After turning professional in 1989, Bowe went on to become a two-time world heavyweight champion. In 1992 he became the undisputed heavyweight champion by winning the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles by defeating then-unbeaten former undisputed cruiserweight champion Evander Holyfield. That same year, Bowe was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers' Association of America. Bowe vacated the WBC title later that year in protest, instead of defending the title against their number one contender, Lennox Lewis. This left the undisputed championship fragmented until 1999. In a rematch with Holyfield in 1993, Bowe narrowly lost the WBA and IBF titles in what would be his only professional defeat.
Bowe later regained a portion of the world heavyweight championship in 1995, defeating Herbie Hide for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title. In doing so, Bowe became the first boxer in history to win the titles of all four major sanctioning bodies: the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO. Later that year, Bowe vacated the WBO title in order to fight Holyfield for a third time, and won decisively by being the first boxer to defeat Holyfield by knockout. 1996 saw Bowe engage in two brutal slugfests with Andrew Golota, both of which ended controversially when Golota repeatedly hit him with low blows.
Bowe retired from boxing after the Golota fights, making low-key comebacks in 2004 and 2008. In a 2010 article by Boxing Scene, Bowe was ranked the 21st greatest heavyweight of all time.[4] In 2015, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.[5] As of 2023, Bowe remains the last undisputed world heavyweight champion from the United States.
Early life
Bowe was born on August 10, 1967, the twelfth of his mother Dorothy Bowe's thirteen children.[6] Bowe was born and raised in the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York City. His brother Henry died of AIDS,[7] and his sister Brenda was stabbed to death by a drug addict during an attempted robbery.[8]
Bowe was in the same elementary school sixth-grade class with Mike Tyson.[9][10] "We went to school together in the sixth grade in P.S. 396 (in Brownsville.) I really didn't know him," Bowe recalled.[11]
Amateur boxing career
Bowe was training at the Bedford-Stuyvesant Boxing Association Gym or the "Bed-Stuy BA" for short. As an amateur, Bowe won the prestigious New York Golden Gloves Championship and other tournaments. In 1984, age 17, he knocked out opponent James Smith in just 4 seconds. In 1985, at the National Golden Gloves championships, he lost to Fort Worth heavyweight Donald Stephens. Apart from boxing he attended Kingsborough Community College, where he studied drama — in hopes of an acting career after boxing — also he took up a business administration study.[12]
His friends called him "Don King" because of his hairstyle. Bowe said he was emulating Mark Breland, "I got a majority of my experience with Mark, I'm inspired by what he's accomplished. It makes it possible for me to do the same," said Bowe in an interview.[13]
New York Golden Gloves Championships
Bowe won four New York Golden Gloves Championships. He won two bouts as a 178-pounder in 1984 before failing to show for a third bout.[14] He won the 1985 178 lb Novice Championship, 1986 178 lb Open Championship and the 1987 and 1988 Super Heavyweight Open Championship. Already in 1985 Bowe was ranked #1 light heavyweight in the United States.[15]
1986 Goodwill Games
He was a light heavyweight runner-up for the 1986 World Championships and 1986 Goodwill Games but for some reason didn't qualify.[16] Meanwhile, during the year-and-a-half hiatus he gained well above thirty pounds and jumped from light heavyweight to super heavyweight, coming back for the 1987 United States Olympic Festival.
