Riddick Bowe is a golden era heavyweight who had strong views when asked how Deontay Wilder would fair against Mike Tyson.
Bowe is a former Olympic silver medalist who turned over and soon made his mark in the pro ranks. He held the undisputed world heavyweight championship in 1992 and fought Evander Holyfield three times, beating him twice and losing once.
He famously threw his WBC heavyweight title in the bin rather than agreeing to fight Lennox Lewis and eventually retired in 2008.
Until he faced Tyson Fury and lost two of the three contests in their trilogy, former world champion Wilder was considered one of the best heavyweights on the planet and a punching machine who had stopped every man he faced. ‘Iron Mike’ had a similar record early on, stopping all of his first 19 opponents inside the sixth round.
Speaking to Seconds Out, Bowe was asked how he felt about Wilder’s claims he would knock Tyson out.
“Absolutely not. I beg to differ. He throws one punch. Me and Mike have three or four-punch combinations like Holyfield. If you’re not punching like that you can forget about it. That long right hand, that one punch is not going to do it.
“Matter of fact, that man gunna gas cause Tyson’s gunna come and throw his right hand. Mike throws his right hand, what’s going to happen? He couldn’t beat Mike with that.”
Wilder has not fought since June when he was stopped inside five rounds by Zhilei Zhang, although he is slated to make his comeback in April with a view to fighting Anthony Joshua down the line.
