what is a shame is that i don't think that Bowe was ever afraid of fighting Lewis, its was that utter twat Rock Newman who just saw the pound signs and a world tour and took Bowe for all he was worth and wasnt interested in his boxing career in the slightest
Newman instructed him to do it .Bowe threw his belt in the trash so he could fight Dokes instead of Lewis.
That's about as big of duck as one can get. If he was confident he could beat Lewis that wouldn't have happened; I call that fear.
yup, but, he'll have to get called "chicken Bowe"-Lewis, forever for doing it. Most of the time, at least in earlier eras, management was doing all or most of the managing. It's only in more recent times when boxers got bigheaded and decided they control who they fought and then we have the many superfights that never happen when they should. Of course, that always happened, we know Robinson wasn't eager to fight Burley and Leonard retired for five years and let Hagler get old but it was generally more common that management made those types of decisions. It was usually better that way because the good managers, like Dundee, knew when not to time a fight. He admits turning down the Hearns fight in the late seventies, and allowing reporters to call leonard scared, to his face, and waiting until the time was right to maximize the money on it.what is a shame is that i don't think that Bowe was ever afraid of fighting Lewis, its was that utter twat Rock Newman who just saw the pound signs and a world tour and took Bowe for all he was worth and wasnt interested in his boxing career in the slightest
yeah, i dont think any version of Bowe beats a well focused Lewis, perhaps Newman saw the risks and decided it wasnt worth ityup, but, he'll have to get called "chicken Bowe"-Lewis, forever for doing it. Most of the time, at least in earlier eras, management was doing all or most of the managing. It's only in more recent times when boxers got bigheaded and decided they control who they fought and then we have the many superfights that never happen when they should. Of course, that always happened, we know Robinson wasn't eager to fight Burley and Leonard retired for five years and let Hagler get old but it was generally more common that management made those types of decisions. It was usually better that way because the good managers, like Dundee, knew when not to time a fight. He admits turning down the Hearns fight in the late seventies, and allowing reporters to call leonard scared, to his face, and waiting until the time was right to maximize the money on it.
My point is, the public has often times blamed fighters when many times the fighter has little to do with who they fight. You hire good people for a reason, you don't hire them to disregard what they say.
Bowe threw his belt in the trash so he could fight Dokes instead of Lewis.
That's about as big of duck as one can get. If he was confident he could beat Lewis that wouldn't have happened; I call that fear.
well, i don't mean to put rock newman in a class with dundee, he's simply not. As far as I know, he never managed a fighter before or after, or if he did it wasn't a successful thing. My point is, I'm sure the plan was, to let demand build until they just had to fight, just like a million other superfights, but plans go awry. Bowe got fat, lost fights he was supposed to win and never looked impressive again after the holyfield fights.yeah, i dont think any version of Bowe beats a well focused Lewis, perhaps Newman saw the risks and decided it wasnt worth it
I'm not white knighting for anyone, I'm just telling you and the others that a lot of decisions YOU think are made just by the fighter aren't. Sometimes the fighter would put their foot down but most of the time they just don't. A dirty little secret about fighters, outside of the ring, they are generally passive and don't like to make waves. My explanation was above.There's no duck in history that a sizeable force of white knights wouldn't defend.
It doesn't matter how blatant the duck, a bunch of marks will always fall for the cover story.
i forgot to mention also, if you look back at history, especially with the heavyweights where the money is, when a guy wins the title, they usually take at least one big money fight that they assume is a creampuff right after the big win. Give Lennox Lewis credit as being an exception to that, as well as perhaps Ali and Tyson in their first reigns. However, usually, they'll try to fight at least one creampuff, and some of them fight a ton of creampuffs. Joe Frazier did hold the title but after he fought Ali the first time, take a look at who he fought for the next couple years. He wouldn't have fought Foreman if they didn't force him into a choice between Foreman and a rematch with Ali. The story goes that he hated Ali so much that he wouldn't even consider a rematch.i think Newman was trying to get the fight with Dokes made for half time at the superbowl, that shows exactly how competitive that fight was for Bowe
Lewis looks like he wants to kill him, Bowe has chilled out a lot
I'm not white knighting for anyone, I'm just telling you and the others that a lot of decisions YOU think are made just by the fighter aren't. Sometimes the fighter would put their foot down but most of the time they just don't. A dirty little secret about fighters, outside of the ring, they are generally passive and don't like to make waves. My explanation was above.
Now, that does not mean that I believe Ray Leonard didn't duck Hagler for five years, he fucking did. I do believe he did not duck Hearns when the fight was first offered, Dundee is on video saying he turned the fight down. That was HIS job to do and Ray's to listen. Now, most men and what Red Smith used to call "the fight mob" always love to say, "oh, he's scared". Well, not all the time.
Mayweather was scared of Pacquiao, he definitely was and didn't feel safe to fight him until he saw him lose twice. He's self managed, he chooses who to fight, there is no dundee to blame, that's HIM.
Also, you simply can't fight everybody, there's always loads of guys out there who say, "so and so ducked me" well, no, they just didn't get a chance to fight you. Mike McCallum whines about Hagler not fighting him, forgetting that Mike had no star power, was a competent fighter and a lot of trouble for anyone and no marquee value, it's still a business and you have to bring something to it. And.., by the time McCallum was hoping for a fight with Hagler, the man was Half retired by that point, Hagler was done after Hearns, done, and he was definitely done after Mugabi, he didn't want to fight anymore. Once a year was too much for him at that point. Now, if McCallum had come along five years earlier he might have had a shot, back when Hagler was taking on all comers it would have been different. Bottom line, Hagler didn't duck McCallum, he just didn't get around to him.