Step back in time...........Evander Holyfield versus Riddick Bowe 1

Ahhhhhhhh.. a fight that i am very familiar with indeed. I was near ringside that night at the Thomas Mack arena, I had actually been working alongside Frank Maloneys pr lady Gerry Davies and i had the chance to accompany Lennox Lewis to Vegas for the event. I spent some time with them , but mostly i spant time with Lewis a year or so later when he went to the same arena to face TNT Tucker for the WBC that Bowe later Vaccated in London by trashing in a dustbin... I remember how fresh Bowe looked all week leading up to this fight like a young man who was never going to be denied. Holyfield was quietly confident but Bowe was like a young fresh lion cub with sharp teeth that he had just discovered how to use to tear meat with. He ravaged Evander and it was such a joy to watch two men compliment each other so much.. The one incident i remember distinctly was the shot Evander hurt Bowes eye with , it kinda made him wince like he had been slightly thumbed or poked in it.. Bowe showed maturity by maintaining his composure and not letting it bother him. Lennox had a few choice words after the bout with close rival Bowe and we all thought it would set up the grudge match for the following summer.. It was never to be, the fact that fight never happened was so sadly dissapointing ... Lewis v Bowe could have been Huge. God bless.. " I just remember that line Bowe came out with in his interview to sicken everyone who doubted him when he first turned pro and everyone said he was nothing special... he shouted "Butch Lewis , Shelley Finkle, you all bums , y'all fools i'm the champ , i'm the man, look at me now , look what i got here (holding the belts up) ... ahhhhh I'm the champ.. " he was ecstatic...

 

I just have three things to say: 1. Big Daddy just fought back with the same shots Holy came up with - example Vander left hook, right uppercut, Bowe does the same, result - Holyfield gets wasted early. 2. Never have I seen such stoicism like Holyfield's 10th round. 3. Bowe knocks Holyfield down with a rabbit punch and Vander still fights back at th end of the round.

 

Great fight. One of the best in the history of HW boxing, imo.

 

Quite simply the greatest fight I have ever seen. It puts this generation of heavyweight title fights to shame. This was a crowning night for Bowe and Holyfield proved what he later established - that he is one of the best heavyweights of the modern era.

The best fight of the trilogy of you ask me.

 

thanks for this young ward

 

i have this fight on DVR and have watched it countless times. A truly great great fight.

Round 10 is one of the most epic rounds i've ever seen in my life.

it breaks my heart everytime i see Holyfield take that power punch to the back of the head in round 11 and get up drooling all over

 

Still not happy with that knockdown in the 11th, all these years later...clear rabbit punch, very dangerous too.

I've said it before, but in both of Holyfield's losing efforts against Bowe, you can clearly see that the jab and move, in and out works for him. It just that he got drawn into a macho brawl in the 1st and 3rd, but managed to keep to the gameplan in the 2nd.

In this first fight, he also kept getting whacked by that right uppercut when trying to catch a breather in the clinch. Something that happened very rarely in the sequel.

 

But Holyfield was clearly having the upper hand in the 3rd fight until he got caught and knocked out.

 

Bowes best effort but didn't he throw it all away, could have been something else if he had kept his focus.