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Riddick Bowe: Appetite for Self-Destruction


BoztheMadman
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He was big, he was strong, he was unusually fast for his size, didn't gas, could take a good punch, could give a good punch and he could box. His name is Riddick Bowe. In the long and exciting history of the heavyweight division, his story is one of the most complex ones. It is a story of triumph, yet also unfulfilled promise. Despite winning the world title twice and in my eyes never really losing a fight in the ring, Bowe lost another fight outside the ring: the fight against the weight and indiscipline. He was trained by one of the greatest trainers in the business, Eddie Futch himself. But Eddie could only do as much for him, he couldn't make him more disciplined and less hungry for food. After Riddick Big Daddy became world champion, he seemed to care less about training and more about enjoying the pleasures of life. In his early days, he used to be trim and could weigh in at as little as 218 pounds. He was a pleasure to watch, this big, strong, formidable young man who reduced his opponents to powder. But at his worst nights, against a then-unknown Pole named Golota, he just looked slow and sluggish. His refusal to fight one of the greatest names of that era also worked against him and his legacy. This is the story of the man who is by many considered to be the greatest wasted talent and a could have been ATG in heavyweight history.

 

Riddick Lamont Bowe was born 10 August 1968 in Brownsville, the dreaded section of Brooklyn where the crime rate was as high as it can be. He was the twelfth of thirteen children born to Dorothy Bowe. His brother Henry died of AIDS and his sister Brenda was stabbed to death by a drug addict during an attempted robbery. Young Riddick found an escape from it all in boxing and it saved him from becoming another victim like his siblings. Much like another famous Brownsville native Mike Tyson, Bowe started boxing because he was infatuated with Muhammad Ali and his achievements and wanted to emulate him. In 1983, at the age of 15, he entered the United States junior championships as a middleweight, where he was stopped by Adolpho Washington in two rounds. Two years later, he entered the Golden Gloves and became the light heavyweight champion there. That year he also became the world junior champion in Moscow, stopping all his opponents inside one round. Next year he again captured the Golden Gloves title at light heavyweight, but then in 1987 he started competing as a super heavyweight and again became a Golden Gloves champion. Same year he also competed at the world amateur championships as a heavyweight, where he lost to Jorge Luis Gonzalez, 3-2 on points. They would meet again later, as pros. He won the bronze medal. Finally, in 1988 he became the American representative at super heavyweight at the Seoul Olympics, where he got to the final. He steamrolled thru his first two opponents, beat the third on points, before he was stopped in two rounds by future rival Lennox Lewis. After returning from Seoul, he signed with manager Rock Newman and started his professional career. His first fight was on 6 March '89. He steamrolled over Lionel Butler and stopped him by TKO 2. He then won 17 consecutive fights, all but one by knockout. 7 September '90 he faced the former WBC champion Pinklon Thomas. Thomas was not his old self, having wasted his title and career away on drugs and trying to start a music career. He still lasted eight rounds with the much younger man before he surrendered after the eight. Bowe then stopped Bert Cooper by TKO 2. George Foreman was the only man to stop Cooper so early previously.

 

Next year he would have a very busy and exciting year, as he first stopped the former Olympic champion Tyrell Briggs in 8 rounds of a spirited fight. His next fight would be less impressive though, as he found himself struggling against the very clever and more experienced Tony Tubbs, who outboxed him for about half the fight. Bowe was the aggressor while Tubbs counterpunched. The fight was very even and Bowe got the majority decision, even though many in the crowd booed the decision. Bowe had the best jab you can see on such a big man and it may have won him the fight, as well as his aggression. Next he faced against the even taller Rodolfo Marin from Puerto Rico, who at 6'6 was an inch taller than Bowe. This didn't help him much however, as Bowe laid him out flat with a single punch in round two. In August he faced the 18-1 puncher Bruce Seldon, who was a physical specimen. The two went at it from the start, but Bowe floored Seldon after catching him with a right hand. Seldon leapt up at nine, only to be floored seconds later with a left hook. He tried to get up, but his leg wouldn't listen. And so Bowe got himself a first round ko against a top contender. His next fight against Elijah Tillery was the first in a series of controversial and outrageous fights that would follow. The two exchanged furiously in the first round, with Bowe getting the better of the action. He sent Tillery down with a left hook with eight seconds remaining. As the bell sounded, Bowe threw a jab at Tillery. This made Tillery retaliate by kicking Bowe three times, which in turn pissed off Bowe, who grabbed hold of Tillery and started punching away. As Tillery leaned against the ropes, Rock Newman grabbed him and Bowe continued to punch away, which then made the Tillery corner join the melee. As the order was restored, it was announced that Tillery was disqualified due to kicking Bowe. The rematch was scheduled two months later and this time everything went according to the book, Bowe stopping Tillery by TKO 4.

