The 1990s saw one of heavyweight boxing's golden eras. The division was packed with big names including James "Buster" Douglas, Shannon Briggs, Razor Ruddock, David Tua, Michael Moorer, Ray Mercer, Larry Holmes and a resurged George Foreman to name a few.
These men were all involved in some incredible matchups, with some of them even getting their hands on world titles. However, for the majority of boxing fans, the 90s will always be remembered as the decade of Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
Tyson, Holyfield and Lewis all faced each other at least once. Bowe however, only squared off against one of them - he fought Evander Holyfield in a thrilling trilogy which he edged 2-1.
Exciting as the trilogy was, many fans would happily have forgone the 3rd fight for a showdown between Bowe and Lennox Lewis, but unfortunately, it was never to be.
After Bowe defeated Holyfield in their first meeting to claim the undisputed heavyweight championship, he immediately found Lewis knocking on his door as mandatory challenger for the WBC strap. That should have been all it took to get the two in the ring, but as is too often the case in boxing, politics got in the way and they were unable to settle the terms, leading Bowe to vacate the belt rather than fight Lewis.
Their paths nearly crossed again a few years later, but any potential fight was derailed by Lewis's shock defeat at the hands of Oliver McCall. By the time Lewis had rebuilt, Bowe had retired from the sport, leaving us only to speculate on what might have been.
Lewis-Bowe was a real 50-50 fight made all the more intriguing by the fact that Lewis had beaten Bowe for Olympic gold in 1988 with a controversial 2nd round TKO (you can watch the fight here). Unfortunately, two poorly refereed amateur rounds don't provide much insight into what would have happened had they met as pros.
Another factor that often gets mentioned in the debate is how each man faired against Polish contender Andrew Golota. Golota was involved in two bizarre spectacles with Bowe in which he repeatedly punched below the belt resulting in disqualification, despite having been up on the scorecards on both occasions. Lewis, however, demolished Golota within the first round.
The Golota argument, much like the result of the amateur showdown, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. We have to remember that when Bowe fought Golota he was at the end of his career while Lewis was arguably at his absolute peak when he had his turn.
As with any super-fight that failed to materialise, we'll never know how a professional encounter between these two giants would have played out, but there's no harm in dreaming about it!
And with that, we're handing it over to you. Cast your vote below to make sure you get your say in the matter.
Lewis vs Bowe: Who would have won? - Public vote
Fantasy match-ups14 Jul, 2020 by Deke Smith | Quick read
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