Riddick Bowe vs. Jesse Ferguson

"The Heavyweight Debate"
Date	May 22, 1993
Location	RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
Title(s) on the line	WBA/Lineal Heavyweight Championships
Tale of the tape
Riddick Bowe Jesse Ferguson Nickname "Big Daddy" "The Boogieman" Hometown Brooklyn, New York, US Philadelphia, Pennsylvania US Pre-fight record 33–0 19–9 Recognition WBA/IBF/Lineal Heavyweight Champion

Riddick Bowe vs. Jesse Ferguson, billed as "The Heavyweight Debate", was a professional boxing match contested on May 22, 1993, for the WBA and Lineal Heavyweight championships. The fight took place in RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, was Bowe's second defense of the title he had won from Evander Holyfield in November 1992, and was the main event of a card that included a fight between Roy Jones, Jr. and Bernard Hopkins for the vacant IBF middleweight championship, which Jones won.

Background

Only three months prior, Riddick Bowe had made the first successful defense of his titles against Michael Dokes. On the undercard of that bout, Ray Mercer, who was scheduled to be Bowe's next opponent, met journeyman fighter Jesse Ferguson in what was supposed to be a tune-up before his championship match with Bowe. Instead, Ferguson controlled almost the entire fight and earned the upset victory by unanimous decision, knocking Mercer out of contention. With Bowe now in need of a new opponent, it was announced on March 24 that it would be Ferguson who would next challenge Bowe.^[1] However, as Ferguson was not ranked by the IBF, the organization chose not to sanction the bout, thus Bowe's IBF Heavyweight title was not on the line.^[2] Despite his limited success and his status as a 40-1 underdog, Ferguson remained confident that he could defeat Bowe, vowing to get the victory by knockout. Bowe responded to Ferguson's claims by calling him a "knucklehead" while also threatening to "punish" his competitor.^[3]

The Fight

Much like in his previous fight, Bowe was able to dominate the entire duration of the fight. Bowe was the aggressor from the opening bell, constantly having Ferguson on the defensive throughout the first round by effectively using his left jab. With less than 30 second left in the round, a left hook from Bowe sent Ferguson back into the ropes which led to Bowe landing another left hook 10 seconds later that dropped Ferguson to the canvas. Ferguson barely was able to answer the referee's 10 count, just managing to get up at the count of nine as the round ended. Only seconds into round 2, Bowe was able to land an 8-punch combination that again sent Ferguson to the mat. This time Ferguson was unable to get up and Bowe was announced the winner by knockout.^[4]

Aftermath

After Bowe's two successful title defenses over marginal competition, the much anticipated Bowe–Holyfield rematch was announced to take place on November 6, 1993. Like the previous fight, the two fighters again went the full 12 rounds, this time though, it was Holyfield who would earn the victory, becoming the only man to defeat Bowe in his professional career.

References