Riddick Bowe and Jorge Luis Gonzalez were two fighters who did not like each other when they signed to meet on June 17, 1995 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The bout was named ‘Mortal Enemies’ and their dislike for each other began at the 1987 Pan American Games where Gonzalez knocked Bowe down 4 times enroute to a decision win. As professionals, their careers were on totally different levels, with Bowe having already won and lost the heavyweight title, while Gonzalez had faced limited competition at best.
I went to Las Vegas to see the fight live for the sole purpose of betting a huge amount of money on Bowe. Since March of 1995, I had been wagering on fights and making big bucks to pay off credit card debt that had gotten out of hand. For this one, I was as confident as ever and planned to drop $40,000 on Bowe, which would make me $10,000 if he won. On the cab ride from the airport to my hotel, I got into an argument with the driver when he insisted that Gonzalez was going to kill Bowe because he had beaten him as an amateur. I left the cab wishing I hadn’t even mentioned the fight and checked into my room at Bally’s on the strip.
My $600 seat was not in a bad location for Vegas fights, close enough to see Riddick take control from the opening bell. When I went to place my wager at the Caesar’s Palace sportsbook, a guy asked me my prediction for the fight and I quickly answered, “Gonzalez is going out on his back in about 6 six rounds.”
Bowe continued to dominate and other than foolishly hitting Jorge after the bell to end the fourth round, won every round. Finally, at the 1:40 mark of the sixth round, a huge right hand dropped Gonzalez, where he stayed on his back until referee Mills Lane reached the count of ten. I leapt from my seat, excited about my huge win and hurried to the MGM food court to celebrate with a $9 Haagen-Dazs ice cream cone.
It felt great to win and predict the exact outcome as well. That June night in 1995 remains my favorite memory ever at a live fight. It was also the second best performance of Riddick Bowe’s career after his title winning performance against Evander Holyfield in on November 13, 1992. His total dominance of Gonzalez put it on my list of ‘Boxing’s Classics’.
