Riddick Bowe vs. Andrew Golota

Bowe was looking to get himself back into the mix for the world heavyweight championship as 1996 began. Since losing his World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation championships back to Evander Holyfield in their second fight, Bowe had gone through five comeback fights and won four of them, with a no-contest against Buster Mathis, Jr. He also managed to defeat Herbie Hide for the then-fringe World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship, made one defense of the title, then vacated it to pursue a third fight with Holyfield in November 1995, which he won by technical knockout in the eighth round.

Meanwhile, a former rival of Bowe's was also looking to get himself back into title contention. After Bowe defeated Holyfield in their first fight in 1992 to claim what was then the undisputed world heavyweight championship, the World Boxing Council ordered him to make a mandatory defense of its championship against Lennox Lewis, who had defeated Bowe at the Olympics four years earlier to win the super heavyweight gold medal. Bowe refused to do so and announced he would be relinquishing the WBC championship, symbolically depositing the belt in a waste basket. Lewis was awarded the championship in January of 1993 and held it until September of 1994, when he was knocked out by Oliver McCall under controversial circumstances. McCall made a successful defense against former champion Larry Holmes in his first fight but lost to Lewis' countryman Frank Bruno in his next defense. Bruno, as per the terms of the fight contract negotiated by McCall’s promoter Don King, was required to defend the WBC title against former undisputed champion Mike Tyson, another King client, immediately after. Lewis sued to try to get the fight cancelled and force Bruno, whom he had beaten in 1993 by technical knockout, to defend the title against him due to his number one contender status, but was unsuccessful. Tyson, in only his third fight since being released from prison, knocked Bruno out on March 16, 1996 to regain the WBC title and Lewis was to be his mandatory challenger.

While this was going on, Tyson and King were also trying to pursue a title unification fight with then-WBA champion Bruce Seldon, who had won the title in April 1995 by beating former champion Tony Tucker in a bout set up after George Foreman, the lineal world champion, was stripped of the title for refusing to fight Tucker. Tyson and Lewis’ camps agreed to let Tyson pursue the fight with Seldon, which left Lewis looking for a new opponent. He and Bowe agreed to finally step in the ring against each other, with the bout tentatively scheduled to take place in sometime in fall 1996.[1]

In the interim, Lewis and Bowe each agreed to take tuneup fights that would be carried by HBO. Lewis won his tuneup fight on May 10, 1996 against former WBO world champion Ray Mercer by a disputed majority decision at Madison Square Garden. Bowe elected to take on undefeated Polish heavyweight Andrew Golota, the 1988 bronze medalist who had won most of his fights by knockout but who had yet to fight a big name contender in his career. Golota was also infamous in boxing circles for his frequent fouls during matches, including an incident where he bit Samson Po'uha in the neck.

Prior to the match, the confident Bowe declared himself "The People's Champion" and paid little attention to Golota, instead looking ahead to his long-awaited bout with Lewis and a potential superfight with Tyson.[2] Though Bowe entered the fight at a career high 252 pounds, 12 pounds heavier than what he weighed in his previous match with Holyfield, he nevertheless was made a 12–1 favorite. When explaining his weight gain, Bowe made it clear that he had not trained much for Golota, infamously asking "How do you train for a bum?" Golota's trainer Lou Duva remained confident that his fighter could defeat Bowe, saying of Bowe's weight gain: "He's everything I want him to be.”[3]

In the opening round, Golota took advantage of Bowe being overweight and came out firing. Golota was able to land his jab at a constant rate and landed nearly half of his 69 punches in the first round while Bowe was only able to land 17. The two men would have a close round 2 with both men landing powerful shots on one another, but Golota regained control in round 3 and pushed the action further in round 4. Bowe was looking overmatched and an upset was becoming more and more likely for the Polish contender as the fight progressed. Bowe did not have an answer for Golota and was clearly out of shape and struggling as the fight advanced into the middle rounds.

Golota, however, was unable to break himself from his habit of committing fouls against his opponents. He had been landing punches to Bowe's midsection that were dangerously close to his belt line for much of the earlier portions of the fight, and eventually hit Bowe in his left thigh to garner his first warning from Kelly in the second round. A second warning came after a punch from Golota hit Bowe in his crotch later in the round. Then, in the third round, Golota landed another low shot to Bowe's crotch that was hard enough to send the former world champion to the canvas. Kelly took a point away from Golota and allowed Bowe five minutes to recover. After three minutes, Bowe was recovered and the fight resumed.

The seventh round began with Golota continuing to press the action, but he again managed to hit Bowe with a low blow. Kelly again stopped the action to deduct a point from Golota and allow Bowe a chance to recover, but warned Golota that he would stop the fight if he did it one more time. Golota acknowledged the warning, but a few moments later he hit Bowe with two more shots to his crotch. After the second shot, which sent Bowe to the canvas again, Kelly disqualified Golota.[4]

Immediately after the fight was stopped, members of Bowe's security team entered the ring and approached Golota, who had his back turned as he was going back to his corner. One of the men pushed Golota from behind which caused Golota to respond by throwing punches at the man. Another man, later identified as Jason Harris, began hitting Golota in the head with a walkie-talkie, opening up a cut that required 11 stitches to close. Golota's trainer, 74-year-old Lou Duva, was also injured in the melee and collapsed to the canvas after experiencing chest pains and ultimately had to be taken from the ring on a stretcher. Eventually Golota's fans entered the brawl and would continue to trade punches with Bowe's entourage and fans inside the ring as well as outside of it. HBO announcer Jim Lampley went up a couple levels of Madison Square Garden because the announcers' table was destroyed in the riot, while fellow announcers Larry Merchant and George Foreman stayed at ringside. Foreman even tried to stop the riot in the ring himself by saving Lampley and Merchant from fans attacking them. Foreman was also telling fans at the start of the riot not to get in the ring and attack anyone. In the end, 10 arrests were made, eight policemen were injured and nine spectators had to be hospitalized.[5]

Bowe's potential match with Lennox Lewis was scuttled after this fight due to his poor performance. Since there was interest in another fight with Golota, Bowe and his team decided to go in that direction instead. In October 1996, three months after their first match, it was announced that Bowe and Golota would meet again in a rematch that would take place on December 14 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Bowe admitted that Golota had humiliated him in their previous fight and vowed to be ready for their rematch. The rematch was much the same as their first encounter, with Golota outperforming Bowe but losing by disqualification because he was not able to stop hitting Bowe below the belt. After his second consecutive poor performance, Riddick Bowe would announce his retirement from boxing at the age of 29. Adding insult to injury, Lewis would seek out Golota for a fight to defend the WBC championship he had regained, which is what Bowe was looking for; Golota suffered a knockout in the first round.

• Video of the riot at the end of the fight on YouTube