Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.sports From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Bowe silences critics, questions; Holyfield left to ponder Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 16:22:11 EST Message-ID: \SE D;SPORTS;HOLYFIELD VS BOWE \SS (WS) \HD Bowe silences critics, questions; Holyfield left to ponder future \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT LAS VEGAS LAS VEGAS (AP) - Evander Holyfield said only a man with courage could take the heavyweight title from him. That's what he found in Riddick Bowe, a fighter whose heart had been questioned. Bowe erased any doubts about his determination and displayed too much punching power for Holyfield as he became the heavyweight champion with a unanimous 12-round decision before a screaming crowd of about 18,000 last night at the Thomas & Mack Center. Holyfield couldn't match Bowe's power, but he certainly matched his courage. In fact, no fighter ever put on a more courageous display than the man they call the "Real Deal." "I told you when the fight was over a lot of questions about my heart would be answered," said the new champion, who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn and now resides in Fort Washington. He then acknowledged a fellow Brooklynite by saying, "Mike, the best of luck. Thanks for the encouragement." Mike Tyson, the imprisoned former champion, had said before the fight he was hoping Bowe would win. Tyson did not watch the fight, a prison spokesman said. Bowe's future includes a defense against either Lennox Lewis or George Foreman. Both men were at ringside, and Bowe leaned through the ropes and shook his right fist at Lewis, shouting, "Let's go right now, Lennox." It was Lewis who raised doubts about Bowe's courage when he stopped Bowe in the super heavyweight gold-medal match at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. As for Holyfield's future, the battered 30-year-old ex-champion, asked if he wanted to fight again, said, "Not really. I've had enough. I went out there and did what I could. Right now, how I feel, I don't want to see any gloves for a while." The fight was a series of toe-to-toe exchanges, and both fighters' faces stood as badges to their courage and to their tough profession. Bowe looked on the verge of stopping it in the 10th and 11th rounds, but Holyfield, who went down in the 11th, fought back both times. In the first minute of the 10th round, Holyfield was hurt by a right uppercut, then was battered around the ring for a full minute. "In the 10th round, he was knocking me from pillar to post," Holyfield said. "But I thought I got him. He thought he got me." Holyfield went down from a right to the side of the head early in the 11th round, but got up immediately and took a mandatory eight count. Once again, he fought back. By this time, it was obvious to almost everyone in the building, except one, that a new champion would be crowned. The dissenter was Holyfield. "In the last round, I thought I could land a shot and take him out," said the former champion, who lost for the first time in 29 pro fights. "I take my hat off to Riddick Bowe," Holyfield said. "It's not that I fought a bad fight. He had more and he fought a better fight." Bowe not only exhibited firepower, he showed poise in the heat of battle. Some people wondered if he would, since his heart had been questioned since he was stopped in the second round by Lewis in the super heavyweight title fight in the 1988 Olympics. A tape of that fight shows that Bowe didn't quit, but that the East German referee acted hastily in stopping that match. Still, the tag stuck to Bowe through 31 victories, and Eddie Futch, his 82-year-old trainer, told the young man that he would hear questions about his heart "until you reach the throne room." Bowe reached it last night in true championship fashion. When Holyfield would fight back, Bowe refused to wilt. "In the eighth round, when I was thumbed [in the right eye], I maintained my composure," Bowe said. "I went out and did what I had to do." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM