A beefy Riddick Bowe to fight Golota today
A beefy Riddick Bowe to fight Golota today
NEW YORK (Reuter): It will be a beefy Riddick Bowe who fights Andrew Golota here today after the former heavyweight champion tipped the scales at 252 pounds (114 kg) at the weigh-in on Tuesday.
In his last fight, an eighth-round knockout of Evander Holyfield nine months ago, Bowe fought at 246 pounds (112 kg).
The bout will be shown live on Indosiar on Friday, starting from 08.30 Western Indonesia Time.
Bowe's venerable trainer, 84-year-old Eddie Futch, was not bothered by his fighter's extra baggage.
"I don't care about his weight, he's a heavyweight," Futch said of the 28-year-old Bowe, who has a 39-1 record and reigned twice as world champion in the last four years.
But Golota's trainer, Lou Duva, could not hide his delight at Bowe's weight. His unbeaten Polish fighter, who now fights out of Chicago, came in at 243 pounds (110 kg), right around his normal fighting weight.
"We don't have to worry about the weight, he's the guy who has to worry," Duva said.
And with two more days before the scheduled 10-round fight at Madison Square Garden, Duva could only guess at exactly how much more Bowe will weigh when he steps inside the ropes.
"He could come in at 260 pounds (118 kg) and as the rounds go by, it will be hard to keep going," Duva said. "He is going to run out of gas. That is how we are going to win the fight."
Other numbers suggest otherwise. Bowe is a 10-to-1 favorite.
Bowe has beaten many of today's top heavyweights, including Holyfield twice in a classic trilogy of fights against the former champion. Last year Bowe stopped both Englishman Herbie Hide and Cuban Jorge Gonzalez in the sixth round.
However, almost all of the 28-year-old Golota's 28 wins have come against much lesser known opposition including victories this year against Charles Hostetter and Dannell Nicholson.
"Who has he actually fought and knocked out in the heavyweight division? No one," Bowe said. "So what makes him think that someone who is 28 years old, is determined and is in great shape -- that he can just go in and knock him out? That's not going to happen."