WOW!!! Evander Holyfield says Bowe and Tyson were afraid of Lennox Lewis! MUST SEE!

[SN!PER]

I don't see why Bowe was scared, he could've beaten anyone in the HW division on a good night, even Tyson and Lewis.

[edgarg]

Well, I think the money thing mostly applies to Lewis after that time. And if we talk about cunning people, then Rock Newman has got to be mentioned. As far as memory goes, this was the guy who staged the belt thrashing, seeing as Bowe would give Lewis a "paper title" hence Lewis would be regarded as a paper champ, and bowe still the real champ. I believe he still held a couple of belts after he dropped the WBC to Lewis, his mandatory at the time?

Looking at the guys Bowe fought in the immediate aftermath, it seemed to be working as Bowe made a ridiculous amount of money fighting guys with little pedigree, especially compared to Lewis. It's not that I think Bowe was particularly scared of Lewis, but I know both him and his manager saw him as a much bigger threat than Dokes and Ferguson, that's for sure. So thinking you could make equal amount of money fighting those guys compared to Lewis, makes a lot of sense financially and career wise. After that, as he'd already beaten Holyfield, he probably saw him as the easy option once again in '93.

Well, if X is a champion and Y is the mandatory and that fight is the fight everybody wanted to see and there's huge money on the line, and X drops the belt to fight two chumps, then I think you can call it a duck. Once again, a duck to me doesn't necessarily mean someone being afraid, because i don't believe many fighters are afraid per se. But the team might be 'scared' of losing and therefore losing the amount of money that could be coming in with victories. That's also ducking to me.

We seem to be on the same line and can agree to disagree about what constitutes "ducking". Talking about fighting (or not fighting) the #1 contender. When Lewis was down to fight Kirk Johnson, he had been "avoiding" Vitaly Klitschko for a whole year. Klitschko was the WBC #1 contender with a record of 32-1 with 31 KOs.....

When Kirk Johnson tore a back muscle or something, 10 days before the fight, the whole promotion was off, and the only opponent available was Klitschko who was fighting on the undercard. Lewis refused and was only eventually persuaded 7 days before, by a hefty bribe of (again) around $4 mill (according to what I read somewhere).

[beez721]

I don't see why Bowe was scared, he could've beaten anyone in the HW division on a good night, even Tyson and Lewis.

I think rock newman was more afraid than bowe. newman steered bowe away from the big punchers like lewis and Ruddock. the hardest hitter bowe ever faced was probably golota and even golota wasn't that big a puncher

[RadioBox]

Lennox Lewis was a huge risk... he could be knocked the hell out because he didn't have a granite chin.. but he made up for that with immense power, skills, size,reach, and overall ring intelligence.
His chin in itself is underrated and if properly motivated he could beat any Heavyweight in History.
A couple lesser talked about aspects of Lewis is his reach and uppercuts. Lewis had a '85' reach compare to only 79 from Vitali and 80-81 from Wlad-Bowe.. that extra reach advantage for a tall fighter like Lennox is crucial..

His upper cuts were simply devastating and was easily one of the greatest the HW Division have ever seen.. an incoming Tyson would have eaten multiple upper cuts from 95 onwards against those versions of Lewis and I honestly feel that if Lewis had fought Tyson in the mid 90's he would have stopped Mike even sooner due to the fact he was more aggressive back than.

As for Rid**** Bowe.. now that's a interesting topic because the Bowe who beat Holyfield had a legit 40-60 shot against Prime Lewis and I say is actually a slightly favorite against Prime Wladimir. That was a very elite version of Bowe.. sadly Bowe's 'prime' was even shorter than Tyson's so who knows....

That being said... Tyson and Rid**** did the right thing ducking Lennox... why the Hell should they fight Lennox and get their gravy train ended?

[Ryn0]

Bowe yes Tyson no prime for prime Tyson sparks Lewis if he makes it up some how then it could be a long night but I doubt it. I doubt Tyson really cared who he fought except Forman he was only in it for the check after say the first Holyfield fight.

I think Lewis beats Tyson 9/10 horrible style match up for a prime Tyson.

[LacedUp]

We seem to be on the same line and can agree to disagree about what constitutes "ducking". Talking about fighting (or not fighting) the #1 contender. When Lewis was down to fight Kirk Johnson, he had been "avoiding" Vitaly Klitschko for a whole year. Klitschko was the WBC #1 contender with a record of 32-1 with 31 KOs.....

When Kirk Johnson tore a back muscle or something, 10 days before the fight, the whole promotion was off, and the only opponent available was Klitschko who was fighting on the undercard. Lewis refused and was only eventually persuaded 7 days before, by a hefty bribe of (again) around $4 mill (according to what I read somewhere).

I remember Vitali being highly ranked by the WBA at the time and going that route, for a belt that Lennox dropped, he might have been the #1 ranked for the WBC, but I don't think he ever fought an eliminator for a mandatory position. I could be wrong though.

However, even if, I think we can agree that there's a difference between a guy dodging a guy in his prime, and a guy thinking about retirement and who's going to be his last fight. That's my take on it.

[thesenuts]

I don't see why Bowe was scared, he could've beaten anyone in the HW division on a good night, even Tyson and Lewis.

Don't know either. He was just as big and tall as Lewis.

[Jam Jars]

We seem to be on the same line and can agree to disagree about what constitutes "ducking". Talking about fighting (or not fighting) the #1 contender. When Lewis was down to fight Kirk Johnson, he had been "avoiding" Vitaly Klitschko for a whole year. Klitschko was the WBC #1 contender with a record of 32-1 with 31 KOs.....

When Kirk Johnson tore a back muscle or something, 10 days before the fight, the whole promotion was off, and the only opponent available was Klitschko who was fighting on the undercard. Lewis refused and was only eventually persuaded 7 days before, by a hefty bribe of (again) around $4 mill (according to what I read somewhere).

Avoided him? The Klitschko fight was already agreed to for a December PPV and Vitali wasn't the only name available, Byrd offered to take Johnson's place.

[dc3383]

I don't see why Bowe was scared, he could've beaten anyone in the HW division on a good night, even Tyson and Lewis.

Most people feel he was scared cause Lennox KO'd him in the amateurs with headgear on

[thesenuts]

Most people feel he was scared cause Lennox KO'd him in the amateurs with headgear on

It's interesting because during the bowe/lewis exchange after defeating holyfield, bowe told lewis that "you never knocked me off my feet, you had help from the ref" which I would have to agree with.