END OF THE ROAD
ON July 12, 1995, Tommy Morrison was on a plane heading to New York City, where he and his adviser, Tony Holden, were expecting to attend a press conference to announce an October date against Riddick Bowe in Madison Square Garden. The target for Morrison was the WBO belt, the only title free from bewildering political turmoil unique to boxing in the early to mid-1990s, when the heavyweight championship could still generate both commotion and cash.
Even so, no one took the WBO title seriously, but Bowe was forced by reduced circumstances to fight for the redheaded stepchild of sanctioning bodies. He won the WBO title on March 11, 1995, annihilating Herbie Hide in six rounds, scoring multiple knockdowns before Hide was finally counted out. On June 17, Bowe defended his new title in a one-sided thrashing of Cuban defector Jorge Luis González, who absorbed a sustained pummeling until he wound up, semiconscious, flat on his face in the sixth round. Both of these fights took place on HBO, but now Bowe was searching for a pay-per-view bonanza, one that would fatten his bank account as well as catapult him back into the
