Lennox Lewis Almost Slapped Riddick Bowe In 2018

The current heavyweight division in boxing, spearheaded by unified champion Anthony Joshua, WBC champion Deontay Wilder, and lineal champion Tyson Fury,  can draw comparisons to the last great generation of heavyweights in the late 80’s and 1990’s.

The competition at the top of the division was considered fierce, with Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe, and more holding major titles.

When compared to his three counterparts, Bowe has the lowest standing due to he and his manager Rock Newman’s refusal to fight Lewis in a rematch of their 1988 Olympic Super Heavyweight title.

Bowe went as far as to throw his WBC world heavyweight title in the trash, after the governing body ordered a showdown between the two.

Bowe, who would then go to have an odd second-half of his career, including two controversial DQ wins over Andrew Golota and a less than a week stint as a United States Marine, still holds acrimonious feelings towards Lewis.

“Me and Lennox have a policy,” Bowe said last year. “If he keeps my name out of his mouth, I’ll keep my foot out of his a**.”

The nearly three decade feud came to a head in 2018, when Lewis and Bowe attended events around Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury’s battle for the WBC title. The two would go nose to nose and nearly come to blows, luckily security would come in and stop a fight from happening.

“The only [past opponent] I actually almost slapped would be Riddick Bowe,” Lewis told Complex. “Everybody else, from Mike Tyson to the Klitschko brothers, we are all friends. We are brothers in arms. We understand that was then and this is now.

“Riddick Bowe has been saying a lot of stuff about me, and then, all of a sudden, he wanted to come stand beside me. And I’m like, ‘Dude, you can’t stand beside me.’ Simple as that. And there were a couple of more words than that. It wasn’t going to go off.”

Initial Report: Boxing Scene