Eddie Futch in 92 said that Riddick Bowe had more God given talent than ANYONE he ever trained. Do you agree?

Question

Eddie Futch ALSO trained "Smokin" Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes and Ken Norton. Eddie truly believed that Riddick "Big Daddy" Bowe had them all beat in terms of God given talent.

I think we ALL would wholeheartedly agree that Bowe was incredibly talented. The question is however DO YOU BELIEVE that he had MORE God given talent than Eddie's other Legendary Heavyweights?

I personally agree with "Papa Smurf". Riddick Bowe may have been one of the only fighters in any weight division that could actually fight effectively GOING BACKWARDS hitting opponents with thunderous shots that looked like effortless slaps!

BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Answer 1

Riddick Bowe for 1 fight when he beat Holyfield Nov13 1992 was a great heavyweight. I think that night he could have beat Tyson or Lewis. However he proved to be lazy and unpredictable. Its too bad from talent standpoint he was truly gifted.

Answer 2

Talk is cheap, many trainers say these kind of things about their fighters, D'amato felt the same way about Tyson and look at what happened....Riddick Bowe was a complete heavyweight and on a good day he could give anyone trouble, but his so called "God given" talent didn't matter much at the end of the day he might have been more talented than Evander and Lennox,but these two will always be ranked higher than him, I guess  Joe Louis said it best :"There is no such thing as a natural boxer. A natural dancer has to practice hard. A natural painter has to paint all the time. Even a natural fool has to work at it. "

Answer 3

No.  Pound for pound the greatest talented boxer I have ever know is Manny Paciao of the Republic of the Philippines.

He currently holds four (count them--four) world titles in four different weight classes.

Answer 4

Well, a lot of folks had more god-given talent than Joe, and Joe would just beat them into submission anyway.

I think it's likely that he was more all-around talented than anyone else he trained.  But he wasn't better than Joe or Larry.

Answer 5

It is pretty hard to argue with Eddie Futch's assessment of a boxer, Futch was just about the single greatest trainer and handler in the history of boxing.  Considering Futch knew Charley Burley and many of boxing's true immortals, I am going to have to agree with him on Bowe's natural ability.

The problem with Riddick was discipline.  Bowe was lazy when it came to training and he couldn't put the knife and fork down.  He was no stranger to a spoon either, Riddick liked to eat, but he didn't like to train.  I think if Bowe's personality flaws wouldn't have interrupted his relationship with Futch, Riddick would have went on to be one of boxing's best.  The mental aspect of boxing was Riddick's achillies heel.  It showed in the Lennox Lewis debacle, and Futch went public with it shortly before he broke with Bowe.

Sometimes physical talent isn't enough, and Bowe's great physical gifts took him far, unfortuantely his full potential was never realized.  Such is life.

Answer 6

He may very well be correct from a talent standpoint. Life is a lot like poker: it isn't what you have in your hands, it's what you make it.

Frazier was not a talented fighter. He was the most energized and courageous heavy ever. No motor ever ran harder with such basic tools.

Holmes is overrated. He dodged people, got graceful decisions, avoided rematches. Great boxer, but average heavyweight power.

Norton was a very good athlete who could punch. Ali didn't see him coming. Earnie Shavers did. Very average boxer who intimidated with his physique.

Bowe had more speed than Frazier or Norton, had better size and reach, and could outbox both. He was much stronger than Holmes also.

The 90s were a potentially great decade because you had Bowe, Lewis, Tyson, Holyfield, Mercer, Morrison and others, but a lot of that dissolved before it could happen. The heavyweights haven't really recovered since.

Bowe lost to a very tough opponent - drugs. It has ruined a lot of guys who do not know how to carry money or deal with excesses. He reminds me of another great, ruined talent, Greg Page.

As a total package, he could have been one of the greats.

Answer 7

Good Question ---- I once met Futch & Bowe in upstate New York pre-92 not too long after Bowe turned pro & it was obvious even then that Futch held Bowe in high regard but it was equally obvious that Bowe was not willing to listen to Eddie's wisdom even back then. Too bad because Bowe, like Iron Mike, proved to be another Brooklyn Fighter who never seemed to be able to take  heed of  Eddie's advice the same way Mike failed to take  heed of Cus' advice.

Riddick & Mike never seemed to be able to understand what they were being offered by Eddie, Cus, Kevin or Teddy.

Answer 8

Maybe so. personally i dont think he deserves to be ranked with any of the others due to the way he ducked lennox lewis for five years after he knocked him out. thats not a top fighter to me.

Answer 9

if you take away his first fight with Holyfield... Bowe is a bum.  he may have had the tools to be great, but his desire for food was greater.