 

Bowe started 1992 impressively, stopping the hard to stop Everett "Bigfoot" Martin by TKO in the fifth as Martin suffered a cut eyelid. He was then given a ticket for the big fight for the world title against Pierre Coetzer, the durable South African. Bowe looked somewhat plump, coming in at 245, but he managed to stop Coetzer by TKO 7. Still, it wasn't a pretty performance and he won more on strength than skill. And then...came that night. 13 of November, Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas: Bowe walked in the ring to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight", wearing his traditional white trunks with the red trim and red shoes. Before the fight, in his dressing room, he was told by some kind of Afro-American guru that red was the colour of kings. Well, it was suitable because Bowe would step out of the ring as the new king of the heavyweights. The opponent-noone else than Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield. Holyfield was undefeated at 28-0 and his trainer shouted to him as they were standing in the ring "Nobody can beat you baby, nobody!" But Holyfield didn't look like he bought it. He knew who he was up against. Bowe was almost 6 years younger, 2 and a half inches taller, weighed 30 pounds more and had a 3-inch reach advantage. Plus, he came in looking in a splendid shape at 235. As the fight started, it looked like Holyfield was intent to use the same strategy against Bowe that he was used to: wear 'em down with constant attack. This proved to be a bad idea, even though in the first three rounds Holy looked like he was succeeding at it. But Bowe came into the fight and started landing his potent shots. He was impressively fast and timed his punches well. As the bell sounded for round 10, everybody knew Bowe was well ahead and Holyfield needed a knockout to win. Yet, it was Bowe who looked like he was on the verge of scoring a knockout, as he caught Holyfield with a mean uppercut which rocked his senses and sent him stumbling across the ring, as Bowe unloaded a barrage on him. Everybody thought it was a matter of seconds before the fight was over and waited for the referee to jump in and end it. But the incredible spirit of Holyfield, as well as incredible resilience, made him weather the storm and come back at the end of the same round, landing several good punches. However, it wasn't enough and Bowe drove him to the ropes in the next round, where he caught him with a good combination and down went Holyfield, with his back to Bowe, on his knees. He rose and managed to finish the round and the fight. As the announcer got ready to read the results, everyone pretty much knew which name he would shout. And as he did, the Bowe corner erupted in violent cheering and jumped up and down. It looked like a beginning of a great new champion, as Foreman himself gave Bowe his blessing after the fight.

 

It looked like nobody was that happy with the natural cruiserweight like Holyfield being the heavyweight champion and Bowe was a more popular champion. For a while. He had a charming personality and was always cheerful and gave spirited interviews. As he exited the ring after the fight, he bumped into a familiar face-it was Lennox Lewis. He stared at Lewis intimidatingly and proclaimed that he wasn't scared of him. Lewis had stirred up some bad blood between the two before and after the fight, claiming Bowe was afraid to fight him and calling him "Chicken Bowe". Bowe looked like he was serious about wanting to fight Lewis, but, to everyone's surprise and dismay, he showed up shortly after the fight to dump the WBC belt in the bin in front of journalists, stating that if Lewis wants the belt, he has to get it there. Accusations started coming. Was Bowe really afraid of Lewis? After all that tough talk that night?! His reputation didn't get any better and the fans didn't get any more pleased when Bowe's next opponent was announced: Michael Dokes, an over the hill former champion who was now a shell of his old self and who had been destroyed by Holyfield years ago. Of course, it was a no-fight and Dokes was stopped by a barrage of punches in the first round and despite his ludicruos protests, the fight ended there. His next choice of opponent wasn't much better, it was Jesse Ferguson, a 19-9 fringe contender. Bowe knocked him out in round 2 with a six-punch combination. And then, with having no better option and pressed to choose an opponent that sells, he chose to rematch Holyfield. He opened as a 5-1 favorite, but the odds soon went down to 2 1/2-1. It showed that nobody really had much confidence in him, after the embarrassment with Lewis and two poor title defenses. A crowd of 14 thousand made the gate of 5 million at Caesars Palace on 6 November '93. It would be a night they would never forget. Bowe went out like a hurricane, clearly intent on stopping Holyfield early and proving to everyone that he really WAS the real deal, not Holyfield. But the fight turned into a true slugfest, where both guys got their licks in. By round 7, Bowe started to turn the fight around and hurt Holyfield with a fast left-right-left. Seconds later, Holyfield stopped as he looked up and motioned to Bowe. There was a man in a parachute who was on his way down to the ring. He landed on the ropes and was pulled down by Bowe's thuggish entourage, which beat him up. In all the commotion, Bowe's pregnant wife who was ringside fainted. The fight was paused for about 20 minutes as both fighters were tucked in blankets to keep them from getting cold. It went on and Holyfield seemed to gain strength and closed strongly, yet the rest of the fight was pretty even. In the end, the judges scored it 115-114, 115-113 and 114-114, Holyfield had reclaimed his title against all odds.

