Riddick Bowe

Riddick Lamont Bowe is an American former professional boxer and kickboxer, born on 10 August 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, and known as "Big Daddy". He won the super heavyweight silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1992, and was the first boxer to hold the titles of all four major sanctioning bodies. He finished his boxing career with 43 wins — 33 by knockout — one loss and one no contest, and in 2013 fought a single Muay Thai bout in Thailand. ^{1 2}

Bowe was born and raised in the East New York section of Brooklyn, the twelfth of his mother Dorothy Bowe's thirteen children, and attended the same elementary school sixth-grade class as Mike Tyson in Brownsville. As an amateur he won the New York Golden Gloves several times and the 1985 junior world light heavyweight title, then took the silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. ¹

Bowe turned professional in 1989. On 13 November 1992 he defeated the unbeaten Evander Holyfield to win the WBA, WBC and IBF titles and become the undisputed heavyweight champion; he was named Fighter of the Year for 1992 by The Ring and the Boxing Writers' Association of America. He gave up the WBC title rather than defend it against Lennox Lewis, and in the November 1993 rematch Holyfield beat him — his only professional defeat. ¹

In 1995 he beat Herbie Hide for the WBO title, so becoming the first boxer to have held all four major belts, and that November he stopped Holyfield in their third fight, the first man to knock Holyfield out. His two 1996 bouts with Andrew Golota both ended in Golota's disqualification for low blows, the first of them followed by a riot in the ring at Madison Square Garden. Bowe retired after those fights, made brief comebacks in 2004 and 2008, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015. ¹

In February 1998 Bowe kidnapped his estranged wife and their five children; he pleaded guilty to interstate domestic violence and served 17 months in federal prison. In June 2013, at the age of 45, he made his Muay Thai debut in Pattaya, Thailand, fighting for a WPMF super heavyweight title; he was knocked down five times by kicks to his leg and the bout was stopped in the second round, his only kickboxing contest. ¹

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