HW. Beat nobody else at all. That would have been enough for me to give him a B+, but the two batterings he took from a very average fighter in Golota, and binning a Title to avoid Lennox Lewis, he loses a whole grade.

The fact that after Golota battered him once, before getting a ****** DQ, that Bowe couldn't make the adjustments in the rematch against such a limited opponent, says a lot about how good/average he really was. The madness of Golota getting those two DQ's lost cost him two definite, and very easy wins.

I honestly feel as though Bowe is held in much higher regard than reality, to keep the 90's HW scene on a pedestal. Holyfield was the goat CW, and in time, became a great HW, Tyson had a great early start to his career knocking over cans, then the wheels fell off for multiple reasons. Lewis aged magnificently but wasn't always elite, and Bowe, well let's just say, if he was fighting now, taking two batterings from someone like Golota, he'd be called a bum by everyone on here.

**Brother Mouzone** · 03-28-2021, 05:14 PM

A- Beat a prime Holyfield and had one of the greatest trilogies in the history of the sport , ducked Lenox doe ....Also was involved in 2 of the most infamous moments in Boxing , the Fan Man crashing his parachute into the ring during the 2nd Holyfield fight. And the riot his team set off during the Golota fight .

**HitmanTommy** · 03-28-2021, 09:08 PM

Let's get it going.

**Spray_resistant** · 03-28-2021, 10:56 PM

B- fat, a ducker, poor work ethic, short prime but he did beat a great fighter who he outweighed by 40lbs.

**HitmanTommy** · 03-29-2021, 09:39 AM

pretty even poll.

Grade a fighter day 32: What grade do you give Rid**** Bowe?