 

The first loss after 34 fights seemed to leave a dark edge in Bowe. He was disqualified in his next fight against Buster Mathis jr for punching him while he was down and then in the next fight against Larry Donald, undefeated at the time, Bowe unprovoked threw two punches at Donald at the press conference before the fight. Donald wanted to sue him, but Bowe appologised. An article in New York Post labeled him as The Punk from Brownsville and called him a Bowe-Zo. It also accused his manager of encouraging him to punch Donald. The fight itself was unremarkable and in the end Bowe took the zero away from Donald by way of UD. It qualified him for another title fight, but this time it was to be the WBO one. He took on the young 23-yearold Nigerian-English puncher Herbie Hide on 11 March '95. Hide was 26-0 and a knockout artist dubbed "Dancing Destroyer". He had taken the title almost a year before that in a dramatic fight against Michael Bentt, after which Bentt nearly died. It looked like a challenging fight for Bowe on paper, as many questioned how much he had left in him as a fighter. Hide began the fight better and won the first two rounds dancing and moving, before Bowe came into the fight. He scored seven messy knockdowns and was hurt badly once but recovered and stopped Hide by a ko in the 6th. Bowe's size and weight advantage worked in his advantage, as well as his jab. He weighed in at 241, Hide 214. The crowd which turned up to watch the fight was rather small and it was one of the least talked about heavyweight world title fights of the 90's. It was a sign that Big Daddy's star had fallen. But his next fight would do something to amend that. He faced his old amateur nemesis, Jorge Luis Gonzalez. For only the second time in his pro career, the 6'5 Bowe found himself fighting a man who was bigger than him. Gonzalez stood 6'7 and weighed in at 237, 4 pounds less than Bowe. The animosity between the two was such that the press conference before the fight had to be held with a protective glass separating the two. They still threw shots at eachother but without much effect. Gonzalez was 23-0, but against Bowe he would be completely outclassed. Despite his great amateur credentials, he was unwilling to listen to his American trainers and it hindered his development as a pro fighter. Bowe took advantage of this and pounded him throughout the 6 rounds the fight lasted, landing at will with overhand rights and other punches, until he finally knocked him out brutally with a big right to satisfy his thirst for revenge and dislike of the man. He then vacated the WBO title in order to fight Evander Holyfield for the third time and to be able to regain his WBC and WBA titles, which he thought would be impossible or difficult if he still held WBO's.

 

The third fight was uncharacteristical in the trilogy in that both men went down, but only one was left standing as it ended. Holyfield had just recovered from Hepatitis A which left his stamina weakened. It was a brutal, fast-paced fight and for the first time in his career, Bowe was knocked down in the sixth by a left hook. But, in the very next round Holyfield looked all but spent. Sensing his rival was tiring, Bowe went all out and dropped him twice early in the eight to win the fight and the trilogy. It would soon prove to be his final hoorah, as he was completely outclassed by the up-and-coming Polish Andrzej Golota. Golota, a big man like Bowe and a good jabber, was able to jab and land at will but still threw incredibly many low blows. After a series of low blows, Bowe fell in agony in the seventh and was unable to continue. This made his entourage angrily jump into the ring and attack Golota and his trainer, Lou Duva. The worst brawl in ring history then erupted and there was no security present. It wasn't until police arrived that the situation got under control. The official result was a DQ7 for Bowe but the fight exposed a truth-Bowe had seriously deteriorated as a fighter. He had also come in at 252, his heaviest weight to date. In the rematch five months later, he looked in much better shape at 235, but ultimately, he was not that much better than the last time. He was floored in the second and the fifth round and managed to put Golota down in the fourth, only to be saved again by Golota's folly as he again got disqualified for low blows in the ninth. Bowe now realised he was no longer capable of fighting against the best and retired. He would come back in 2004, but after three sporadical fights, the last one in 2008, he never came back again.

