Now, Riddick ‘Two-Punch’ Bowe Can Land a Few Legally : Boxing: Having hit unheralded Larry Donald twice in a fracas at the Forum, he faces the prospect of being hit back a few times in Las Vegas.

Five days after Round 1, Riddick Bowe and Larry Donald have crossed a state line to resume a nontitle fight that started Monday and transformed the Forum Club into a maelstrom of cocktail napkins and finger food.

Tonight at 6:45, on HBO, Donald gets his chance to answer Bowe’s news conference sucker punches when the two meet in a 12-round heavyweight bout at Caesars Palace Sports Pavilion.

This time there will a referee, three judges and--perhaps--some semblance of decorum.

It was a strange week, even by boxing standards, one that left many to wonder what possessed Donald to take this match in the first place.

Will it be worth the aggravation?

For the privilege, he is getting $490,000 to Bowe’s $1 million.

Donald, 27, is a decided underdog, a talented but green heavyweight who didn’t start boxing until age 19 and has fought only 16 times professionally--all victories, 12 by knockout.

Bowe (34-1, 29 K0s) is arguably the best heavyweight in the world not incarcerated, a fighter boiling over from perceived wrongs done to him since losing his title to Evander Holyfield more than a year ago.

A man who obviously couldn’t wait to start swinging, Bowe, also 27, appears to be in the best condition he has been in since first winning the title from Holyfield in 1992. He is svelte at 241 pounds, with body sculpted by Mackie Shilstone, the noted New Orleans fitness guru.

Bowe appears to have finally acknowledged the cumulative effect of between-fight snacks.

“Sometimes you can get somewhat lax, but you learn,” Bowe said this week. “You have to treat everyone accordingly, the same.”

“Team Donald,” as the back of the entourages’ black leather jackets proclaim, begged for this fight.

“Bowe is the best heavyweight out there,” Janks Morton, Donald’s trainer, said. “That’s why we asked for him. Bowe didn’t ask for Larry, Larry asked for Bowe.”

Boy, did they ask for it.

Team Donald has been counterpunching all week. It held Donald out of Wednesday’s news conference to protest Monday’s dining-room brawl. It also asked for separate Thursday weigh-ins so as not to come face to face with Bowe again before tonight.

Bowe foiled those plans when he perched on a stage near the scales and waited for Donald to enter the pavilion, held out for eye contact, then walked out.

Psych 101.

Bowe’s manager, Rock Newman, learned a thing or two about political orchestration as a member of the team that helped get Marion Barry reelected as Mayor of Washington.

Now, Newman looks to get Bowe a second term as heavyweight champion.

Newman has been working all the levers.

Bowe and Donald, it turns out, will not be fighting for Donald’s World Boxing Council Americas heavyweight title because Newman reportedly refused to pay the WBC sanction fees.

Then, there was the ring controversy. Late in the week, Robert Mittleman, one of Donald’s managers, was incensed to learn Caesars had agreed to narrow the ring sides from 20 feet to 17.

That would seemingly give an edge to Bowe, a stand-up fighter, over Donald, a flashier sort who likes to hit and run.

Bowe, though, has a contract with Caesars but is reportedly being wooed by a major competitor down the street: the MGM Grand.

Might Caesars have been willing to pull a few ropes for Bowe?

Mittleman complained to the Nevada State Athletic Commission about the ring shrinkage. Rules dictate a ring must be no smaller than 16 feet or no larger than 24, but Team Donald smells something fishy.

“The problem is he (Newman) is the manager and the promoter of the event,” Mittleman said. “That shouldn’t happen. But I’ll tell you one thing, no way we’re going to settle for a 17-foot ring.”

Mittleman said the commission has taken the protest under advisement.

Bowe says Donald shouldn’t be able to run laps.

“He can’t win the fight constantly running,” Bowe said. “He’s trained to run, but this isn’t a track meet. He’s going to fight, or he’s going to be booed.”

So why, again, does Donald want this fight?

Some are convinced he is climbing the heavyweight ladder too fast. Donald did not make his professional debut until January of 1993, not long after losing his quarterfinal Olympic match at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Some thought Donald was on too fast a track.

“My amateur coach said, ‘Wait ‘til you meet the big boys,’ ” Donald recalled. “I’m still waiting on them.”

Because of his late start, Donald senses there is little time to waste.

“I want to fight the best out there,” he said. “If they can win, I want them to take the title I had, because they deserve it. But I want to fight the best.”

Donald has taken the week in remarkable stride, given his amateur reputation as a hot-head and showoff. He stayed clear of the fallout after Monday’s incident and insists he does not need further motivation.

“I’ve been focused for two months,” Donald said. “I was way ahead of schedule. I’ll keep my cool. I’m not going to change my game plan.”

For this, he can probably thank Morton, Sugar Ray Leonard’s one-time trainer. Morton believes Donald’s biggest mistake as an amateur was believing he was the next Muhammad Ali.

“When Larry got to me, I got the tape out and put it on his lips,” Morton said.

“I said, ‘Let’s just be Larry Donald.’ There was one Ali. One Sugar Ray Leonard. One Ken Norton. One (Joe) Frazier. One (Larry) Holmes. So just be yourself and let’s go to work and forget about these other guys.”

Boxing Notes

Tonight’s HBO main event will be followed by two matches promoted by Forum Boxing, to be televised on KCAL, Channel 9. In a 10-round welterweight bout, Vince Phillips (28-1, 19 KOs) of Las Vegas takes on Jose Alfredo (Shibata) Flores (27-2, 18 KOs), to be followed by a 12-round bout between Marco Antonio Barrera (33-0, 23 KOs) of Mexico City and Eddie Cook (19-2, 16 KOs) of Los Angeles.

Riddick Bowe, at 241 pounds, is as light as he has been for a fight since Nov. 13, 1992, when he defeated Evander Holyfield for the heavyweight title. Bowe was 235 pounds for that fight.