The last golden age of the Heavyweights

[smashup]

Good read this focusing on Lennox, Holyfield, Tyson and Bowe


http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/...e-heavyweights

[Master]

At the time the fights were brilliant and you expected them to be. Now you really appreciate how great the fights were. We were priviliged.

[smashup]

It was a brilliant era for the division...I really don't recall being bored rigid watching any of those 4 fight

[Mark TKO]

Man reminds you how good it was

Long for those days.I'd stay up right through and shout my dad when the fighters were coming out . He'd get up and it was always edge of seat stuff - you just didn't know what would happen

What went wrong ?!?

Robbed of Bowe v Lewis at the time - that would have been an edge of seater

[El Kabong]

Riddick Bowe was and remains overhyped....people complain that Tyson didn't fight many greats but Bowe ONLY fought Holyfield. Great record but he fought 0 power punchers, no Tyson, no Lewis, how does he get all the respect He was a deeply flawed fighter routinely giving up his height and reach against smaller fighters.

[bradlee180]

Yeah, there was so much talent, I think we took it for granted.

There were terrific bouts between contenders, and you were excited waiting for the big fight the way you do for World Title fights, but they were just fights between two contenders, often on free network tv.

Lennox Lewis vs Ray Mercer.
Ray Mercer vs Evander Holyfield.
Evander Holyfield vs Alex Stewart.

Mike Tyson vs Razor Ruddock

Smokin Bert Cooper vs Michael Moorer.
Tommy Morrison vs Ray Mercer (WBO wasn't seen as a real World Title).
Tommy Morrison vs Joe Hipp.
Razor Ruddock vs Tommy Morrison.

Riddick Bowe vs Elijah Tillery.
Andrew Golota vs Riddick Bowe.
Samson Po'uha vs Andrew Golota.

Ike Ibeabuchi vs Chris Byrd.
Ike Ibeabuchi vs David Tua.
David Tua vs John Ruiz.

Jimmy Thnuder vs Tim Witherspoon.
Maurice Harris vs Derrick Jefferson.


Just some that come to mind.
Terrific bouts.

Nowadays, they protect them, protect that "0".
A guy gets a Title shot and hasn't developed his skills enough for world class because he was too protected.

[Master]

Riddick Bowe was and remains overhyped....people complain that Tyson didn't fight many greats but Bowe ONLY fought Holyfield. Great record but he fought 0 power punchers, no Tyson, no Lewis, how does he get all the respect He was a deeply flawed fighter routinely giving up his height and reach against smaller fighters.

That is what made Bowe fun.

[mikeeod]

Riddick Bowe was and remains overhyped....people complain that Tyson didn't fight many greats but Bowe ONLY fought Holyfield. Great record but he fought 0 power punchers, no Tyson, no Lewis, how does he get all the respect He was a deeply flawed fighter routinely giving up his height and reach against smaller fighters.

I don't think Bowe was a hype job, I think he was lazy and let success get to his head. The Bowe that beat Evander the first time was special. All you have to do is watch that performance and see how great he could have become if he stayed disciplined. Even out of shape he gave a prime Evander his toughest test. While he didn't stay on top long, Riddick was special and his fight vs Lewis not happening is my biggest regret as a fan. More than Quartey vs Tito and Manny vs Floyd.

[Spicoli]

Miss it and loved it! When you think about it what speaks even better about the early 90's was the fact that it was great with even some top flight fights falling through..Tyson-Holyfield x2, Mercer-Bowe, Bowe- Lewis..in a word the division was deep! It had sub categories of top matches ffs. Young guns actually fought and risked the '0', journeymen and second tier guys rose to the occasion and made impact. As crazy as it sounds the epitome of divison to me, in terms of competiveness and available match ups was the Jeremy Williams vs Doc Nicholson showdown of young pro green and highly visible hopefuls. Both flawed in hindsight, single digit pro records but promoters willing to risk a showdown. The era was just..FUN!

[smashup]

I pretty much agree with the article and its a good read for those that haven't read it.
Me and a load of mates always stayed up till 4-5am to catch the big Heavyweight fights because we knew we would get a fight, Drama and entertainment.
Heavyweight boxing died the night Lennox fought Vitali.... there was a glimmer of hope when Haye gatecrashed the division but he bottled it against Wlad.

I'd be amazed if we ever see those days of 20 years ago again, Great days sadly missed!

[erics44]

the last golden age of the heavyweights was pre-wlad klit then next will be post-wlad klit

by golden age you just mean fighters with throwing and landing punches as their main strategy in a fight

[ross]

It was a brilliant era for the division...I really don't recall being bored rigid watching any of those 4 fight

Lewis could be very boring. He was Wlads predecessor in the leaning and holding behind the neck.

[Bill Paxtom]

Riddick Bowe

Had some 'dog' in him.

Borderline between very good and good. Overall Rating > 'B'

He was a 'notch' better than Greg Page

[smashup]

Riddick Bowe

Had some 'dog' in him.

Borderline between very good and good. Overall Rating > 'B'

He was a 'notch' better than Greg Page

He just wasn't very disciplined...if he was then fuck knows how far he'd have gone

[ykdadamaja]

When we look back at it, Bowe could NOT have fought Lewis after Bowe's second fight with Holyfield. He was already out of boxing by that time. Golota just destroyed him....