Bowe, Ward and Jirov Victorious

Earlier tonight in the Pechanga Resort and Casino in California, former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe (42-1-33K) gained the second win of his comeback in less then spectacular fashion over Billy Zumbrun by way of a 10 round split decision. Zumbrun is a journeyman fighter with a 18-6-1-10K record. Judges David Denkin and Lou Filippo had identical 96-92 scores for Bowe and Ray Corona had Zumbrun winning 95-93. Zumbrun lost a point in the eighth round for roughhouse tactics. Bowe was probably close to 300 pounds once he stepped in the ring, Bowe had a 54 pound weight advantage over Zumbrun coming into the bout, 5 1/2 inches more in height, much more ring experience and a sizeable reach advantage as well. None of this mattered as a simple journeyman took Bowe to school in several rounds and captured the heart of the crowd by stunning Bowe with hard right hands in several rounds of the bout. The only knockdown of the bout came when Bowe landed a hard left to the body of Zumbrun. Zunbrum was able to survive the knockdown and made a comeback by landing some bombs of his own down the stretch. Zumbrun had Bowe in trouble in the fifth round when he caught Bowe with an overhand right and turned the entire crowd in his favor as the fight went on. Once the decision was read, the fans booed in order to show their displeasure with the scoring. Tonight's fight showed that Bowe is nowhere near the same type of fighter that he was years ago. The guy has money, he should really retire before someone seriously injures him. details]