1987 Pan Am
Prior to 1987 Pan American Games, Bowe said he had suffered a hairline fracture in his right hand during one of his two fights at the Olympic Festival in July 1987. The injury, he said, was revealed in X-rays he had taken at home. Roosevelt Sanders, the head coach, said he was aware that Bowe's hand was being treated, but had not known it was broken. Bowe said he kept those injuries secret from the U.S. team coaching staff for fear of being kept out of the tournament.[17]
Olympic qualifiers
At first, Bowe was dismissed from the Olympic-year training camp, because U.S. Olympic boxing Coach Ken Adams didn't like him.[18]
U.S. Army superheavyweight Robert Salters, a Brooklyn-born 25-year-old artilleryman of Fort Bragg, NC, who took up boxing in 1986, and had less than twenty amateur fights in his 16-months-long record before they first met at the 1988 AAU National finals, where Salters floored Bowe twice before ref stopped the fight,[19] became a real nemesis for Bowe during his amateur career, as they fought each other to nearly a draw in the 1988 Olympic Box-offs at Caesars Palace, after Bowe lost to Salters in the Olympic Trials (Bowe came in at 231 lbs, Salters at 247.[20][21]). "He was talking' trash about me, and that helped me mentally," Salters said. Bowe had been boxing reportedly with ligament damage on the middle knuckle of his right hand, which he got the day before the Box-offs, and with a damaged right ankle, eventually managed to win, for the judges had to pick up a winner despite the even 58–58 score.[22][23] The fifth unidentified judge, who scored the bout 58–58, gave it to Bowe on unidentified subjective grounds.[24] Despite giving Bowe a hard time on four occasions in a row, Salters never turned pro.
1988 Olympics
Bowe won the silver medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, outpointing Soviet Alex Miroshnichenko in the semifinals,[25] and losing a controversial match in the finals to future world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. Bowe had a dominant first round, landing 33 of 94 punches thrown (34%) while Lewis landed 14 of 67 (21%). In the first round the referee from East Germany gave Bowe two cautions for headbutts and deducted a point for a third headbutt, although replay clearly showed there was no headbutt. Commentator Ferdie Pacheco disagreed with the deduction, saying they did not hit heads. In the second round, Lewis landed several hard punches. The referee gave Bowe two standing eight counts and waved the fight off after the second one, even though Bowe seemed able to continue. Pacheco disagreed with the stoppage, calling it "very strange," but Marv Albert said Bowe took "a pounding."[26]
Highlights
United States Junior Championships (middleweight), 1983:
1/2: Lost to Jorge Luis González (Cuba) by split decision, 2–3 (Bowe knocked down in the 1st rd; González was given a standing eight count in the 3rd rd)
1/2: Lost to Robert Salters RSCH 2 (Bowe knocked down at 2:50 of the 1st rd, and at 2:00 of the 2nd rd; after referee Jerry Dusenberry stopped the bout at 2:00, Bowe protested violently, and as the decision was announced attacked Salters verbally and physically, the two fighters had to be pulled apart)
1/4: Defeated Peter Hrivnák (Czechoslovakia) RSCH 1 (2:34)
1/2: Defeated Alex Miroshnichenko (Soviet Union) by unanimous decision, 5–0 (Bowe knocked down at 2:16 of the 1st rd; Bowe was given a standing eight count at 2:35 of the 1st rd; Miroshnichenko had his mouthpiece knocked off at 0:30 of the 3rd rd; Miroshnichenko was given a standing eight count at 1:10, and 1:35 of the 3rd rd)
Finals: Lost to Lennox Lewis (Canada) RSC 2 (0:43)
Bowe finished his amateur career with a record of 104 wins, 18 losses.
Professional boxing career
Bowe turned professional after his Olympic loss. Highly regarded trainer Eddie Futch took on the job of developing Bowe, as he saw the talent. Eddie would say that Bowe had more potential than any boxer he had ever trained.
Bowe turned professional in March 1989 and knocked out Lionel Butler. His then manager, Rock Newman, kept Bowe active, fighting 13 times in 1989, beating journeymen — the most notable being Garing Lane, whom he beat twice. In September 1990, Bowe made his first step up in class, fighting faded ex-champion Pinklon Thomas, whom he dominated until Thomas gave up after eight rounds. The following month, Bowe knocked out Bert Cooper in two rounds, which added to his reputation and high ranking.
In March 1991, Bowe knocked out 1984 Olympic Super Heavyweight Gold medalist Tyrell Biggs. In Bowe's next fight, ex-champion Tony Tubbs appeared to outbox and outsmart Bowe in a close bout, only to have the judges award Bowe a unanimous decision. In August 1991, Bowe knocked out future world heavyweight champion Bruce Seldon in one round. In July 1992, he knocked out South African Pierre Coetzer in the seventh round of a world title eliminator.
