Riddick Bowe

[edit] Biography

Riddick Lamont Bowe (born August 10, 1967, Brooklyn, New York) is an American boxer and former undisputed heavyweight champion. He is popular for his trilogy with Evander Holyfield, and two brutal bouts with Andrew Golota.

[edit] Early years

Bowe was born and raised in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, which at the time was one of New York's most infamous slums. The poverty was crushing, and life growing up was tough, and made no easier by the area's many gangs and prevalant violence. However, unlike fellow Brownsville product Mike Tyson, Bowe was known for a very genial and winning personality. This, along with his skill with handling the media, would help speed along his career.

[edit] Boxing career

Bowe's great size (6'5" and weighing approximately 230 pound), and strength made him very difficult to fight, and was unusually quick for his size, Bowe had amateur success in which he won the silver medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympics , losing to future undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. Bowe also won the New York Golden Gloves championship as well as various tournaments. Bowe turned professional after winning the silver medal.

[edit] Professional career

Bowe's talents caught the eyes of boxing fans and officials, and his light up a room smile and wit quickly gained him a large following. His most incredible feat was as a young golden gloves boxer. In 1984, at the age of 17 he knocked out James Smitch in just 4 seconds in the first round. He was just 25 when he fought his first world title bout in 1992, against Evander Holyfield. Sadly, less than 4 years later, Bowe's career was over after manager Rock Newman made some questionable choices which led to a bizarre and debilitating bout with Andrew Golota. Bowe's trainer, the legendary Eddie Futch whose career spanned 8 decades, blamed Newman for the decisions he felt cut short the career of one of history's most talented heavyweights. Nevertheless, Newman had guided Bowe early on to the heavyweight title, grooming the champion for his title shot. The manager and his protege, close for many years, were later involved in an acrimonious lawsuit over the distribution of purses, but Bowe ultimately dropped his claim against Newman.

[edit] Bowe vs. Holyfield I

The bout was a classic, with Bowe at his finest, and Holyfield fighting him every minute. Before the fight Holyfield had been deeply stung by boxing writers saying that he was too small to be a true heavyweight or to dominate the division, (Holyfield had started as a light heavyweight, and was simply not built on as large a scale as many heavyweights), and seemed to come into the bout looking to prove those claims wrong. He did this by coming straight at Bowe. The result was a back and forth slugfest culminating in the 10th round, which is considered one of the greatest in boxing history. Early in the round Bowe hurt Holyfield badly with a huge uppercut, after which Holyfield staggered across the ring and nearly went down. Bowe tried to capitalize, but Holyfield defended himself well as he slowly regained his strength. After Bowe had grown tired from throwing so many punches, Holyfield came back and hit Bowe with a series of hard, fast, ripping punches, and it looked like Hoylfield might have regained control of the fight. However, Holyfield might have used up his last strength with that rally, because Bowe knocked him down early in the next round, and Holyfield was unable to quite come back again. Bowe won by unanimous decision, and was now the Undisputed Champion.

[edit] Defending his titles

Bowe's first reign as Champion would be short and somewhat disappointing. He defended his title twice before meeting Holyfield again. Both challengers were considered easy opponnents. First came Michael Dokes, an ex-champion from the early 80s who had only become champ because of the lack of good fighters, and journeyman Jesse Ferguson. In addition to this, Bowe famously threw one of his championship belts into a trash can at a press conferance rather than fight Lennox Lewis, the equally huge and skilled heavyweight who had defeated Bowe in the Olympics. At this time Bowe would begin a number of bad habits that would take away from his career, most prominent of which was overeating. He would balloon greatly between bouts, then go on crash diets in order to get into fighting shape. Or, just not bothering getting into proper fighting shape at all.

[edit] Holyfield rematch

He came into his second fight with Holyfield at 246 pounds, more than 10 pounds above his weight in their first fight. Bowe's skills helped carry him through the first half of the bout, but then came the bizarre fan man incident in which a man in a parachute with a large fan on his back crashed into the ringside crowd, including Bowe's wife. The fight was paused for nearly half an hour while the "Fan Man" was cleared away and several people, including Bowe's wife, were taken to the hospital. During that time Holyfield regained his strength and Bowe lost his concentration, his mind clearly elsewhere. Holyfield won a narrow and debated decision. To this day, it remains Bowe's only loss.

After the loss, Bowe's bad habits worsened. His weight between fights would get over 300 pounds, more than sixty or seventy pounds more than his prime fighting weight. He became even more lax in training, and his skills began to fade. Also, his legendary trainer, Eddie Futch, started becoming ever more frustrated with Bowe and began to worry about the future of Bowe's once promising career.

