HANGIN’ WITH BIG DADDY
RIDDICK BOWE laughs, but it’s the kind of joke that wasn’t funny back when it happened.
June 14, 2013. Overweight, undertrained in the art of Muay Thai, but still willing to step into the ring to face Levgen Golovin for something called the WPMF super heavyweight world title, the 44-year-old Bowe barely took any punches from his opponent, but the kicks he absorbed were another story.
“He kicked me, and I thought somebody shot my leg off,” recalled Bowe of the kickboxing match in Pattaya, Thailand. In all, he took 19 kicks to the leg, five of which put him on the canvas, with the fight finally being stopped in the second round.
“You know I never tried that again,” he chuckles. “That was terrible. It’s over 10 years since I tried it and I wear a brace now on my leg because of that.”
It shouldn’t have been this way for Brooklyn’s “Big Daddy,” a former heavyweight champion when that title was still the most prestigious title of them all. But isn’t that how it goes in the sport for all but the luckiest? Few leave the game on the top, never to