Fights against Elijah Tillery
Bowe fought two interesting bouts against Elijah Tillery in 1991. Their first fight, at the Washington Convention Center, drew attention for its bizarre conclusion. Bowe dominated the first round and dropped Tillery. After the round ended, Tillery walked toward Bowe and taunted him, and Bowe responded by punching Tillery. Tillery then threw several low kicks at Bowe, who then unleashed a flurry of punches on Tillery as he lay on the ropes. Bowe's trainer Rock Newman grabbed Tillery from behind on the ring apron and pulled him over the ropes as Bowe continued to throw punches. Tillery somersaulted over the ropes, and was quickly detained by security.[27] After order was restored and the fighters returned to the ring, Tillery and Bowe continued a war of words, and minor incidents continued until the ring was cleared. Tillery was controversially disqualified for kicking Bowe, with Bowe getting the win, much to the surprise of the television announcers. The referee, Karl Milligan, had stepped between the two fighters to separate them and stepped forward as he did so, inadvertently missing the action behind him after the bell between the combatants. The fighters fought a rematch two months later at Convention Hall in Atlantic City, with Bowe dominating and stopping Tillery in four rounds.
In November 1992 he fought reigning champ Evander Holyfield for the undisputed heavyweight title. Bowe won a unanimous decision in an entertaining fight, flooring Holyfield in the 11th round. However, it was the tenth round most boxing fans will remember. The epic brutal back and forth exchanges helped make it Ring Magazine's "Round of the Year." Commentator Al Bernstein exclaimed, "That was one of the greatest rounds in heavyweight history. Period!"
A couple of weeks earlier in London, Bowe's old Olympic rival, Lennox Lewis, knocked out Canadian Donovan "Razor" Ruddock in two rounds, establishing himself as the World Boxing Council's number one contender. The Bowe-Holyfield and Lewis-Ruddock fights were part of a mini-tournament, whereby all four fighters agreed the two winners would meet each other for the undisputed world heavyweight championship. Bowe's manager Rock Newman made a proposal: the $32 million purse HBO was offering should be split 90–10 in Bowe's favor, an 'absurd' offer which Lennox Lewis rejected.[28] Lewis's manager, Kellie Maloney (known as Frank Maloney at the time), rejected another offer of two million for Lewis to fight on a Bowe undercard, citing his distrust of the Bowe camp after the aforementioned financial negotiations. Bowe responded by holding a press conference in which he dumped the WBC world heavyweight championship belt into a trash can and relinquished it in order to protest the actions of the WBC and WBC President José Sulaimán concerning the fight payoff.[29][30]
Bowe's first defense of his remaining titles came on February 6, 1993, when he fought 34-year-old former champion Michael Dokes at Madison Square Garden and knocked him out in the first round. In February 1993, Bowe met Pope John Paul II during the pope's general audience at the Vatican, a day after Bowe completed a goodwill mission to Somalia. In Bowe's next fight, May 22, 1993, at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., Bowe knocked out Jesse Ferguson in the second round to retain the title. This set up a rematch with Evander Holyfield.
In the rematch with Holyfield, Bowe looked overweight. He had entered training camp at a 266 lbs and weighed in at 246 lbs, eleven pounds heavier than in the first fight with Holyfield.[31]
Bowe and Holyfield exchanged hard punches. Bowe ended up losing the belts to Holyfield by a majority decision. This fight was also known for a bizarre stunt in which parachutist James "Fan Man" Miller dropped into the open air arena, landing in the ropes by Bowe's corner. This surreal scene delayed the fight in the seventh round by nearly a half-hour. Bowe stated afterwards he thought the bout should have declared a 'technical draw' or a 'no contest' owing to the unfair delay.
In August 1994, Bowe fought two comeback fights. He faced the much smaller Buster Mathis Jr and, after struggling to connect with his bobbing and weaving target, hit Mathis while he was down with what was ruled an accidental blow, and the bout was ruled a 'No Contest' by referee Arthur Mercante, Sr. In December 1994, Bowe punched Larry Donald at a prefight press conference, later beating him by 12 round unanimous decision for the WBC Continental Americas Heavyweight title, giving the 16-0 heavyweight contender Donald his first loss.