[edit] Winning the WBO title & Holyfield rubbermatch

Bowe's behavior in the ring started to become irregular too. His one bout with Buster Mathis Jr was ruled a no contest because he hit Buster with an uppercut while he was already down. He sucker punched Larry Donald during a press conference for their fight, one of the first of the press conference brawls that have become prevalent in boxing. Bowe won the WBO title, a belt not recognized on par with the other world titles, but continued to show little eagerness to work at being a champion. He got into a number of brawls at press conferances with one of his challengers for that title, Jorge Luis Gonzalez, until both men began to give talks in future conferences from behind bulletproof glasses enclosures. Bowe fought a third fight with Holyfield, and despite the fact that Holyfield was badly ailing with Hepatitis A, he managed to knock Bowe down before running out of gas. Bowe emerged victorious with a stunning 8th round knockout. But then came two events - one outside the ring and one inside it -- which would change Riddick Bowe's career, and perhaps his life, forever.

[edit] Lawsuits & Bowe v. Golota I

After the Holyfield victory in 1995, Riddick Bowe's manager Rock Newman filed a lawsuit against HBO, who had the exclusive television contract with Riddick Bowe. While the suit was pending, Bowe was not in training camp, and he sat idle for many months. This business dispute could have cost him his career, as the long layoff left the former champion far from top form. Most boxing insiders knew Bowe was a fighter who had to be kept in camp, and kept busy, in order to stay focused and stay in shape.

Aside from the lawsuit outside the ring, Newman's agreement for his fighter to fight Golota was also problematic. Golota was a little-respected fighter with a reputation for being wild, and had frequently resorted to fouls and dirty tactics. He had bitten one fighter while in trouble, hit people after the bell, used his forearms to smash fighters, and intentionally headbutted a fighter while ahead in that fight. If Bowe beat Golota, everyone would say he should have been able to beat him. If Bowe lost to Golota, then he lost to a "nobody" and it would do nothing for Bowe's status in the division. Few, if any, gave Golota a chance.

Bowe came into the ring visibly flabby, this time at 252 pounds. Trainer Eddie Futch was worried and he should have known. He had trained nearly two dozen world champions, and 5 heavyweight champions including Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. Futch had cautioned Rock Newman and Riddick Bowe about the risks of the fight in this condition, and urged them to postpone it. They disagreed, and went ahead with the bout on July 6, 1996, at Madison Square Garden. It turned out to be one of the biggest management errors in boxing history.

Bowe looked sluggish at the start of the fight, while Golota looked sharp, dominating the first round with his jab and tactical skill. In his early career, Bowe's jab had been a deadly weapon. Now it was easily overpowered and rendered useless by Golota. Perhaps realizing that he was not up to fighting a tactical fight, (and perhaps still underestimating Golota), Bowe came out looking to brawl in the second round. At first he seemed to have the edge, but by the end of the second round Golota had come back and hit Bowe with some hard shots, snapping Riddick's head around several times and wobbling him more than once. Through the third round Golota began to take control, and he started plain out pounding Bowe in the fourth. Suddenly the question seemed not whether Bowe would win, but whether he would survive the hurt that Golota was putting on him. With about 30 seconds left in the fourth round, however, Golota hit Bowe with a hard low blow well below the belt, and first got penalized for his low punches.

The fourth round set a pattern for the rest of the fight. Golota poured on the punishment, but continued flirting with disaster because of low blows. He was penalized a second time, and finally in the seventh round, he threw a series of three punches, all low, and was disqualified for it.

Bowe had to be carried out of the ring and back to the dressing room, and in the ring one of boxings worst riots happened. Angered by the low blows which injured former champion Bowe, and frustrated by Golota's dirty tactics, a member of Bowe's camp hit Golota with a walkie-talkie. This ignited a melee in the ring and in the seats,including many fans. Lou Duva, Golota's trainer, collapsed and at the time it was feared that he might have had a heart attack.

[edit] Golota rematch

A rematch was held in just five months. Even those closest to Bowe had their faith shaken. His mother refused to watch the rematch because of the horror she felt after the first bout, and Eddie Futch tried to talk Bowe into retiring. When Bowe refused, Futch resigned as his trainer.

For the second bout, Bowe perhaps overcompensated on the weight issue, going on an extreme crash diet that seemed to sap his strength as a result of losing too much weight too quickly. He looked drained and weak, and his legs seemed rubbery and unable to support him.

The second match was a virtual replay of the first, except that the domination by Golota was more one-sided, and also more brutal. Bowe was knocked down twice, and although he managed to come back after the first knockdown to knock Golota down, that was the only time in the fight when he managed to take the offense. The rest of the fight was spent with Golota pounding Bowe, especially from the fifth through the ninth rounds, where Golota would knock a staggering and wobbly Bowe from one side of the ring to the other. Finally at the very end of the ninth round Golota was disqualified again, once again for low blows. This time, however, Golota had been more versatile with his fouls, as he also intentionally headbutted Bowe, backhanded him, hit him with illegal blows behind the head, etc. When speaking after the fight Bowe's speech seemed to be slurred, and rumors began that the fights with Holyfield and Golota had caused him brain damage. Bowe retired after the second Golota fight.

[edit] Post career

Bowe's life after his retirement was filled with a number of odd events. He briefly enlisted in the US Marines, which he described as having been an old dream. Bowe's lax habits did not mix well with the Marine Corp's trademark discipline, however, and he resigned from basic training after barely a week.

