Riddick Bowe vs. Andrew Golota
Riddick Bowe vs. Andrew Golota, billed as "Big Daddy's Home", was a professional boxing match contested on July 11, 1996. The fight was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was televised as part of an HBO World Championship Boxing card.
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| Date | July 11, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Madison Square Garden in New York, New York | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | None | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowe defeated Golota via disqualification in 7th round | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowe won the fight after Golota was disqualified for repeated fouls for punches below Bowe's beltline. The fight, in addition to its ending, is infamous for a riot that erupted in the ring after it concluded.
Background
Bowe was looking to get himself back into the mix for the world heavyweight championship as 1996 began. He had briefly held the World Boxing Organization championship in 1995, but the title was regarded as a fringe championship back then as opposed to modern day where it is considered one of the major titles. Bowe would eventually vacate the title before taking a third fight against former champion Evander Holyfield, defeating him by knockout to win the rubber match of their trilogy.
The heavyweight championship picture, meanwhile, was significantly muddled at the time. The World Boxing Council champion was Mike Tyson, the former undisputed champion who was on the comeback trail following his release from prison in 1995. The World Boxing Association's champion was Bruce Seldon, who had won the title in 1995 following George Foreman's being stripped of the title over his refusal to fight their top contender. The International Boxing Federation featured Michael Moorer as its champion; like Seldon, he had won the title after Foreman chose to vacate it instead of granting a rematch to contender Axel Schulz. Foreman, meanwhile, still carried recognition as the lineal champion, a title he wrested from Moorer when he defeated him in 1994.
Meanwhile, a former rival of Bowe's was also looking to get himself back into title contention. Shortly after Bowe defeated Holyfield in their first fight to claim the then-undisputed world heavyweight championship, the WBC declared that he must make a defense of the belt against their top contender, Lennox Lewis. Bowe had a previous beef with Lewis over his loss to the British heavyweight in the finals at the 1988 Summer Olympics and thus did not feel he should get a shot; in a press conference, Bowe refused to fight Lewis and for emphasis, he took the WBC belt and dropped it in a wastepaper basket.
Shortly after Tyson won the WBC title from Frank Bruno, Lewis began clamoring for a chance to regain the belt he lost to Oliver McCall in 1994. Tyson was not interested in fighting Lewis either, as he and promoter Don King had eyes on a potential unification bout with WBA champion Seldon. Eventually, in May of 1996, Lewis and Tyson's camp agreed to a settlement which freed Tyson to seek the contest with Seldon. Lewis and Bowe, meanwhile, came to terms on a deal to fight later on in the fall of 1996.[1]
In the interim, Lewis and Bowe each agreed to take tuneup fights that would be carried by HBO. Lewis signed to fight Ray Mercer, a former top contender who had been mostly inactive in the previous two years and had lost his most recent fight. Bowe elected to take on undefeated Polish heavyweight Andrew Golota, the 1988 bronze medalist who had won most of his fights by knockout but who had yet to fight a big name contender in his career.
Prior to the match, the confident Bowe declared himself "The People's Champion" and paid little attention to Golota, instead looking ahead to his long-awaited bout with Lewis and a potential superfight with Tyson.[2] Though Bowe entered the fight at a career high 252 pounds, 12 pounds heavier than what he weighed in his previous match with Holyfield, he nevertheless was made a 12–1 favorite. When explaining his weight gain, Bowe made it clear that he had not trained much for Golota, infamously asking "How do you train for a bum?" Golota's trainer Lou Duva remained confident that his fighter could defeat Bowe, saying of Bowe's weight gain "He's everything I want him to be"[3]
The Fight
From the opening round, it was clear that Bowe was outmatched. Golota was able to land his jab at a constant rate and landed nearly half of his 69 punches in the first round while Bowe was only able to land 17. The two men would have a close round 2 with both men landing powerful shots on one another, but Golota regained control in round 3 and pushed the action further in round 4.
The Polish fighter, despite his successes, was struggling to keep his punches above the beltline. Referee Wayne Kelly issued a warning to Golota in the second round, and a second and last warning after Golota landed another low punch at 2:20 of the third. Kelly finally had seen enough in the fourth when Golota dropped Bowe to the canvas with a hard shot below the belt at 2:35. He deducted a point from Golota and gave Bowe time to recuperate, as is given to any fighter hurt by a low blow. After using three of his allotted five minutes, Bowe rose to continue.
Golota continued to press Bowe in the fifth and sixth rounds as the out of shape former champion was reeling. However, Golota again hit Bowe low in the sixth and lost another point. Kelly threatened to disqualify Golota, who had landed five low punches to that point despite dominating the proceedings, if he hit Bowe below the belt one more time. Despite the admonishment, lost points, and his stellar performance so far in the fight, Golota again hit Bowe below the belt in the seventh round and as the champion dropped to the canvas again, Kelly stopped the fight and disqualified Golota for excessive low blows.[4]
Post-fight riot
Immediately after the fight was stopped, members of Bowe's security team entered the ring and approached Golota, who had his back turned as he was going back to his corner. One of the men pushed Golota from behind which caused Golota to respond by throwing punches at the man. Another man, later identified as Jason Harris, began hitting Golota in the head with a walkie-talkie, opening up a cut that required 11 stitches to close. Golota’s trainer, 74-year-old Lou Duva, was also injured in the melee and collapsed to the canvas after experiencing chest pains and ultimately had to be taken from the ring on a stretcher. Eventually Golota's fans entered the brawl and would continue to trade punches with Bowe's entourage and fans inside the ring as well as outside of it. HBO announcer Jim Lampley went up a couple levels of Madison Square Garden because the announce table was destroyed in the riot, while fellow announcers Larry Merchant and George Foreman stayed at ringside. Foreman even tried to stop the riot in the ring himself by saving Lampley & Merchant from fans attacking them. Foreman was also telling fans at the start of the riot not to get in the ring and attack anyone. In the end, 10 arrests were made, eight policemen were injured and nine spectators had to be hospitalized.[5]
Aftermath
Bowe's poor performance ended the possibility of a match with Lewis, but interest was high for a rematch with Golota. In October 1996, three months after their first match, it was announced that Bowe and Golota would meet again in a rematch that would take place on December 14 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Bowe admitted that Golota had humiliated him in their previous fight and vowed to be ready for their rematch, but Golota again took control of their match and was ahead on all scorecards before again running into trouble with low blows that led to another disqualification loss. After his second consecutive poor performance, Riddick Bowe would announce his retirement from boxing at the age of 29. Adding insult to injury, Golota would ultimately get the WBC title match with Lennox Lewis that Bowe had wanted. Golota would not last long in his fight against Lewis, however, after getting knocked out 94 seconds into the first round.
References
- Deal With Lewis Frees Tyson to Seek Title, N.Y. Times article, 1996-05-17, Retrieved on 2013-05-27
- Bowe Gets a Crown, but He Longs to Rule, N.Y. Times article, 1996-06-13, Retrieved on 2013-05-27
- Riddick Looks Fat & Juicy, Polish Foe Licks Chops, N.Y. Daily News article, 1996-06-11, Retrieved on 2013-05-27
- Down and Dirty, Sports Illustrated article, 1996-08-19, Retrieved on 2013-05-27
- 'Riot' follows Bowe's victory Golota's low blows stop bout, Baltimore Sun article, 1996-07-12, Retrieved on 2013-05-27