Why not Bowe vs Tyson?

[El Kabong]

Tyson was a shell of a fighter by the time he came out of prison. He was strategically managed to make the maximum amount of money but for minimum amount of risk with the ideal of holding a belt. WBC bent over to accommodate him and effectively screwed Lewis over. Tyson ran over to another trinket by beating Seldon to avoid Lewis as he was not ready (and as it happens never became ready).

Bowe was never allowed to fight for the WBC for throwing it in the bin. Both were washed away by fighters they were expected to beat but did not.

If they did fight after Tyson came out of prison I think Bowe would win just too big and strong. Prime Tyson would land a left hook and knock down and eventually stop prime Bowe (which fought Holyfield)

I just don't see it man....Mike Tyson did avoid some guys he could have lot to, but he could still have challenged Bowe and in my opinion beaten him. Riddick Bowe is so overhyped it's ridiculous Shannon Briggs should get that kind of hype...he was more dangerous than Riddick.

[Master]

Tyson was a shell of a fighter by the time he came out of prison. He was strategically managed to make the maximum amount of money but for minimum amount of risk with the ideal of holding a belt. WBC bent over to accommodate him and effectively screwed Lewis over. Tyson ran over to another trinket by beating Seldon to avoid Lewis as he was not ready (and as it happens never became ready).

Bowe was never allowed to fight for the WBC for throwing it in the bin. Both were washed away by fighters they were expected to beat but did not.

If they did fight after Tyson came out of prison I think Bowe would win just too big and strong. Prime Tyson would land a left hook and knock down and eventually stop prime Bowe (which fought Holyfield)

I just don't see it man....Mike Tyson did avoid some guys he could have lot to, but he could still have challenged Bowe and in my opinion beaten him. Riddick Bowe is so overhyped it's ridiculous Shannon Briggs should get that kind of hype...he was more dangerous than Riddick.

Shannon did not have the natural boxing talent of Bowe, but that Tyson was hollow that came out of prison. Bowe put on a good run of beating undefeated fighters after his loss to Holyfield so he had more to offer and beat Mike. However if Tyson landed the left hook that Holyfield did in their 3rd fight, Bowe would struggle to get up.

[Hulk]

Tyson was a shell of a fighter by the time he came out of prison. He was strategically managed to make the maximum amount of money but for minimum amount of risk with the ideal of holding a belt. WBC bent over to accommodate him and effectively screwed Lewis over. Tyson ran over to another trinket by beating Seldon to avoid Lewis as he was not ready (and as it happens never became ready).

Bowe was never allowed to fight for the WBC for throwing it in the bin. Both were washed away by fighters they were expected to beat but did not.

If they did fight after Tyson came out of prison I think Bowe would win just too big and strong. Prime Tyson would land a left hook and knock down and eventually stop prime Bowe (which fought Holyfield)

I just don't see it man....Mike Tyson did avoid some guys he could have lot to, but he could still have challenged Bowe and in my opinion beaten him. Riddick Bowe is so overhyped it's ridiculous Shannon Briggs should get that kind of hype...he was more dangerous than Riddick.

Finally showing some love for Shannon Briggs I see

I think Briggs had more talent than Bowe just not as smart of a fighter or mentally as tough.

That said both guys I feel would be very intimidated by Mike Tyson and never really wanted to fight him.

Yes, Master is right Tyson was diminished when he came out of prison, but he wasn't shot.

And his aura remained, causing many top heavyweights to still fear him.

Michael Moorer himself said that leading into Tyson vs. Holyfield, he felt that Evander didn't have a chance because no one was going to beat Tyson at that point.

[p4pking]

Tyson was a shell of a fighter by the time he came out of prison. He was strategically managed to make the maximum amount of money but for minimum amount of risk with the ideal of holding a belt. WBC bent over to accommodate him and effectively screwed Lewis over. Tyson ran over to another trinket by beating Seldon to avoid Lewis as he was not ready (and as it happens never became ready).

Bowe was never allowed to fight for the WBC for throwing it in the bin. Both were washed away by fighters they were expected to beat but did not.

If they did fight after Tyson came out of prison I think Bowe would win just too big and strong. Prime Tyson would land a left hook and knock down and eventually stop prime Bowe (which fought Holyfield)

I just don't see it man....Mike Tyson did avoid some guys he could have lot to, but he could still have challenged Bowe and in my opinion beaten him. Riddick Bowe is so overhyped it's ridiculous Shannon Briggs should get that kind of hype...he was more dangerous than Riddick.

Finally showing some love for Shannon Briggs I see

I think Briggs had more talent than Bowe just not as smart of a fighter or mentally as tough.

That said both guys I feel would be very intimidated by Mike Tyson and never really wanted to fight him.

Yes, Master is right Tyson was diminished when he came out of prison, but he wasn't shot.

And his aura remained, causing many top heavyweights to still fear him.

Michael Moorer himself said that leading into Tyson vs. Holyfield, he felt that Evander didn't have a chance because no one was going to beat Tyson at that point.

Not sure I agree about Briggs having more talent than Bowe, but otherwise great points. It's funny that in the video Kabong posted of Lewis vs Bowe, even then the commentators were quick to allude to Bowe's lack of concentration etc(I haven't a clue about his amatuer career aside from that fight).

