Riddick Bowe is a former undisputed heavyweight champion.
He earned that honour in 1992 when he defeated Evander Holyfield, but he soon relinquished his WBC belt to avoid a fight with Lennox Lewis and this lost his undisputed status.
Despite the fight with Lewis never taking place, Bowe is still classed as one of the greatest heavyweights of the past 30 years. When it comes to the greatest heavyweight of all time though, Bowe only had one man in mind.
That man is the legendary Muhammad Ali, and ‘Big Daddy’ told Dr. Beau Hightower about one meeting with Ali in particular that stays with him to this day.
“When I first met him he was behind me, I couldn’t see him. I was fighting in the New York City Golden Gloves competition. He was saying ‘come on sucker, come on sucker.’ I was trying to focus on myself, on getting ready for the fight, and he kept talking. I guess 15 minutes went by and I didn’t say nothing to him cause I didn’t recognise his voice.
“Five minutes went by and I could hear the voices again, he went ‘come on sucker,’ now I was getting angry because I was trying to focus. So I turned around, it was Muhammad Ali. He gave me this big hug, man. I turned into a little girl, I cried, a couple tears came into my eyes.
“After he gave me a hug I knocked the guy out in 24 seconds. He was my idol. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably be in the Marine Corps.”
Just like Bowe, Ali was a former undisputed heavyweight champion, and his wins over George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Sonny Liston are regarded as some of the best ever in boxing history.
