Evander Holyfield has a unique perspective into a heavyweight battle that never was – Lennox Lewis versus Riddick Bowe.
It was a dream match-up in the nineties given the form each man was in. It looked set to happen, too. After Bowe had handed Holyfield his first ever loss in 1992 to become undisputed champion, Lewis – who had just knocked out Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock in two rounds – was number one challenger.
Rather than take the fight, Bowe ‘binned the belt’ – something he says was a business decision – and instead took much simpler defences against Michael Dokes and Jesse Ferguson while Lewis was elevated to WBC Champion. The Brit has previously said ‘everybody knows the truth’ about Bowe and his influential promoter Rock Newman’s decision.
And thus the fight went begging and would never materialise. Bowe lost his unified belts to Holyfield in their rematch and Lewis would later get his chance at becoming undisputed against him instead. He was successful second time around after they controversially drew in their first meeting.
When discussing the match-up with Bowe himself in a resurfaced video by Tru School Sports, Holyfield backed him to win.
“You were a different character then, you would bust everybody up … Only thing I was so mad cause [you] wouldn’t fight Lennox Lewis.”
In a seperate interview with Boxing Social, Holyfield said in 1992 when the fight was ordered – crucially before Lewis made an important trainer switch – ‘Big Daddy’ would’ve ‘got him.’
“If they fought before got Emmanuel Steward, I think Riddick Bowe would’ve got him.”
Holyfield then said that when Lewis teamed up with the famed coach in 1995 it may be a different contest because ‘he did everything right.’ Frustratingly, fans will never know.