 

Before the first Golota fight, Bowe talked about fighting Tyson, who had just captured the WBC title from Bruno. It's a shame that fight never happened, but perhaps it was better for Bowe's sake, for he was no longer the same man and knowing how hard Tyson could hit means his health could be in jeopardy if he took that fight. The brutal fights against Holyfield also took their toll on Riddick and he wasn't the same man after their last fight. The struggles with the weight and some personal problems, like the divorce from his wife, also weighed in on the still young fighter and only made his decision to retire easier. His record is 43 wins with 33 ko's and only 1 loss, which was rather questionable. I myself and some other boxing fans that I know scored that fight a draw. Some have even given it to Bowe. What is certain is that at his best, he was a formidable fighter and struck fear into many opponents. After his first retirement from the ring, he briefly joined the Marine Corps, but quit after 3 days due to not being able to handle the rigorous training regime there. In 1998, he was also convicted of kidnapping his estranged wife and their children, hoping that it would help reconcile their marriage. During the kidnapping, he stabbed his wife in the chest, though it's not clear wether this was done on purpose or by accident. He was at first sentenced to jail for 18 to 24 months, but this was soon turned into 30 days because Bowe's lawyer claimed Bowe had brain damage. It was however overturned later and he had to go away for 17 months. It was after he returned from jail that he decided to return to boxing, but he was never able to discipline himself enough and weighed in at as much as 280 for his second fight. Riddick Bowe's story is a story of a man whose life and career seemed to be heading in the right direction, but then turned into a nightmare. In 2013 he even tried himself at Muay Thai, but was easily beaten in a fight for a minor world title and stopped in two rounds. This is the last known chapter of the Riddick Bowe saga.

Edited by BoztheMadman
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Re: Riddick Bowe: Appetite for Self-Destruction

 

He was big, he was strong, he was unusually fast for his size, didn't gas, could take a good punch, could give a good punch and he could box. His name is Riddick Bowe. In the long and exciting history of the heavyweight division, his story is one of the most complex ones. It is a story of triumph, yet also unfulfilled promise. Despite winning the world title twice and in my eyes never really losing a fight in the ring, Bowe lost another fight outside the ring: the fight against the weight and indiscipline. He was trained by one of the greatest trainers in the business, Eddie Futch himself. But Eddie could only do as much for him, he couldn't make him more disciplined and less hungry for food. After Riddick Big Daddy became world champion, he seemed to care less about training and more about enjoying the pleasures of life. In his early days, he used to be trim and could weigh in at as little as 218 pounds. He was a pleasure to watch, this big, strong, formidable young man who reduced his opponents to powder. But at his worst nights, against a then-unknown Pole named Golota, he just looked slow and sluggish. His refusal to fight one of the greatest names of that era also worked against him and his legacy. This is the story of the man who is by many considered to be the greatest wasted talent and a could have been ATG in heavyweight history.

 

Riddick Lamont Bowe was born 10 August 1968 in Brownsville, the dreaded section of Brooklyn where the crime rate was as high as it can be. He was the twelfth of thirteen children born to Dorothy Bowe. His brother Henry died of AIDS and his sister Brenda was stabbed to death by a drug addict during an attempted robbery. Young Riddick found an escape from it all in boxing and it saved him from becoming another victim like his siblings. Much like another famous Brownsville native Mike Tyson, Bowe started boxing because he was infatuated with Muhammad Ali and his achievements and wanted to emulate him. In 1983, at the age of 15, he entered the United States junior championships as a middleweight, where he was stopped by Adolpho Washington in two rounds. Two years later, he entered the Golden Gloves and became the light heavyweight champion there. That year he also became the world junior champion in Moscow, stopping all his opponents inside one round. Next year he again captured the Golden Gloves title at light heavyweight, but then in 1987 he started competing as a super heavyweight and again became a Golden Gloves champion. Same year he also competed at the world amateur championships as a heavyweight, where he lost to Jorge Luis Gonzalez, 3-2 on points. They would meet again later, as pros. He won the bronze medal. Finally, in 1988 he became the American representative at super heavyweight at the Seoul Olympics, where he got to the final. He steamrolled thru his first two opponents, beat the third on points, before he was stopped in two rounds by future rival Lennox Lewis. After returning from Seoul, he signed with manager Rock Newman and started his professional career. His first fight was on 6 March '89. He steamrolled over Lionel Butler and stopped him by TKO 2. He then won 17 consecutive fights, all but one by knockout. 7 September '90 he faced the former WBC champion Pinklon Thomas. Thomas was not his old self, having wasted his title and career away on drugs and trying to start a music career. He still lasted eight rounds with the much younger man before he surrendered after the eight. Bowe then stopped Bert Cooper by TKO 2. George Foreman was the only man to stop Cooper so early previously.

