For a while now, there have been murmurings of a possible Riddick Bowe come back. Now, in speaking with UK tabloid, The Sun, the former world heavyweight champ who gave us those three great fights with Evander Holyfield has made it official. The 52-year-old, who last had a meaningful fight way back in 1996, says he is officially going to fight again.
“I want to get out there. This is the perfect time, I believe, and I’m very excited to fight again,” Bowe said. “I can say now that officially I am going to fight again. I am on a comeback now. That’s for sure.”
Right now, it’s unclear what kind of shape Bowe is in, physically as well as mentally. Maybe Bowe has been working hard in the gym, and maybe he had had his faculties checked out. But the last few public appearances made by Bowe prove quite alarming for a man who aims to fight again. Ahead of the big Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight of 2019 (their first fight) Bowe and Lennox Lewis ran into each other, and Lewis said he was considering “giving Bowe a slap,” but then, “after seeing how slow he was, I decided it wouldn’t be fair.”
Indeed, Bowe, appearing to be much overweight, was slow, in both his movements and with his speech. Now Bowe is seriously looking at fighting again? This can only end badly, it seems. Bowe may look to box an exhibition bout, and that would perhaps be okay – but as for a real fight, forget it. Bowe did launch a brief comeback in 2008, winning a fight in Germany, but he sure looked ponderous and overweight then. Imagine what he will be like now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzQtvlqrdvM
Bowe told The Sun that he won’t call out Mike Tyson, even though he says he would fight Tyson “anywhere, any time, any place.”
“Mike has to reach out to me; I’m not going to reach out to him right now,” Bowe said. “For me to send out a fight proposal in the line with other fighters who want a piece of Mike, it’s below me.”
As fast, as ripped and as powerful as 54-year-old Tyson has appeared to be in those video clips that have been widely viewed on social media, the Bowe of today would likely get badly hurt in a fight with Tyson. Just what is it with these old guys wanting to launch comebacks? It’s Riddick-ulous, don’t you agree?