WBO heavyweight champion and Holyfield rubber match
In March 1995, Bowe won the WBO version of the world heavyweight championship by knocking down England's Herbie Hide six times en route to scoring a sixth-round knockout.
In June 1995, after a heated build up, Bowe defended the WBO heavyweight title against his archrival in the amateurs, Jorge Luis González, At the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The prefight hype contained bizarre trash talk, which included Gonzalez declaring a desire to eat Bowe's heart and likening himself to a lion while making Bowe out to be a hyena. Bowe won by sixth-round knockout over Gonzalez. He vacated the WBO championship soon after.
After the Gonzales fight, Bowe fought a rubber match with Evander Holyfield, their third and final meeting. Holyfield knocked Bowe down during the fight, but Bowe maintained his composure, and persevered to score an eighth round stoppage victory.
On January 11, 1996 Bowe was officially no longer the WBO champion.
After defeating Holyfield in the third bout of their trilogy, Bowe was matched against undefeated heavyweight contender Andrew Golota at the Madison Square Garden in an HBO Boxing event. Bowe's weight problem again resurfaced, as the favorite entered the ring at a career high of 252 lbs.[32] Though ahead on points, Golota was penalized several times for low blows to the testes, and was finally disqualified in the seventh round after a combination of punches to Bowe's testicles. Seconds after Golota was disqualified, Bowe's entourage rushed the ring, attacked Golota with a two way radio (Golota traded punches with one of them, requiring 11 stitches to close the wound caused by the radio) and assaulted Golota's 74-year-old trainer Lou Duva, who collapsed in the ring and was taken out of The Garden on a stretcher. The entourage began rioting, fighting with spectators, staff and policemen alike, resulting in a number of injuries before they were forced out of the arena in what evolved into a lengthy televised ring spectacle.
The fight made many sports shows, including SportsCenter, and there was a good amount of public interest in a rematch. The rematch was on Pay Per View. Golota, after dropping Bowe in the second round, and being dropped himself later, was leading on the scorecards, only to be disqualified in the ninth round, once again for deliberately punching Bowe repeatedly in the testes.[33] Despite not having another riot, this fight also proved to be controversial, with an unsuccessful protest filed by Golota's camp to try to overturn the fight's result.
This fight was featured on HBO's documentary Legendary Nights: The Tale of Bowe-Golota.
Return to boxing
Bowe in 2008
On 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, an overweight Bowe narrowly defeated journeyman Billy Zumbrun by ten round split decision.
Bowe declared bankruptcy in 2005.[34]
On December 13, 2008, with the help of new manager Bob Bain, Bowe, 41, returned to the ring for the first time in over three and a half years on the undercard of the Wladimir Klitschko versus Hasim Rahman world heavyweight title bout in Mannheim, Germany and won an eight-round unanimous decision over Gene Pukall.
Riddick Bowe's boxing record stands at 43 wins and 1 loss, with 33 knockouts. In the autobiography of veteran former referee Mills Lane, Let's Get It On, who had officiated at some of Bowe's fights, he professed that Bowe could have been one of boxing's greatest boxers but foolishly squandered the opportunity through immaturity and lack of discipline.
BoxRec ranks Bowe as the 28th greatest fighter among boxers that had their last professional boxing match at heavyweight.[35] Noted for his in-fighting skills, jab and combination punching, Bowe's first fight with Evander Holyfield is considered one of the greatest world heavyweight title fights of all time. Following this victory, he met Nelson Mandela during a visit to South Africa. Bowe's trainer at the time, Eddie Futch, lamented that upon his return, Bowe failed to ever achieve the same physical condition for his subsequent fights.
In 2017, The Ring magazine ranked Bowe as the 19th best heavyweight of all time in a poll of a panel of 30 trainers, matchmakers and members of the boxing media. The consensus was that Bowe, described as both a "super talent" and a "super waste", only had one great fight, when winning the title from Holyfield, and ultimately disappointed in squandering his obvious natural ability due to laziness.[36]
Bowe's reputation suffered because of the weak challengers he faced as champion (an aging Michael Dokes and also Jesse Ferguson) before losing the title to Holyfield in their rematch. He is also widely criticized for relinquishing the WBC title rather than defending it against mandatory challengerLennox Lewis, thus fracturing the undisputed championship until Lewis unified the titles in 1999.
