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Bowe had poor defense and was about as hard to hit as the broad side of a barn. He could get away with that against most fighters, absorbing their shots and beating them on attrition but against monster punchers like, Lewis, Tyson and a prime Wlad he would have been knocked out before the fifth round.
People remember the positives from his three Holyfield fights and extrapolate an all time great career without also thinking about the negatives:
Bowe sustained an incredible amount of punishment every time he faced Holyfield, he displayed incredible offense on the inside but a fighter of that size had no reason to be fighting Holyfield at that distance, so either his outside fighting or his footwork were failing him.
Bowe had flaws in his technique when fighting at a distance, his jab was good but his right hand was wide, this meant he could be beaten to the punch and couldn't do optimum damage without moving forward after the jab, exposing himself to counters. His footwork was also geared towards offense, good at cutting off the ring but poor at backpedaling, which meant he was poor at defusing pressure. He had a great chin in terms of taking sustained punishment but was susceptible to one punch power shots. Similarly his punch power was good but not of the one punch variety.
With some fighters what they do will work, more or less, against everyone. Bowe wasn't one of these fighters. With Bowe, it came down to how well he matched up against his opponent.
For anyone smaller than him, without great power, Bowe would be a nightmare, as even if they exposed his technical flaws they wouldn't be able to knock him out and would be drawn into a war where Bowe's greater size would probably be the difference maker.
If a fighter was the same size or had one punch knockout power, Bowe was very beatable, it would take talent, either good outside fighting or the ability to slip inside but it was possible.
If a fighter was of similar size and had one punch knockout power, Bowe was a sitting duck.
People remember the positives from his three Holyfield fights and extrapolate an all time great career without also thinking about the negatives:
Bowe sustained an incredible amount of punishment every time he faced Holyfield, he displayed incredible offense on the inside but a fighter of that size had no reason to be fighting Holyfield at that distance, so either his outside fighting or his footwork were failing him.
Bowe had flaws in his technique when fighting at a distance, his jab was good but his right hand was wide, this meant he could be beaten to the punch and couldn't do optimum damage without moving forward after the jab, exposing himself to counters. His footwork was also geared towards offense, good at cutting off the ring but poor at backpedaling, which meant he was poor at defusing pressure. He had a great chin in terms of taking sustained punishment but was susceptible to one punch power shots. Similarly his punch power was good but not of the one punch variety.
With some fighters what they do will work, more or less, against everyone. Bowe wasn't one of these fighters. With Bowe, it came down to how well he matched up against his opponent.
For anyone smaller than him, without great power, Bowe would be a nightmare, as even if they exposed his technical flaws they wouldn't be able to knock him out and would be drawn into a war where Bowe's greater size would probably be the difference maker.
If a fighter was the same size or had one punch knockout power, Bowe was very beatable, it would take talent, either good outside fighting or the ability to slip inside but it was possible.
If a fighter was of similar size and had one punch knockout power, Bowe was a sitting duck.
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