Riddick Bowe speaks out (Unfairly?) on Lennox Lewis & Mike Tyson... By Johnny Benz, Doghouse Boxing (Dec 8, 2011) Doghouse Boxing - Tweet
By Johnny Benz, Doghouse Boxing - In a recent interview, Riddick Bowe, who is planning a heavyweight
boxing comeback in 2012, spoke out on many topics, including Mike Tyson
and Lennox Lewis. As amateurs, Bowe lost to Lennox in the 1988 Seoul
Olympic Super Heavyweight Final. You can see the video of their fight
on this page (below). As a pro, Bowe never faced Lewis. Many felt that as a
pro, Bowe was ducking Lewis. Bowe however has a different take on it
and says it was Lewis who was avoiding him.
In a recent interview with Boxing Tribune, Bowe was asked: Do you wish now that you would have fought Tyson and Lewis?
Bowe
told the online publication: "I would have loved to fight them, but
let’s go back to [Lewis], he ducked me any way he could. I mean he
knew, with me being champion, I’m not gonna give him [a] 50-50 [split],
you know what I mean? So he used that as an escape. He knew he
couldn’t whoop me so he just avoided me the best way he could."
Regarding Tyson, Bowe went on to add: "But
anyway, I know Mike was a great fighter, but you gotta remember a big
guy that could move with a good left hand could give him a lot of
trouble and that’s the kind of fight I don’t think he’d wanna be in."
I
don't want to judge Bowe's opinions (it is after all his opinions, which
he is entitled too)... but Ì recall in the 90's many fans adopted the
nickname "Chicken" Bowe over his reluctance to face Lewis. They did not
call Lewis "Chicken", just Bowe. Also to say Lewis knew he couldn't "whoop" him, seems like a shallow creek of deception... I mean if you watch
the video of their Olympic amateur fight on this page... Lewis looks
anything but scared... in fact Lewis looks like a guy who is on the
verge of totally destroying Bowe within two rounds, but Bowe was
saved by the ref. I am in the belief that Lewis always had Bowe's
number and that is the only reason that I believe Bowe never faced
Lennox as a pro. I know father-time lets facts change and perception...
but I think Bowe is only kidding himself with his remarks regarding
Lewis.
As for his remarks on Tyson. I will say for a big guy,
Bowe was an excellent inside fighter... but Tyson was much better in the
inside, and Bowe never showed anything remotely close to the punching
power Tyson had (or Lewis for that matter). Though we can only
speculate... I see no way in the early 90's that a prepared Bowe could
defeat a prepared Tyson. No way, no how! However, with the video on
this page showing Bowe vs Lewis... it is pretty easy to say without just
speculating that Lewis was the better fighter... and that is pretty
hard for Bowe to argue... all considering it is Lewis who owns the
Olympic Gold medal... not him.