In 1999, he kidnapped his separated wife Judy and their children, perhaps trying to get her to get back together. He let them go without incident after an interstate chase. (Bowe had gathered them all into his car). He was eventually convincted of kidnapping, and served 18 months in prison for it. After being released, he announced his intention to make a comeback.

He declared bankruptcy in 2005.

[edit] Comeback

So far Bowe's comeback has consisted of two fights, both of which he has won, although he weighed in at 280 pounds in the second bout and was battered hard. Rumors continue to swirl about the possibility of brain damage, and whether he should be fighting at all. Bowe's next fight will be against Ronald Bellamy on 2006-10-07.

[edit] Riddick Bowe timeline

• August 10, 1967: Born in Brooklyn, New York, United States
• 1988: Lost to Lennox Lewis for the Olympic gold medal in Seoul, South Korea.
• March 7, 1989: Debuted as a professional, beating Lionel Butler
• July 8, 1990: Beat Art Card in first nationally televised bout
• October 21, 1991: Declared winner by disqualification over Elijah Tillery who began kicking Bowe until he was grabbed around the neck and thrown outside the ring by Bowe's manager, Rock Newman. A melee ensued. It would not be the last time things went chaotic before or during a Bowe fight.
• November 13, 1992: Won the world Heavyweight championship, beating Evander Holyfield. Bowe and Holyfield slugged it out for 10 rounds, with Bowe having a slight edge. In the 10th he connected a huge uppercut, rocking Holyfield. He, however, began to tire, and Holyfield retook control of the round, which is considered one of the best in boxing history. Bowe knocked Holyfield down in the next round, and won the fight by unanimous decision.
• Early 1993: He and his manager Rock Newman visited Pope John Paul II in the Vatican City, offering him the autographed gloves that Bowe used to beat Holyfield. The Pope accepted the gift.
• February 6, 1993 Bowe knocked out former WBA Heavyweight champion Michael Dokes in the first round, defending his title for the first time.
• May 22, 1993 Bowe knocked out Jesse Ferguson in the second round, in what his trainer Eddie Futch called his greatest performance. Bowe defended his title successfully for the second and final time.
• November 6, 1993: Lost the title to Holyfield, by decision in 12, after a man named James Miller parachuted into the ring and caused a mini-riot in round seven, in the fan man fight. The fight itself was very close, and some felt Bowe deserved the decision.
• August 13, 1994: His fight with Buster Mathis Jr. declared a no contest after Bowe hit his opponent while Mathis Jr. lay on the canvas.
• December, 1994: In the final pre-fight conference before their fight, he sucker punched Larry Donald twice. He beat Donald by decision in 12.
• March 11, 1995: He won the WBO world Heavyweight championship, knocking out Herbie Hide in six rounds.
• Summer of 1995: He and Jorge Luis Gonzalez engaged in a series of violent press conferences across the United States before their fight, even throwing ice at each other during some of the conferences. Their last pre-fight conference was held under two protective glasses. Bowe won by knockout in six.
• November 4, 1995: He and Holyfield, who was suffering from Hepatitis A, fought the last fight of their classic trilogy. Bowe seemed to dominate the early rounds, and the ailing Holyfield was struggling in the fight, a fight that commentator George Foreman was notably concerned about, and wished to be stopped. Holyfield however had a spurt of energy early in the sixth round, and knocked Bowe down. Bowe recovered from the knockdown and went on to win by knockout in round eight, knocking Holyfield down twice, both times with right hands.
• July 11, 1996: He defeated Andrew Golota by a disqualification in round seven after being hit low throughout the fight. The ensuing riot became breaking news across the United States, and an infamous night in the history of boxing. Golota was hit by a Bowe entourage man with a telephone in the head (a mid-90s cellphone, which made for a more formidable striking weapon than a modern equivalent).
• December 14, 1996: He defeated Golota in their extremely bloody rematch, again by disqualification. Golota, much as he did in the first bout, continually threw low blows. It turned out to be Bowe's last fight until 2004. He recovered from two knockdowns, and dropped Golota once before the final result. Bowe declared there would not be a rematch.
• December, 1996: Bowe announced he would join the United States Marine Corps. Four days later, he dropped out of boot camp.
• 1999: He kidnapped his wife and children. They were released unharmed, after an interstate drive.
• May 18, 2004: Bowe was released from federal prison after serving 18 months for the kidnapping. He announced his intention to return to boxing and attempt to reclaim the world Heavyweight championship.
• September 25, 2004: After seven and a half years away from boxing, Bowe returned with a second round knockout over Marcus Rhode. In a second comeback fight in April 2005, Bowe narrowly defeated journeyman Billy Zumbrun, in a fight in which Bowe was overweight at 280 lb and took a lot of heavy leather from Zumbrun.
• On October 17, 2005 he declared bankruptcy.

Bowe has a record of 42 wins and 1 loss, with 1 no-contest, and 33 knockouts.

[edit] References

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