Not that surprising given how awful he looked in the two Golota fights and what a horrendous beating he took the 2nd time around. I was worried when watching the rematch that he was going to die in the ring. That whole Marine thing was surprising and weird though.
Bowe had significant brain damage then. He was very young at the time, and he made a very sad mistake fighting Golota in the first fight with a concussion equilibrium infection from sparring.
I remember he said that his mother told him he should retire after the Golata fights. At the time I thought it might have been premature. But when I heard him speak in an interview a couple years later it made me glad that he did.
Not surprising at all considering how bad he looked in the Golota fights. It drives me crazy when folks talk about how good Golota did and neglect how completely shot Bowe was at the time. His reflexes were gone and he was clearly starting to suffer from CTE. Prime Bowe would have slaughtered Golota.
Golota beat Bowe up pretty bad, he would have won that fight had it not been the low blows. A few years earlier??? Bowe wins it hands down imo, it was time to hang em up.
He made a few comeback fights in the aughts, was huge and awful. My boxing criticism of Bowe has always been his penchant to brawl at close range and give up his natural advantages. Sure, his combos inside looked good but he was getting caught in all those exchanges.
The older I get the more the years run into one another. There was a clip of a hw boxer who was planning a return. He could barely move. I believe it was Bowe.
He won 2 out of 3 from Evander Holyfield. (I will leave it to you to decide what was wrong with Holyfield in their 3rd fight.) Other than those 3 fights, I see no impressive career fights, and I have no idea why some people think Riddick Bowe was a great fighter. I rank him nowhere near the top 10 all time, and would be hard pressed to try to find a spot for him in my top 20. With all that said, I enjoyed watching his fights with Holyfield and I was saddened to see how Mr. Bowe ended up. I hope he has a good life going forward.
What was surprising to me was how far he fell off between Holy 3 and Golota. Should have retired after first Golota fight when it was apparent he had nothing left.