Undisputed heavyweight ruler Riddick Bowe planned to return with a failing body at 52. His misrepresented mission thankfully failed.
World Boxing News spoke to representatives of the former world champion in what turned out to be a bogus chat.
Two representatives hosted a conference call with WBN to outline their plans for a full-blown Bowe comeback to action despite his over-the-hill age.
The intention was to get Bowe back in solid shape, dropping a ton of weight. That’s despite his body failing for years under the stresses of training and weight gain.
They wanted to secure a new promotional deal with the championship distance in mind. It was a shocking tale, eventually blown apart by World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman.
Heavyweight return
Bowe’s blueprint came to the fore on the back of ex-opponent Evander Holyfield, revealing his interest in a fourth fight with ‘Big Daddy’ in an exhibition capacity.
During the WBN meeting, people purporting to speak for Bowe opened up the conversation by revealing contact has been made to promoters with mixed interest.
“We’ve been shopping out for promoters right now. We’re feeling out promoters for different things,” they told WBN.
“We’re looking for a promoter so that he can come back. We’ve spoken to three English promoters, Frank Warren and David Haye, who said they aren’t interested. But we heard Eddie Hearn is.”
In a stunning addition, they said: “We feel that this must happen. That needs to go through. We want to make this happen for anyone who loves Bowe and wants him back in the ring.
“To do this, we want to ensure we’ve got a good promoter.”
The fact he was 52 and could hardly move at this stage is a bewildering notion.
However, it continued.
Twenty fights
“Bowe has been out of the limelight for a while, and he’s slowly getting back in. People want to talk to Bowe and see what he’s up to.
“There’s a rumor on Facebook that he was contemplating a comeback. I’m not so sure of the severity of it yet, but maybe he can think about doing some exhibitions and see how that turns out.
“Bowe needs to get back in the ring. Maybe he can then try another run for the title?
“I speak to Bowe daily. He’s doing good so far. He will start training pretty soon, so that’s what we’re looking for now.
“I know the sport inside and out. I know people who say they like a fighter. But when it comes to the nuts and bolts, an expression speaks louder than words.
“We even knocked on the doors of a former heavyweight world champion before he said anything. He asked for $10,000 to talk. This sport is big enough to let everyone have a piece of the pie.”
Asked if he would fight in exhibitions, they concluded: “No, [ideally] this would be TWENTY full twelve-round fights if [we get] the deal that we want. We’re also looking for Al Haymon as well.
“Where we’re at is we get Bowe in camp, get his weight down.
“He’s about sixty pounds overweight [more like 150]. Then, we’ll take him to the Las Vegas State Athletic Commission and get him licensed. Then we’ll go from there.”
Sad and shocking.
