Effect Of Fan-Man Stirs Bowe-Holyfield Debate

Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield were within inches of each other when Fan Man dropped in on them a few years ago. Now, they’re light years apart about how the incident affected the fight.

“I had Holyfield right where I wanted him,” Bowe said. “His back was bothering him, his legs were tired. I think he was ready to quit. If Fan Man hadn’t come in, I’d have knocked him out in that round or in the next round.”

Holyfield’s version goes like this:

“Before Fan Man came into the ring, Riddick Bowe was dying,” he said. “He was cut and his confidence was down. I hit him where I wanted to hit him and when I wanted to hit him. He was on his last breath.”

The seventh round of the second Bowe-Holyfield fight on Nov. 6, 1993, was delayed 21 minutes when James Miller, the Fan Man, crashed against the ring ropes at 1:10 of the round. The judges didn’t agree on who won the round. One scored it for Bowe, one for Holyfield and one called it even.

Holyfield definitely is right about one thing.

“I knew chances were that if the fight was stopped, it would be a technical draw and Bowe would not have to fight me again,” Holyfield said Thursday. “I was praying the fight would continue.”

At the end of six rounds, two judges had the fight even and a third had Holyfield ahead by two points. It would have been a technical draw, allowing Bowe to retain the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles.

Holyfield went on to win a majority decision, and Saturday night he and Bowe will meet for the third time, outdoors at Caesars Palace, site of the second fight.

Bowe won the WBC, WBA and IBF titles from Holyfield on a unanimous decision on Nov. 13, 1992, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, but was stripped of the WBC crown by the time of the second fight.

At Thursday’s weigh-in, Bowe was 240 pounds, the least he’s been since the first fight. He weighed 246 when he lost. Holyfield weighed 213 pounds. He was 205 for the first fight and 217 for the second.

At stake Saturday are pride and a legitimate claim to being the best heavyweight in the world. That claim might be disputed by Lennox Lewis of Britain and Mike Tyson.

Tyson’s claim, however, was probably weakened by the fact he has fought only 89 seconds - the time of his disqualification victory over Peter NcNeeley on Aug. 19 - in 52 months. His fight against Buster Mathis Jr., set for Saturday, was called off Tuesday because Tyson has a fractured right thumb.

Bowe, 6-foot-5, has won four fights since his loss to Holyfield, but he looked impressive only in the last bout, a sixth-round knockout of Jorge Luis Gonzalez on June 17.

The 28-year-old Bowe, of course, wants to look like he did in the first fight when he was at the top of his game. He dominated the 6-2 Holyfield, knocking him down in the 11th round and winning by seven points each on two of the official cards.

The scheduled 12-round pay-per-view bout on TVKO will start about 8:30 p.m.