What exactly went on between them in the prefight hype? I've heard some rough stories, such as interviews behind bullet proof glass. Is this true, and what else, if anything happened?
Not sure what they had to say and what not... But Gonzalez was hyped to no end because of his Olympic pedigree and wins over both Lennox and Bowe. Then Bowe beat the ever loving **** out of someone who was even more arrogant and a bigger ******* then himself.
That was all part of the pre-fight hoopla and Gonzalez had that huge contract with that casino. And that was the last we saw of those contracts, wasn't it? But that was pre-fight talk and Gonzalez did that to everyone he ever fought, not just Bowe. But there were a lot of doubters about his abilities in there as a pro and he hadn't faced live opposition going into that Bowe fight. Some folks were picking him to lick Bowe based on his getting rid of an old Snipes, but not many. It was also one of those matchups where you look at the respective corners and that differentiation is about as wide as it gets.
Bowe hated Gonzalez because of the '87 loss at the Pan American Games, where Gonzalez knocked him down twice and won on points. Gonzalez just didn't have a lot of time for anyone in general, he was notoriously dismissive of trainers and training in general at times so hating Bowe back was easy for him. In truth, much of the hype was based on this hatred, Gonzalez's amateur win and the fact he was unbeaten with lots of knockouts. The actual performances in those fights and quality of opposition was quite a lot weaker...but when you're looking to hype up a fight, you accentuate the positives. Bowe and Gonzalez insulted each other so much, I think Gonzalez even chucked water over Bowe at one point, that yes they ended up being seperated by a screen for the last leg of their press conferences. Gonzalez had been 'stalking' Bowe for years by that point too. He started turned up at Bowe press conferences from '93, wearing his black cowboy hat and making several physical threats.