Bowe is the first boxer in any division to hold all four major versions of the world championship (WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO) during his career, an accomplishment emulated in the heavyweight division only by Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
Bowe's sole loss, to Evander Holyfield in 1993, was avenged in 1995, meaning that he finished their trilogy 2-1 ahead. With the exception of a 1994 no-contest with Buster Mathis Jr., Bowe defeated every opponent he faced as a professional.
In March 2013, Bowe announced his Muay Thai debut, having trained under Kru Airr Phanthip and Kru Chan in Las Vegas.[37] He faced Levgen Golovin for the WPMF Super Heavyweight World Title in Pattaya, Thailand. On June 14, 2013, Bowe was knocked down five times from kicks to his leg. The championship match was called to a stop halfway through the second round.[38][39]
Life outside of boxing
Joining the Marine Corps
After the Golota fights, Bowe retired from boxing and decided to join the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He said he made the decision both to make his mother proud and to rededicate himself to training, with the intention of returning to boxing shortly after.[40]
Shortly after winning his first title against Evander Holyfield, Bowe saw a news story on television that revealed a million dollars worth of medicines donated to the Somali refugees and orphans were not able to be transported to the war-torn region due to a lack of funds to pay for the charter aircraft needed. Bowe immediately had his representatives contact AmeriCares, the NGO leading the effort, and pledged the 100,000 dollars needed to fund the trip[42] - on the condition he could go to the country with the goods, and make sure they got to their intended recipients.[43] While in Somalia, he visited U.S. Marines and an orphanage on the Kenyan border. He was accompanied by several members of his management team, including manager Rock Newman and Head of International Sales Alexis Denny (CEO of an independent media distributor).
Bowe also took action when he heard news of other tragedies. In 1995, when Alexis Denny was in Indonesia on other business, she read Asian news coverage of Rodolfo Yap, a young man in the Philippines who was electrocuted while positioning his antenna so his family could watch a Riddick Bowe fight. She relayed this news to Bowe, and explained to the media at the time 'The heavyweight champion was very moved by the story and having lost a brother and a sister earlier in life, decided to make a financial contribution to the family of Mr. Yap."[44]
Bowe authorized her to fly to the Philippines and try to locate the man's family, make a contribution to their expenses, and also provide funds to support the Philippine boxing Team training for the Olympics (in the name of the deceased).
Prison
Bowe was convicted of the February 1998 kidnapping of his estranged wife Judy, and their five children.[45] Thinking it would reconcile his marriage, Bowe went to his wife's Cornelius, North Carolina, home and threatened her with a knife, handcuffs, duct tape, and pepper spray. He forced her and their children into a vehicle and set out for his Fort Washington, Maryland, home. During the kidnapping, Bowe stabbed his wife in the chest.[45] Police captured Bowe in South Hill, Virginia, freeing his family.[45] Bowe agreed to a plea bargain of guilty to "interstate domestic violence", and was sentenced to 18 to 24 months in prison.[45] Despite the agreed sentence, on February 29, 2000, the judge sentenced Bowe to only 30 days, due to a claim of brain damage by Bowe's defense.[46][47] This sentence, counter to the plea agreement, was later overturned. Bowe served 17 months in Federal prison.[48] On February 8, 2001, Bowe was arrested in Long Island after a domestic dispute with his new wife.[45] Bowe allegedly dragged his wife and left her with cuts on her knees and elbows.[47]
Attempted professional wrestling debut
In 2013, Riddick Bowe announced his intentions to start training to be a professional wrestler. He was to make his debut for the UK-based Preston City Wrestling organization on March 1, 2014.[49] On December 14, 2013, Preston City Wrestling announced on their Facebook Page that Bowe would no longer be appearing due to a disagreement with Bowe's new agent.
