Bowe Outslugs Holyfield for Championship

Riddick Bowe, the Brooklyn fighter who had endured scorn ever since his disappointing performance at the 1988 Olympic Games, cast off all his demons Friday night when he defeated Evander Holyfield and won boxing’s world heavyweight championship.

Bowe won a unanimous decision in one of the most memorable, action-filled heavyweight bouts in recent years.

“I realized the person who can beat me is one with a lot of courage and a lot of tenacity,” Holyfield said after the fight.

Bowe used every bit of his superior height (6-foot-5 to Holyfield’s 6-foot-1) and weight (235 pounds to 205 pounds) to gradually wear down the brave, game Holyfield.

There was one knockdown. Bowe pounded Holyfield on the back of the head in the 11th round after the champion had been spun around on the ropes. Holyfield was down on his knees for several seconds, then arose and took a standing eight count.

“A lot of questions about me were answered,” Bowe told reporters after the bout. “I put him through hell. I said from the beginning I was a great inside fighter. My kiss (left jab) kept him at bay.”

Holyfield, 30, won the title 25 months ago when he knocked out Buster Douglas in Las Vegas.

It was Holyfield’s first defeat in the ring since the 1984 Olympics, when he was disqualified by a referee for hitting after a “stop” command.

As a professional, Holyfield had 28 wins and no losses until Friday night. Bowe, 25, who hadn’t lost since a lackadaisical effort in the 1988 Olympics gold medal match against Lennox Lewis of Canada, is now 32-0 as a pro.

Friday night’s contest was only the seventh meeting of an unbeaten, undisputed heavyweight champion and an unbeaten challenger since 1892.

Two judges gave the bout to Bowe by 117-110 scores, a third had it 115-112. Holyfield landed hard punches throughout but never seemed to hurt the challenger.

Holyfield, whose compensation was pegged to the pay-per-view telecast’s performance, earned somewhere between $14 million and $18 million. Bowe fought for a flat $7.5 million but stands to earn much more now.

The new champion’s manager, Rock Newman, said a “mind-boggling” offer has been made by the Chinese government for Bowe to fight against George Foreman in Beijing in March.

But if Bowe takes that match, he risks losing the World Boxing Council’s recognition of his heavyweight title.

The Mexico City-based WBC, one of the three major boxing governing bodies, had earlier ordered the Holyfield-Bowe winner to meet Lennox Lewis, who defeated Razor Ruddock in a heavyweight eliminator match last month in London.

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