A former heavyweight champion who got the better of Evander Holyfield once revealed how he regretted walking away from the sport.
After an impressive campaign at cruiserweight where he captured the undisputed championship with a legacy defining victory over Carlos De Leon. Holyfield moved up to heavyweight in the late 1980’s.
It took ‘The Real Deal’ just a handful of victories to be granted a shot at the undisputed championship, as he dispatched of James ‘Buster’ Douglas inside several rounds to capture the WBC, WBA and IBF titles and become the first fighter in boxing history to achieve this at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Despite his incredible success during his campaign at heavyweight, there was one fighter who had prevailed in fights against Holyfield on two occasions. That man was Riddick ‘Big Daddy’ Bowe, who shared the ring with Holyfield on three occasions in one of boxing’s greatest trilogies.
In an interview with Boxing News, Bowe was asked to weigh in on the reasons why he drew the curtain on his glittering career when he was just 29-years-old.
“Because I listened to my manager Rock Newman, I listened to him that’s why [my prime] was short. He made me retire, told me to retire. I listened to him when I should have told him to kiss my ass and keep it moving, I should have kept on fighting.”
Throughout his tenure, ‘Big Daddy’ tasted defeat on just one occasion in his second battle with Holyfield in 1993, although he would go on to avenge this in their third and final showdown two years later, putting his fierce rivalry with ‘The Real Deal’ to bed.
