Evander Holyfield signed to fight Riddick Bowe on November 4, 1995 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. I rustled up the $800 to get what I thought was a ringside seat for the outdoor arena at Caesar’s Palace. On fight night I found out it was behind press row, which probably ran 25 rows deep. So ringside wasn’t ringside at all! I tried to deal with my disappointment as I awaited the arrival of both fighters.
I really believed going into this matchup that Evander could handle Bowe. Riddick was undisciplined and lazy at times, and nobody trained harder than Evander. After his gutty performance against Ray Mercer in May, I was confident he could take care of Bowe in their third go round together.
It was a beautiful, cool night that November night in 1995 as round one began. Evander boxed well in the opening round, but by the second round, he seemed spent. I was sick in my stomach when I saw he was worn out after only one round! Bowe started to pound on him, and it appeared it would end with Holyfield on the canvas. Out of nowhere in the sixth, a sharp left hook by Evander put Bowe on the floor. When Bowe got up and stood on the ropes helpless, Holyfield did nothing, and his chance was gone.
Two rounds later Bowe knocked an exhausted Evander out for the first time in his career. Another depressing end to a depressing night, and I wished I have saved my money, and watched it on tv at home. What Evander revealed years later was, that he had been diagnosed with hepatitis A before the bout, and was told it would cause him to suffer from fatigue during the upcoming fight. That resulted in his lackluster performance, and the reason he got knocked out, not heart trouble, or how good Bowe was. If Evander was healthy that night, I truly believe he would have knocked Bowe out instead.
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