This is the second in my blog series ‘Great Vegas Fights’. This blog is about Riddick Bowe vs. Evander Holyfield 2, which took place on November 6, 1993.
After losing his title to Riddick Bowe on November 13, 1992, Evander Holyfield contemplated retirement for a few months, before deciding to return to the ring. He made his comeback on June 26, 1993 vs. Alex Stewart at Atlantic City Convention Hall, and won a boring 12 round decision. Bowe made two easy title defenses vs
Michael Dokes in February of 1993, and Jesse Ferguson in May. The rematch with Evander was signed on August 12, 1993, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
My brother was a huge Evander fan, and I drove to his apartment to watch the big fight on pay-per-view. This time the site was the Outdoor Arena at Caesar’s Palace, my all-time favorite venue for a big bout. Evander now had Emmanuel Steward in his corner, bulked up to a muscular 217 lbs., and looked huge compared to a year earlier. Bowe was a soft 246 lbs. as round one began that beautiful fall evening in Vegas.
Evander avoided an early onslaught from Bowe, and was boxing and counter punching very effectively as the fight progressed. He was much more confident and poised, and was winning rounds this time out. Bowe was not doing poorly either, and landing enough blows to make the bout even through six. Evander rocked Bowe on several occasions this time, and seemed stronger in the seventh before something extraordinarily stupid occurred. Some idiot crashed into the ring with a motor-powered parachute, causing a 21 minute delay in the action. It took a huge advantage away from Evander, who was hurting a tiring Bowe.
When the fight resumed, Holyfield’s advantage was gone, and both men fought back and forth with all they had for the last 5 rounds of the bout. When Michael Buffer announced Evander the winner by a split-decision, I leapt to my feet in excitement, thrilled that ‘The Real Deal’ was the champ again. Bowe was really gracious in defeat, but he was the loser nonetheless. Evander said he wanted to go home and “Go to church to thank the Lord.”, which was about the best thing he could do.
My brother and I sure had a good time that night, and it was nice to make the drive home happy that ‘My fighter’ had won. Especially since I received all 5 boxing magazines in the mail, and when a fighter I liked lost, I had to read about it for months. The memories boxing has given me are priceless, and it’s been a friend for 40 plus years. My blog is about Old-Time boxing, and I’ll write about it as long as God gives me the strength to do it.
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