After his knockout of Evander Holyfield in November of 1995, Riddick Bowe was out of action until July of 1996, when he agreed to take on the undefeated Polish contender Andrew Golota at Madison Square Garden in New York. The 12-1 favorite Bowe entered the ring that night at 252 lbs., and appeared a little overconfident in the pre fight interviews. I sat down to watch it on HBO with an open mind, figuring with heavyweights, anything can happen.

Golota was effective against an out of shape Bowe from the opening bell. He landed jabs, and followed with combinations almost whenever he wanted. He also continued to foul from the second round on. By the third round, a low blow hurt Bowe so badly, he needed three minutes to recover. After a point was deducted from Golota, the action resumed.

Golota pressed the action as the seventh round began, but landed another low blow on Riddick, forcing referee Wayne Kelly to deduct another point. After a stern warning to Golota that another foul would stop the bout, only a few moments later he did it again. A hard combination to Bowe’s groin dropped him, and forced Kelly to end the fight. What followed next, no one could have predicted.

Two of Bowe’s flunky security guards rushed Golota, one hitting him in the head with a walkie talkie radio, opening a huge gash on the boxer. Mayhem ensued, with everyone in sight now throwing punches. Lou Duva, Golota’s trainer, had to be taken out on a stretcher after having chest pains, and glasses and cups were tossed everywhere. The animals in the crowd at the Garden used it as excuse to turn the scene into a full blown riot, by punching people and causing brawls all over the arena. It was a pathetic thing to watch.

Boxing was front page news for all the wrong reasons again. What was a fight between two men, turned into a riot amongst thousands. As a die hard boxing fan, it was one night I would rather forget. Every time you turned on the tv however, it was in the news, making it difficult to not think about..

What I couldn’t forget was how bad Bowe looked that night. He blamed it on being overweight and overconfident, and wanted to rematch to prove himself. If and when they fought again, I’d definitely be watching.    

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