My take is that either Briggs or Bowe on their night COULD have beaten Tyson after his stint in prison, but as you say Mike was still frightening and could've just as easily thrown them off of their game. Basically all three had a bit of a screw loose and could really punch, so most anything could've happened. If I had to stick my neck out, I'd maybe side with Tyson just on account of being able to take more. He definetly wasn't about to be Ko'ed by either man, wheras if he landed on Bowe or Briggs it may well have been curtains. Shame there was never a matchup between the 3, but there was a very small window where the men were operating at their best anyways.

[Beanflicker]

Shannon Briggs got outboxed/outworked by a 48 year old George Foreman... I don't think he had the same skills as Bowe.

[El Kabong]

Shannon Briggs got outboxed/outworked by a 48 year old George Foreman... I don't think he had the same skills as Bowe.

He had strength in the one area that Bowe couldn't handle.....punching power. Shannon Briggs knocked down Lennox Lewis, it wasn't scored as such but the ropes held Lennox up so it WAS a knockdown.

[Beanflicker]

Why couldn't Bowe handle punching power? He got cracked and rocked plenty of times and came back. He fought a lot of hard hitters.

[El Kabong]

Why couldn't Bowe handle punching power? He got cracked and rocked plenty of times and came back. He fought a lot of hard hitters.

Riddick Bowe never fought a heavyweight power puncher....FACT. Getting dropped by Holyfield & Golota doesn't do much to add to this idea that Riddick was some granite chinned warrior. There were heaps of power punchers in the 1990's and Bowe fought 0 of them.

[Beanflicker]

Bert Cooper could punch, so could Pinklon. JLG was no world beater but he could crack. Herbie Hide had dynamite in his hands. He was a natural cruiserweight, sure, but so is David Haye

Bowe has been cracked enough by good punchers to where I think it's a little unfair to cast doubts about his chin.

[Spicoli]

Why couldn't Bowe handle punching power? He got cracked and rocked plenty of times and came back. He fought a lot of hard hitters.

Riddick Bowe never fought a heavyweight power puncher....FACT. Getting dropped by Holyfield & Golota doesn't do much to add to this idea that Riddick was some granite chinned warrior. There were heaps of power punchers in the 1990's and Bowe fought 0 of them.

As far as single home run hitters Bowe wasn't facing a Foreman or Tyson but again I think you seriously under sell Holyfield as a hurtful combo puncher. He put some of the hardest chins and sacks on jelly legs more than once and they were more tried and true above any single bomb an off balance Shannon Briggs could bring. And yes Bowes a slob who blew his potential.

[El Kabong]

As far as single home run hitters Bowe wasn't facing a Foreman or Tyson but again I think you seriously under sell Holyfield as a hurtful combo puncher. He put some of the hardest chins and sacks on jelly legs more than once and they were more tried and true above any single bomb an off balance Shannon Briggs could bring. And yes Bowes a slob who blew his potential.

Holyfield was good at applying ungodly amounts of pressure as well as making for ugly fights....his power was good enough, but he wasn't a "Power Puncher" he only has 29 KO's out of 44 wins....hardly someone you can call a power puncher.

[Beanflicker]

Hide 49 with 43 KOs (same as Marciano), and he had the cruiserweight speed to go with it.
JLG 31 with 27 KOs
Bert Cooper 38 with 31


Not guys on the level of a Tyson by any stretch, but if we're talking pure power, these guys could bang and all ended up flat on the canvas.

[Spicoli]

As far as single home run hitters Bowe wasn't facing a Foreman or Tyson but again I think you seriously under sell Holyfield as a hurtful combo puncher. He put some of the hardest chins and sacks on jelly legs more than once and they were more tried and true above any single bomb an off balance Shannon Briggs could bring. And yes Bowes a slob who blew his potential.

Holyfield was good at applying ungodly amounts of pressure as well as making for ugly fights....his power was good enough, but he wasn't a "Power Puncher" he only has 29 KO's out of 44 wins....hardly someone you can call a power puncher.

He def was not a power puncher in the truest sense but ko numbers can be overstated and power without skill/substance doesn't amount to much. I think at the end of the day who'd ya hurt and when did ya hurt them speaks more to power than a blanket percentage.

[El Kabong]

As far as single home run hitters Bowe wasn't facing a Foreman or Tyson but again I think you seriously under sell Holyfield as a hurtful combo puncher. He put some of the hardest chins and sacks on jelly legs more than once and they were more tried and true above any single bomb an off balance Shannon Briggs could bring. And yes Bowes a slob who blew his potential.

Holyfield was good at applying ungodly amounts of pressure as well as making for ugly fights....his power was good enough, but he wasn't a "Power Puncher" he only has 29 KO's out of 44 wins....hardly someone you can call a power puncher.

He def was not a power puncher in the truest sense but ko numbers can be overstated and power without skill/substance doesn't amount to much. I think at the end of the day who'd ya hurt and when did ya hurt them speaks more to power than a blanket percentage.

I get that, but I just have a feeling based on how Bowe did vs Lennox Lewis that he would have more trouble with the big bangers which would include Shannon Briggs who most certainly had 1 punch power.

[VictorCharlie]

Bowe's mental issues were more pronounced outside of the ring. I don't remember seeing him really crumble mentally/emotionally in the ring the way Tyson did but he obviously didn't have the discipline outside of the ring. The guy had all of the boxing skill and physical attributes needed but just couldn't put down the cupcakes and deteriorated faster than any fighter I've ever seen except maybe Meldrick Taylor. I think in a battle of wills between these two Riddick could weather the Tyson storm and win on a late round KO after pumping the jab and tieing up Mike.