Riddick Bowe vs. Andrew Golota II was a professional boxing match contested on December 14, 1996 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The bout was a rematch of a controversial fight held earlier in the year at Madison Square Garden in which Bowe was largely outboxed by Golota, but won the fight by disqualification because the Polish fighter repeatedly hit him with punches below the belt.
The fight ended in the same fashion that the first fight had, as Golota was once again disqualified for repeated low blows.
Background
The first fight between Bowe and Golota was signed as part of an agreement between Bowe and former world champion Lennox Lewis, where the two men would face each other at some indeterminate point before the end of 1996. As per the contract, both fighters were required to take a tune-up fight before facing each other. Paired against the Polish up-and-comer, Bowe did not take his training seriously for the Golota fight, saying that he didn't know how to train for "a bum". This did not sit well with Bowe's longtime trainer Eddie Futch, who was growing increasingly frustrated with Bowe's tendency to not want to put in the work in training camp.
Bowe weighed in for the fight at 252 pounds, which was the heaviest he had ever been for any of his professional bouts, and was not in prime physical condition. Golota took advantage of this and dominated most of the fight, constantly and effectively using his jab and landing several powerful combinations through the course of seven rounds. However, from the second round forward, Golota ran into trouble with low blows and had one point deducted in each of the fourth and sixth rounds. Though he was ahead on all scorecards, another vicious blow to Bowe's testicles in the seventh led to referee Wayne Kelly stopping the fight and awarding Bowe the victory by disqualification. Almost immediately after the stoppage, members of Bowe's entourage entered the ring and attacked Golota, Golota traded punches with one of the men, but another, Jason Harris, struck Golota in the head with a walkie-talkie (Golota later required 11 stitches to close the resulting gash). Fans of both fighters joined the melee and fights began breaking out in the crowd. The post-fight riot led to 10 arrests and nine spectators had to be rushed to hospital.
Bowe's poor performance against Golota led to Lewis deciding not to pursue their previously agreed upon fight and instead focus his sights on regaining the heavyweight championship. Futch, who said he was "embarrassed" by Bowe's effort, decided that he could no longer train the former undisputed world champion and announced this to the press in October 1996. Futch cited "irreconcilable differences" as his reasoning and felt that Bowe was continuing to waste his time by not putting in the work. Bowe later admitted he had not taken Golota seriously coming into the previous fight and attributed his poor performance to the fact that he had not trained much for the bout.
There was still significant interest in a rematch between Bowe and Golota, and the fight was signed for December of 1996. For the rematch, Bowe brought in renowned trainer Mackie Shilstone and a nutritionist to monitor his training and diet and weighed in at 235 pounds for the rematch with Golota.
Media coverage
Unlike the first fight, which was broadcast on HBO World Championship Boxing, the second fight was broadcast on pay-per-view with TVKO (HBO's PPV arm) carrying the contest. Jim Lampley called the action with Larry Merchant and George Foreman as analysts and Harold Lederman as the unofficial ringside scorekeeper.
The Fight
Despite coming into the fight in much better condition than he had in their previous fight earlier in the year, Bowe still struggled against Golota. As in their previous fight, Bowe had trouble landing his jab in the first round while Golota was able to effectively use his and landed nearly twice as many punches in the first round than Bowe. In the second round, Golota landed a left–right combination at the one-minute mark, knocking Bowe down for only the second time in his professional career.
However, Golota once again resorted to his fouling tendencies and gave Bowe a deliberate and hard headbutt toward the end of the round. Referee Eddie Cotton took a point away from Golota, who had opened a cut over his eye with the butt. Despite his foul, Golota ended the second round having dominated Bowe punch-wise, landing 71 of his 96 punches while Bowe only managed to land 11 of his 43 punches.