The BTBC's "What If" Series: Riddick Bowe vs. Lennox Lewis

Bowe Dominates Lewis!

Brit Hopeful Halted in Eight

Las Vegas – It looked good on paper, an international match up for the worlds undisputed heavyweight championship. The challenger, a powerful Brit who stopped the defending champion in the 1988 Olympic gold medal match and the champion, fresh off a 12 round battle in the trenches that netted him the championship strap(s), and for many answered questions about his heart, determination, and chin.

Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis faced off last night at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, in a scheduled 12 round bout for the undisputed world heavyweight championship, which amount to three versions (WBA, WBC, IBF) of the title. Lewis, a European, British and Commonwealth champion was looking to become the first British boxer this century to hold the world heavyweight championship. Bowe was looking to erase his Olympic defeat, retain his championship status, and get Lewis out of his life…for now anyway.

Both combatants showed up in what appeared to be great physical condition. Lewis weighed in at 230lbs., and Bowe at 237lbs. A few photo ops and some minor trash talk, and we were ready to roll.

Overall, it was a medium paced bout. There weren’t the fireworks or punch for punch exchanges that everyone expected. Bowe used his jab effectively as expected, following with straight rights and the occasional left hook for good measure. Lewis looked tentative, pushing his jab out towards Bowe, reluctant to follow with the right, and never seeming too anxious to move forward and push the champion back.

Bowe took clear control of the bout as the rounds went on. By the fourth, he was hitting what amounted to a still target while everyone, even Lewis’ own corner men, were waiting for the challenger to unleash some sort of offense. It would come the following round, but Lennox couldn’t capitalize on it.

In the fifth, Bowe appeared worn and tired. He suddenly wasn’t punching, and laid on the ropes allowing Lewis into the fight for the first time. Lewis jabbed and threw more right hands than he had in all four of the prior rounds, few landed cleanly but he was winning the round and those in attendance figured this to be a turning point. Maybe the Holyfield fight did take something out of Bowe, as he appeared out of gas at this point.

Lewis' success was short lived, as Bowe came out for the sixth round as he did through the first four. The challenger did what he could to keep Bowe off of him, but Riddick was pushing forward, looking like he was ready to call it a night.

Bowe’s offensive push continued into the seventh round, and a clean left hook dropped Lewis for the first time in the fight. Up at the count of seven, Lennox tied up Bowe and managed to survive the round.

Moving into the eighth, Bowe stepped it up another level, and we were seeing the same fighter we saw just months ago against Holyfield. Lewis was spent, and Bowe poured it on. Three and four punch combinations from the champ pushed Lewis to the ropes and an uppercut at mid round dropped Lewis for a second time. Taking a knee for eight, Lewis rose clearly shaken and ready for the taking, and Bowe took advantage and moved in quickly. Throwing shots from all angles and driving Lewis into his own corner, all Lewis could do was cover up and hope for the round to end. As Bowe continued to throw punches, referee Mitch Halpern had seen more than enough, and jumped between he two fighters giving Bowe the win by TKO. Lewis showed no reaction.

Bowe’s manager, Rock Newman, did most of the talking after the fight. “We told everyone Riddick was going to make this easy and he did. We’d love to meet Holyfield in a rematch, we’ll take Douglas if he can put down the popsicles and get into shape, anyone who’s willing to meet Big Daddy we’ll take for the right price. This man’s the champ, so you come to us."

Scores at the time of the stoppage were 69-63 twice, and 68-64 all for Bowe.

Thanks again to "Green Machine" and the Title Bout Championship Boxing program:(http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/joomla/home-tbcb.html ).

Here's Green Machine's methodology in running the fight simulator: "To get the most accurate result, I ran the bout 100 times letting the computer run the fights (I made no decisions on how either fighter would perform through out the bouts). The appropriate corner men and cut men were assigned, and both fighters were used in their prime career stage (this may have given Lewis an edge, in retrospect he may have been at pre-prime in '93)how I came to the official result was taking the most occuring result from the 100 bouts: this case being Bowe by referees TKO (this mean not due to cuts, swelling, or three knockdowns. It's a true TKO), and taking the average winners fight length for the round of the stoppage. I also utilized punch averages and knockdown averages to determine how many times Lewis was knocked down, then basically pictured how the fight would play out around that.

You can view the full 100 bout report here: http://bronxbomber15.tripod.com/wcb/Bowe-Lewis_100.htm"

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The BTBC's "What If" Series

The "What If..." series takes crossroads moments from boxing as well as controversial outcomes and, using a computer program, speculates on how some alternate results would've impacted both athletes and the sport in general...A big thanks to "Green Machine" from the BTBC Fan Forum for taking the time to amplify a popular message board thread into a solo feature on this blog.

What If...Riddick Bowe had opted to fight Lennox Lewis in 1993 instead of vacating the WBC Title.

Using the Title Bout Championship Boxing program:(http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/joomla/home-tbcb.html ), I'm running an alternate scenario, where Riddick Bowe meets Lennox Lewis in 1993 after winning the heavyweight crown. Holyfield is on the sidelines, looking for a tune up while trying to secure a bout with the winner. Tyson is in prison, but his name is popping up too as it always does.

Setting the Stage:

Riddick Bowe had just won a grueling 12 round decision, and the undisputed heavyweight crown from Evander Holyfield. Sitting ringside was Lennox Lewis, the British heavyweight who had stopped Bowe in the gold medal match of the 1988 Olympics. Lewis is undefeated and had just demolished Razor Rudduck in two rounds two weeks ago. Ruddock had gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson less than a year before that, so a two round blow out says something for Lewis.

Bowe and Lewis met briefly at ringside as Bowe was heading back to his dressing room and Lewis calmly stated, “I’m going to knock you out again”. Bowe would have to meet Lewis to retain the undisputed title, Lewis being the number one WBC contender.

Fast forward to mid-January 1993: The fight has been signed. Rather than take an easy tune up and allow Lewis to cool off or even take a huge money rematch with Evander Holyfield, Bowe has decided to meet Lewis and just get him out of his hair for good. Bowe’s confidence is overwhelming, as he and Rock Newman have been boasting to anyone who will listen how easy this fight will be.

When the two met face to face at the press conference in Las Vegas, Bowe, in one of his “best of the worst”Ali impressions even went so far as to state: “I accept the challenge, of the man from U.K, and I’ll return him unconscious, the very next day. I’m gonna drop that man so hard, England will change their national colors to black and blue!”

Lewis was relatively quiet, but made a point of pointing out his Olympic victory over Bowe and said “in the pro’s we don’t wear headgear, so it will be even easier to knock him out this time. ”.

The date is set for March 13, 1993 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

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