In 1993, Riddick Bowe casually dumped his WBC Title Belt into a garbage can during a press conference. With this gesture, Bowe gave away his claim to the Undisputed Title, something that Mike Tyson had gathered together and something that Buster Douglas and Evander Holyfield had maintained. The WBC had mandated that Bowe fight Lennox Lewis, the undefeated British superstar and number 1 contender. Bowe refused. It would have been an amazing fight. Both fighters standing at 6'5", Bowe at 25 years of age, Lewis at 27, Bowe around 235-240 lbs, Lewis around 230-235 lbs. The fight would've been so competitive and so high quality that it makes me sick that it didn't happen. Recently, I've compiled punchstats for both Bowe and Lewis in every significant fight they ever had. It's a pathetic replacement for matching them up in 1993, but here it goes:
(Fights in chronological order with punchcounts - GREEN = outlanded opponent, RED = outlanded by opponent....parenthesis = punches landed per round, knockdowns included)
LENNOX LEWIS...........vs.........RIDDICK BOWE
41-2-1 32 KOs-----------------------43-1 33 KOs
1992-Ruddock - 12-2 (6.0) 3KDs---1990-Cooper - 31-15 (15.5) 2KDs
1993-Tucker - 101-86 (8.4) 2KDs--1991-Tubbs - 86-72 (8.6)
1993-Bruno - 47-51 (6.7 )----------1991-Seldon - 11-10 (11.0) 2KDs
1994-McCall - 11-7 (5.5)------------ 1992-Coetzer - 131-87 (18.7)
1995-Morrison-55-26(9.2)4KDs-----1992-Holyfield-193-155(16.1)1KD
1996-Mercer - 99-99 (9.9)-----------1993-Holyfield -150-141 (12.5)
1997-McCall - 37-15 (7.4)------------1994-Donald - 88-57 (7.3)
1997-Golota - 15-1 (15.0) 2KDs------1995-Hide - 37-54 (6.2) 7KDs
1998-Briggs- 88-29 (17.6) 3KDs-----1995-Holyfield -90-73(11.3)2KDs
1999-Holyfield- 140-73 (11.7)---------1996-Golota - 71-112 (10.1)
1999-Holyfield- 109-79 (9.1)--------1996-Golota - 80-146 (8.9) 1KD
2000-Tua- 81-34 (6.8)
2001-Rahman - 35-29 (7.0)
2001-Rahman - 30-13 (7.5) 1KD
2002-Tyson - 81-18 (10.1) 2KDs
2003-Klitschko - 49-57 (8.2)
In Quality Fights:
LEWIS: 990 landed (9.1 per round), Hit 619 times (5.7 per round)
BOWE: 968 landed (11.3 per round), Hit 922 times (10.7 per round)
LEWIS: 17 knockdowns, down 2 times
BOWE: 15 knockdowns, down 3 times
LEWIS: Outpunched opponent 13 out of 16 fights(81%)
BOWE: Outpunched opponent 8 out of 11 fights(73%)
LEWIS: 9 Knockouts
BOWE: 5 Knockouts
*According to the numbers, without the excitement of an actual fight, I declare LENNOX LEWIS the winner over RIDDICK BOWE.
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