Riddick Bowe has had his say on a fantasy fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Evander Holyfield.
‘Big Daddy’ shared the ring with Holyfield on three occasions in one of heavyweight boxing’s greatest ever trilogies. Bowe prevailed against the two-weight undisputed champion in their first and third encounter, avenging the only defeat of his career which he suffered in their rematch.
Usyk became the second fighter in boxing history, next to Holyfield, to win the undisputed championship at both cruiserweight and heavyweight. The Ukrainian superstar defeated Tyson Fury last May to unify all four of the world heavyweight titles, becoming the first fighter to hold the undisputed championship at heavyweight within the ‘four belt era’ after ‘The Real Deal’ had only held the WBC, WBA and IBF titles at the same time.
Since becoming ‘undisputed’, Usyk has dropped the IBF title, currently held by Daniel Dubois, but has recently stated his intention to once again regain the fourth belt.
With more experience than anyone in facing Holyfield, ‘Big Daddy’ has revealed who he believes would have come out on top if his former rival had shared the ring with Usyk during their respective careers.
In an interview with Truscholsports, Bowe made no mistake in backing his former opponent to do the business against the man who has been described as the ‘best heavyweight of his generation’.
“There is no comparison. Evander Holyfield. See how small he is, if you matched him with either one of them [Usyk or Fury] what do you think would happen? You’d favour Holyfield, why, because they’re not rolling, the big men aren’t doing any of that.
Holyfield, he’ll find you with something, probably the left hook and he’d knock you out with it. I was surprised with the left hook he knocked me down with.”
Holyfield officially drew the curtain on his illustrious career back in 2014 after he failed to secure another shot at the world heavyweight championship against another Ukrainian great in Wladimir Klitschko.