 

Next year he would have a very busy and exciting year, as he first stopped the former Olympic champion Tyrell Briggs in 8 rounds of a spirited fight. His next fight would be less impressive though, as he found himself struggling against the very clever and more experienced Tony Tubbs, who outboxed him for about half the fight. Bowe was the aggressor while Tubbs counterpunched. The fight was very even and Bowe got the majority decision, even though many in the crowd booed the decision. Bowe had the best jab you can see on such a big man and it may have won him the fight, as well as his aggression. Next he faced against the even taller Rodolfo Marin from Puerto Rico, who at 6'6 was an inch taller than Bowe. This didn't help him much however, as Bowe laid him out flat with a single punch in round two. In August he faced the 18-1 puncher Bruce Seldon, who was a physical specimen. The two went at it from the start, but Bowe floored Seldon after catching him with a right hand. Seldon leapt up at nine, only to be floored seconds later with a left hook. He tried to get up, but his leg wouldn't listen. And so Bowe got himself a first round ko against a top contender. His next fight against Elijah Tillery was the first in a series of controversial and outrageous fights that would follow. The two exchanged furiously in the first round, with Bowe getting the better of the action. He sent Tillery down with a left hook with eight seconds remaining. As the bell sounded, Bowe threw a jab at Tillery. This made Tillery retaliate by kicking Bowe three times, which in turn pissed off Bowe, who grabbed hold of Tillery and started punching away. As Tillery leaned against the ropes, Rock Newman grabbed him and Bowe continued to punch away, which then made the Tillery corner join the melee. As the order was restored, it was announced that Tillery was disqualified due to kicking Bowe. The rematch was scheduled two months later and this time everything went according to the book, Bowe stopping Tillery by TKO 4.

 

Bowe started 1992 impressively, stopping the hard to stop Everett "Bigfoot" Martin by TKO in the fifth as Martin suffered a cut eyelid. He was then given a ticket for the big fight for the world title against Pierre Coetzer, the durable South African. Bowe looked somewhat plump, coming in at 245, but he managed to stop Coetzer by TKO 7. Still, it wasn't a pretty performance and he won more on strength than skill. And then...came that night. 13 of November, Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas: Bowe walked in the ring to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight", wearing his traditional white trunks with the red trim and red shoes. Before the fight, in his dressing room, he was told by some kind of Afro-American guru that red was the colour of kings. Well, it was suitable because Bowe would step out of the ring as the new king of the heavyweights. The opponent-noone else than Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield. Holyfield was undefeated at 28-0 and his trainer shouted to him as they were standing in the ring "Nobody can beat you baby, nobody!" But Holyfield didn't look like he bought it. He knew who he was up against. Bowe was almost 6 years younger, 2 and a half inches taller, weighed 30 pounds more and had a 3-inch reach advantage. Plus, he came in looking in a splendid shape at 235. As the fight started, it looked like Holyfield was intent to use the same strategy against Bowe that he was used to: wear 'em down with constant attack. This proved to be a bad idea, even though in the first three rounds Holy looked like he was succeeding at it. But Bowe came into the fight and started landing his potent shots. He was impressively fast and timed his punches well. As the bell sounded for round 10, everybody knew Bowe was well ahead and Holyfield needed a knockout to win. Yet, it was Bowe who looked like he was on the verge of scoring a knockout, as he caught Holyfield with a mean uppercut which rocked his senses and sent him stumbling across the ring, as Bowe unloaded a barrage on him. Everybody thought it was a matter of seconds before the fight was over and waited for the referee to jump in and end it. But the incredible spirit of Holyfield, as well as incredible resilience, made him weather the storm and come back at the end of the same round, landing several good punches. However, it wasn't enough and Bowe drove him to the ropes in the next round, where he caught him with a good combination and down went Holyfield, with his back to Bowe, on his knees. He rose and managed to finish the round and the fight. As the announcer got ready to read the results, everyone pretty much knew which name he would shout. And as he did, the Bowe corner erupted in violent cheering and jumped up and down. It looked like a beginning of a great new champion, as Foreman himself gave Bowe his blessing after the fight.

