Riddick Bowe vs. Andrew Golota

Bowe was looking to get himself back into the mix for the world heavyweight championship as 1996 began. He had briefly held the World Boxing Organization championship in 1995, but the title was regarded as a fringe championship back then as opposed to modern day where it is considered one of the major titles. Bowe would eventually vacate the title before taking a third fight against former champion Evander Holyfield, defeating him by knockout to win the rubber match of their trilogy.

The heavyweight championship picture, meanwhile, was significantly muddled at the time. In fact, for the first time since Mike Tyson began his quest to become the undisputed champion, all of the major sanctioning bodies recognized different fighters as champions. By this point, Tyson was the World Boxing Council’s champion, Bruce Seldon was recognized by the World Boxing Association as its champion, and the International Boxing Federation’s championship was held by Michael Moorer. The recognized lineal champion was George Foreman, who had been forced to vacate the WBA and IBF titles he won from Moorer in their 1994 title fight.

Meanwhile, a former rival of Bowe's was also looking to get himself back into title contention. Lennox Lewis, who won the WBC title after Bowie vacated it shortly after winning his first fight against Holyfield, was defeated for the title in 1994 by Oliver McCall via a controversial knockout. McCall was defeated by Frank Bruno, Lewis’ fellow countryman, in the interim and the winner of that fight was contracted to face Tyson in their first defense; Tyson easily defeated Bruno, but he and Don King had eyes on a potential unification bout with WBA champion Seldon and showed no interest in a fight with Lewis.

Eventually, in May of 1996, Lewis and Tyson's camp agreed to a settlement which freed Tyson to seek the contest with Seldon. Lewis and Bowe, meanwhile, came to terms on a deal to fight later on in the fall of 1996.[1]

In the interim, Lewis and Bowe each agreed to take tuneup fights that would be carried by HBO. Lewis signed to fight Ray Mercer, a former top contender who had been mostly inactive in the previous two years and had lost his most recent fight. 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]

From the opening round, it was clear that Bowe was outmatched. 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.

Golota’s penchant for inappropriate conduct, however, was also on display as he could not keep his punches above the beltline. Referee Wayne Kelly issued a warning to Golota after his first low blow in the second round, and a second and last warning after Golota landed another low punch at 2:20 of the third. Kelly finally had seen enough in the fourth when Golota dropped Bowe to the canvas at 2:35 with his third low punch of the fight. He deducted a point from Golota and gave Bowe time to recuperate, as is given to any fighter hurt by a low blow. After using three of his allotted five minutes, Bowe rose to continue.

Golota continued to press Bowe in the fifth and sixth rounds as the out of shape former champion was reeling. A fourth low blow, however, cost Golota an additional point in the seventh and Kelly warned him that any more low punches would result in him being disqualified. Golota kept the pressure on, but one final low shot on the former champion with less than forty seconds to go in the seventh resulted in Kelly awarding the bout to Bowe.[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 announce 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 poor performance ended the possibility of a match with Lewis, but interest was high for a rematch with Golota. 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, but Golota again took control of their match and was ahead on all scorecards before again running into trouble with low blows that led to another disqualification loss. After his second consecutive poor performance, Riddick Bowe would announce his retirement from boxing at the age of 29. Adding insult to injury, Golota would ultimately get the WBC title match with Lennox Lewis that Bowe had wanted. Golota would not last long in his fight against Lewis, however, after getting knocked out 94 seconds into the first round.

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