29 Years After $16 Million Fight, Riddick Bowe Reveals How a “Wink” Lead Him to Historic Knockout Victory Against Evander Holyfield

On November 4, 1995, Riddick Bowe bettered the series with Evander Holyfield in his favor. The Brooklyn-born heavyweight lost the rematch two years ago. It followed his unanimous win in the first fight on November 13, 1993. He won the trilogy fight with a technical knockout. 29 years down the line, in an interview, he revealed the prompt that helped him bring the bout to an end early in the eighth round.

On November 13, 1992, Riddick Bowe defeated Evander Holyfield to become the undisputed heavyweight champion( pre-four-belt era). But the following year, he ceded his belts to ‘The Real Deal’ during their rematch at Caesars Palace. Becoming a world champion again, in March 1995 he won the WBO title. Four months later, after defending it for the first time, he vacated the title. It was time for the ‘Rubber Match’ with Holyfield. Reportedly, both boxers took home nearly $16  million in guaranteed purses. However, as it happened, it took more than a punch to heave the match in his corner.

How Riddick Bow scripted ‘Gone With the Wink’ with Evander Holyfield

‘Bid Daddy’ joined former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Bear Degidio in the latest episode of ‘JAXXON Podcast’. A few minutes after the show started, Degidio spoke about when Riddick Bowe walked into the studio. He was watching the third bout with Holyfield, who went down with a heavy right overhand. So the co-host recalled the former heavyweight champion watching the footage alongside, getting into shadow boxing.

It genuinely impressed Degidio that Bowe wasn’t completely out of form. He mentioned the Brooklyn-born champion, revealing the point where the match went out of Holyfield’s hands. He said, “I saw you looking at the fight, and I and I saw you kind of like shadow boxing while you were watching the fight. I go damn, he like still in it, and then and then he he brought up something to me you said that’s where Evander lost the fight.”

So when asked why, Riddick Bowe replied that ‘The Real Deal’ winked at him. Bear Degidio then told the former to elaborate a bit on the incident. The former undisputed champion went down memory lane. He recalled that both he and Holyfield were sitting in the corner. He continued, “All of a sudden I seen him looks around; his trainer looks at me, and he winks and I go oh no, and I it made me think, what can I do that’s different? I certainly need to hit him with a lead right hand, so when the bell rang, I went right up to him with the lead right hand, and I won by knockout.”

Incidentally, most die-hard fans would remember. Even Riddick Bowe went down once in the fight thanks to a powerful left-hook from ‘The Real Deal’. The following year, after the infamous fights with Andrew Golota, Riddick Bowe retired from boxing. But almost a decade later, he reappeared. Following intermittent fights, he finally hung up the gloves for good in 2008. Evander Holyfield, on the other hand, had the Mike Tyson fight awaiting him in 1996. Reportedly, he sought Bowe’s help to prep him for the big fight.

Read More: Reminiscing About Olympic Loss, Riddick Bowe Claps Back at Critics for Saying He Feared Facing Lennox Lewis in the Pros

The first Holyfield-Bowe fight is often hailed as the best one in the series. So which is your personal favorite among the three fights between the two? Please share your views with us in the comments below.

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