 

It looked like nobody was that happy with the natural cruiserweight like Holyfield being the heavyweight champion and Bowe was a more popular champion. For a while. He had a charming personality and was always cheerful and gave spirited interviews. As he exited the ring after the fight, he bumped into a familiar face-it was Lennox Lewis. He stared at Lewis intimidatingly and proclaimed that he wasn't scared of him. Lewis had stirred up some bad blood between the two before and after the fight, claiming Bowe was afraid to fight him and calling him "Chicken Bowe". Bowe looked like he was serious about wanting to fight Lewis, but, to everyone's surprise and dismay, he showed up shortly after the fight to dump the WBC belt in the bin in front of journalists, stating that if Lewis wants the belt, he has to get it there. Accusations started coming. Was Bowe really afraid of Lewis? After all that tough talk that night?! His reputation didn't get any better and the fans didn't get any more pleased when Bowe's next opponent was announced: Michael Dokes, an over the hill former champion who was now a shell of his old self and who had been destroyed by Holyfield years ago. Of course, it was a no-fight and Dokes was stopped by a barrage of punches in the first round and despite his ludicruos protests, the fight ended there. His next choice of opponent wasn't much better, it was Jesse Ferguson, a 19-9 fringe contender. Bowe knocked him out in round 2 with a six-punch combination. And then, with having no better option and pressed to choose an opponent that sells, he chose to rematch Holyfield. He opened as a 5-1 favorite, but the odds soon went down to 2 1/2-1. It showed that nobody really had much confidence in him, after the embarrassment with Lewis and two poor title defenses. A crowd of 14 thousand made the gate of 5 million at Caesars Palace on 6 November '93. It would be a night they would never forget. Bowe went out like a hurricane, clearly intent on stopping Holyfield early and proving to everyone that he really WAS the real deal, not Holyfield. But the fight turned into a true slugfest, where both guys got their licks in. By round 7, Bowe started to turn the fight around and hurt Holyfield with a fast left-right-left. Seconds later, Holyfield stopped as he looked up and motioned to Bowe. There was a man in a parachute who was on his way down to the ring. He landed on the ropes and was pulled down by Bowe's thuggish entourage, which beat him up. In all the commotion, Bowe's pregnant wife who was ringside fainted. The fight was paused for about 20 minutes as both fighters were tucked in blankets to keep them from getting cold. It went on and Holyfield seemed to gain strength and closed strongly, yet the rest of the fight was pretty even. In the end, the judges scored it 115-114, 115-113 and 114-114, Holyfield had reclaimed his title against all odds.

 

The first loss after 34 fights seemed to leave a dark edge in Bowe. He was disqualified in his next fight against Buster Mathis jr for punching him while he was down and then in the next fight against Larry Donald, undefeated at the time, Bowe unprovoked threw two punches at Donald at the press conference before the fight. Donald wanted to sue him, but Bowe appologised. An article in New York Post labeled him as The Punk from Brownsville and called him a Bowe-Zo. It also accused his manager of encouraging him to punch Donald. The fight itself was unremarkable and in the end Bowe took the zero away from Donald by way of UD. It qualified him for another title fight, but this time it was to be the WBO one. He took on the young 23-yearold Nigerian-English puncher Herbie Hide on 11 March '95. Hide was 26-0 and a knockout artist dubbed "Dancing Destroyer". He had taken the title almost a year before that in a dramatic fight against Michael Bentt, after which Bentt nearly died. It looked like a challenging fight for Bowe on paper, as many questioned how much he had left in him as a fighter. Hide began the fight better and won the first two rounds dancing and moving, before Bowe came into the fight. He scored seven messy knockdowns and was hurt badly once but recovered and stopped Hide by a ko in the 6th. Bowe's size and weight advantage worked in his advantage, as well as his jab. He weighed in at 241, Hide 214. The crowd which turned up to watch the fight was rather small and it was one of the least talked about heavyweight world title fights of the 90's. It was a sign that Big Daddy's star had fallen. But his next fight would do something to amend that. He faced his old amateur nemesis, Jorge Luis Gonzalez. For only the second time in his pro career, the 6'5 Bowe found himself fighting a man who was bigger than him. Gonzalez stood 6'7 and weighed in at 237, 4 pounds less than Bowe. The animosity between the two was such that the press conference before the fight had to be held with a protective glass separating the two. They still threw shots at eachother but without much effect. Gonzalez was 23-0, but against Bowe he would be completely outclassed. Despite his great amateur credentials, he was unwilling to listen to his American trainers and it hindered his development as a pro fighter. Bowe took advantage of this and pounded him throughout the 6 rounds the fight lasted, landing at will with overhand rights and other punches, until he finally knocked him out brutally with a big right to satisfy his thirst for revenge and dislike of the man. He then vacated the WBO title in order to fight Evander Holyfield for the third time and to be able to regain his WBC and WBA titles, which he thought would be impossible or difficult if he still held WBO's.

