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No sooner did we figure out what heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe meant when he said, "I am the man who beat the man who beat the man who beat the man"—Bowe decisioned Evander Holyfield, who stopped Buster Douglas, who KO'd Mike Tyson—than the WBC, reacting to Bowe's refusal to fight No. 1 contender Lennox Lewis (a refusal that Bowe, who retains the WBA and IBF crowns, elucidated by dumping the WBC belt in a trash can), awarded its version of the title to Lewis, which is just as well, since, having whipped Bowe for the Olympic gold medal in 1988, Lewis is the man who beat the man who beat the man who beat the man who beat the man.
Come Again Again?
Given the foul, degrading and disingenuous manner in which business is often conducted in boxing, Lewis may have to wait until 1994 to make the case that he's the best. When he flattened Ruddock, Lewis and his manager, Frank Maloney. believed that Lewis would get the first shot at the winner of the Nov. 13 Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe title bout, a shot that both Holyfield and Bowe had indicated they would give him.
However, after Bowe outpointed Holyfield, it quickly became clear that Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, had no more intention of having his fighter meet Lewis right away than he had of dancing with a chain saw. Newman tossed a low-ball offer at Lewis, which Lewis rejected; then, looking for big money and easy pickings. Newman and Bowe signed a six-fight contract with Time Warner Sports, whose president, Seth Abraham, had been pushing Lewis as the greatest heavyweight in the world—"Lennox Lewis is the real deal," Abraham said last fall—right up to the Bowe-Holyfield fight, after which he began hyping Bowe. "Riddick Bowe could make as much as $100 million if he wins all six fights," Abraham said.
The dead-meat parade begins at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6, when Bowe steps into the ring against 34-year-old Michael Dokes. a 250-pound spent bullet whose battle against cocaine addiction has been quite as spectacular as any he has waged in the ring. Once he has dispatched Dokes, Bowe will entertain Ray Mercer in Atlantic City in May in another waste of time. After Mercer he may take on George Foreman and even Larry Holmes, boxing's senior citizens.
On Dec. 14 Bowe relinquished the World Boxing Council's version of the heavyweight title by dumping the WBC belt in the trash. It was an unnecessary bit of showmanship; the WBC was going to strip him anyway for ducking Lewis. No longer the undisputed champ, Bowe now holds the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation belts. The WBC conferred its title on Lewis.
As things turned out, Lewis also ended up in the bosom of Abraham. On Jan. 14 Time Warner Sports announced that it had signed Lewis to a four-fight, multimillion-dollar contract. Like Bowe. he must win to advance to the next bout. "We knew we couldn't make [Bowe and Lewis] fight each other," Abraham explains. "So we decided the next best thing is to put both men under contract and use our influence to get them to fight. It's courtesy and it's politic and it's good business to start with Bowe. If we start the other way, Rock Newman would not make a deal with us.
Come Again Again?
Given the foul, degrading and disingenuous manner in which business is often conducted in boxing, Lewis may have to wait until 1994 to make the case that he's the best. When he flattened Ruddock, Lewis and his manager, Frank Maloney. believed that Lewis would get the first shot at the winner of the Nov. 13 Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe title bout, a shot that both Holyfield and Bowe had indicated they would give him.
However, after Bowe outpointed Holyfield, it quickly became clear that Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, had no more intention of having his fighter meet Lewis right away than he had of dancing with a chain saw. Newman tossed a low-ball offer at Lewis, which Lewis rejected; then, looking for big money and easy pickings. Newman and Bowe signed a six-fight contract with Time Warner Sports, whose president, Seth Abraham, had been pushing Lewis as the greatest heavyweight in the world—"Lennox Lewis is the real deal," Abraham said last fall—right up to the Bowe-Holyfield fight, after which he began hyping Bowe. "Riddick Bowe could make as much as $100 million if he wins all six fights," Abraham said.
The dead-meat parade begins at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6, when Bowe steps into the ring against 34-year-old Michael Dokes. a 250-pound spent bullet whose battle against cocaine addiction has been quite as spectacular as any he has waged in the ring. Once he has dispatched Dokes, Bowe will entertain Ray Mercer in Atlantic City in May in another waste of time. After Mercer he may take on George Foreman and even Larry Holmes, boxing's senior citizens.
On Dec. 14 Bowe relinquished the World Boxing Council's version of the heavyweight title by dumping the WBC belt in the trash. It was an unnecessary bit of showmanship; the WBC was going to strip him anyway for ducking Lewis. No longer the undisputed champ, Bowe now holds the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation belts. The WBC conferred its title on Lewis.
As things turned out, Lewis also ended up in the bosom of Abraham. On Jan. 14 Time Warner Sports announced that it had signed Lewis to a four-fight, multimillion-dollar contract. Like Bowe. he must win to advance to the next bout. "We knew we couldn't make [Bowe and Lewis] fight each other," Abraham explains. "So we decided the next best thing is to put both men under contract and use our influence to get them to fight. It's courtesy and it's politic and it's good business to start with Bowe. If we start the other way, Rock Newman would not make a deal with us.
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