 

The third fight was uncharacteristical in the trilogy in that both men went down, but only one was left standing as it ended. Holyfield had just recovered from Hepatitis A which left his stamina weakened. It was a brutal, fast-paced fight and for the first time in his career, Bowe was knocked down in the sixth by a left hook. But, in the very next round Holyfield looked all but spent. Sensing his rival was tiring, Bowe went all out and dropped him twice early in the eight to win the fight and the trilogy. It would soon prove to be his final hoorah, as he was completely outclassed by the up-and-coming Polish Andrzej Golota. Golota, a big man like Bowe and a good jabber, was able to jab and land at will but still threw incredibly many low blows. After a series of low blows, Bowe fell in agony in the seventh and was unable to continue. This made his entourage angrily jump into the ring and attack Golota and his trainer, Lou Duva. The worst brawl in ring history then erupted and there was no security present. It wasn't until police arrived that the situation got under control. The official result was a DQ7 for Bowe but the fight exposed a truth-Bowe had seriously deteriorated as a fighter. He had also come in at 252, his heaviest weight to date. In the rematch five months later, he looked in much better shape at 235, but ultimately, he was not that much better than the last time. He was floored in the second and the fifth round and managed to put Golota down in the fourth, only to be saved again by Golota's folly as he again got disqualified for low blows in the ninth. Bowe now realised he was no longer capable of fighting against the best and retired. He would come back in 2004, but after three sporadical fights, the last one in 2008, he never came back again.

 

Before the first Golota fight, Bowe talked about fighting Tyson, who had just captured the WBC title from Bruno. It's a shame that fight never happened, but perhaps it was better for Bowe's sake, for he was no longer the same man and knowing how hard Tyson could hit means his health could be in jeopardy if he took that fight. The brutal fights against Holyfield also took their toll on Riddick and he wasn't the same man after their last fight. The struggles with the weight and some personal problems, like the divorce from his wife, also weighed in on the still young fighter and only made his decision to retire easier. His record is 43 wins with 33 ko's and only 1 loss, which was rather questionable. I myself and some other boxing fans that I know scored that fight a draw. Some have even given it to Bowe. What is certain is that at his best, he was a formidable fighter and struck fear into many opponents. After his first retirement from the ring, he briefly joined the Marine Corps, but quit after 3 days due to not being able to handle the rigorous training regime there. In 1998, he was also convicted of kidnapping his estranged wife and their children, hoping that it would help reconcile their marriage. During the kidnapping, he stabbed his wife in the chest, though it's not clear wether this was done on purpose or by accident. He was at first sentenced to jail for 18 to 24 months, but this was soon turned into 30 days because Bowe's lawyer claimed Bowe had brain damage. It was however overturned later and he had to go away for 17 months. It was after he returned from jail that he decided to return to boxing, but he was never able to discipline himself enough and weighed in at as much as 280 for his second fight. Riddick Bowe's story is a story of a man whose life and career seemed to be heading in the right direction, but then turned into a nightmare. In 2013 he even tried himself at Muay Thai, but was easily beaten in a fight for a minor world title and stopped in two rounds. This is the last known chapter of the Riddick Bowe saga.

He currently owns and operates a restaurant in my Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

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