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Riddick Bowes Stunning Upset: Dethroning Evander Holyfield in Heavyweight History
From the opening bell, neither man was interested in fighting cautiously. Bowe found success with his jab early, Holyfield answered with quick combinations, and every round featured hard exchanges. As the fight wore on, the pace barely slowed despite both heavyweights absorbing tremendous punishment.
Holyfield entered the ring unbeaten at 28-0 as the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight champion. Across the ring stood the undefeated 31-0 Bowe, who outweighed the champion by 30 pounds and intended to use every bit of that advantage.
Although he had defeated George Foreman and Larry Holmes, critics questioned whether those victories had come against aging opponents. His struggle against Bert Cooper also raised doubts about whether the champion was beginning to slip.
Bowe’s size and reach began paying dividends early. He used his 30-pound weight advantage and eight-inch reach edge to control many of the exchanges, forcing Holyfield to fight his way inside.
The challenger mixed in right hands and combinations to the body, winning many of the exchanges while forcing Holyfield to fight at Bowe’s pace. Holyfield had success with short counters and flurries, but Bowe landed more consistently through the first nine rounds.
Holyfield’s right eye was swollen by the middle rounds, yet he continued moving forward despite absorbing heavy punishment.
The fight reached another level in the tenth.
Bowe stunned Holyfield with a right uppercut and followed with a sustained attack that had the champion in serious trouble. Holyfield absorbed dozens of punches without going down before rallying late in the round with combinations that briefly backed Bowe up. The dramatic exchange earned The Ring magazine’s Round of the Year honors for 1992.
Bowe regained control in the eleventh, hurting Holyfield again before scoring the fight’s only knockdown with a right hand. Holyfield beat the count and survived, but entering the final round he needed a knockout to retain his titles.
The champion charged forward in the twelfth with everything he had left, but Bowe remained composed. Using his jab, movement, and timely clinches, he neutralized Holyfield’s desperate attack and closed out the biggest victory of his career.
The judges scored the fight 117-110, 117-110, and 115-112, giving Bowe a unanimous decision and handing Holyfield the first defeat of his professional career.
The victory made Bowe the undisputed heavyweight champion, but his reign never reached the heights many expected. Rather than face mandatory challenger Lennox Lewis, Bowe famously relinquished the WBC title by throwing the belt into a trash can, a decision that has followed him throughout his career. Although he successfully defended the WBA and IBF titles before splitting two rematches with Holyfield, many believe the first fight represented the absolute peak of Bowe’s career.
Holyfield lost the titles that night, but his willingness to stand and trade with a naturally bigger heavyweight only added to his reputation as one of boxing’s toughest champions.
Their first meeting earned The Ring magazine’s Fight of the Year award for 1992 and remains one of the defining heavyweight championship bouts of the modern era.
Noakes (18-1, 16 KOs) is looking to rebound from the first defeat of his professional career after dropping a competitive decision to Abdullah Mason last November in Saudi Arabia. The entertaining contest earned Fight of the Year consideration, but it also halted the momentum the 28-year-old had built toward a world title shot.
He returned in May for a low-risk outing, stopping Benito Sanchez Garcia in two rounds at York Hall.
Berinchyk (19-1, 9 KOs) would represent a step up from that assignment, although he’s hardly entering the fight with momentum of his own. The 38-year-old Ukrainian hasn’t fought since suffering a fourth-round stoppage loss to Keyshawn Davis on February 14, 2025, when he lost the WBO lightweight title.
While Berinchyk’s experience and former world champion status add credibility to the matchup, both fighters are coming off losses, taking some of the shine off what otherwise could have been an intriguing lightweight clash.
From a matchmaking standpoint, however, the fight makes sense. Berinchyk offers Noakes a respected name without the risk that comes with facing one of the division’s younger contenders. A matchup against an unbeaten prospect such as Alan Chaves may have generated more interest, but it also would have posed a far more dangerous assignment for a fighter trying to rebuild after his first professional setback.
If the fight is finalized, it would serve as a solid keep-busy bout for Noakes while giving him the chance to put himself back in the lightweight conversation with a victory over a former world champion.
The Hall of Famer says a Texas showdown with Vergil Ortiz Jr. would generate more interest and revenue than an immediate fight with the unified junior middleweight champion
Roy Jones Jr believes Errol Spence Jr should postpone any fight with Jaron “Boots” Ennis if he defeats Tim Tszyu on July 25. Instead, the Hall of Famer says Spence should pursue a Texas showdown with Vergil Ortiz Jr., calling it the biggest fight available at junior middleweight.
Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) returns from a three-year absence on July 25 when he faces former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu.
Jones believes a victory should lead directly to an all-Texas clash with Ortiz rather than a title fight against Ennis.
“The biggest fight right now, for that division, is Errol Spence if he beats Tszyu vs Vergil Ortiz in Dallas,” said Roy Jones Jr. on ALL THE SMOKE FIGHT. “They’d sell out Dallas Stadium.
“You don’t throw that away chasing Boots; you let Boots go and fight Fundora first – you wait and see what happens in the Errol Spence fight, if you’re smart.
“You’d make way more money right there in Dallas Stadium.”
Jones is looking at the commercial value of the matchup as much as the boxing side. Spence and Ortiz are both Texas natives and came through the amateur ranks in the state, making the fight an easy sell to local fans.
Ortiz is coming off a career-best win over Israil Madrimov and remains one of the leading contenders at 154 pounds. Ennis currently holds the WBA and WBO titles, while Sebastian Fundora owns the WBC belt, giving the division several major fights if Spence can get past Tszyu in his long-awaited return.
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Last Updated on 2026/07/08 at 1:13 PM
The 35-year-old contender knows most of the attention surrounding the fight has centered on Joshua’s future rather than the opponent standing across the ring from him. He warned that looking ahead to Fury would be a costly mistake.
“It’s not a good idea he make plans to fight Tyson Fury,” Prenga told Ring Magazine. “I think I’m going to break his plan.”
Joshua (30-4, 27 KOs) is coming off a sixth-round knockout of Jake Paul last December, a comeback victory after suffering a damaging fifth-round stoppage loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024. A win over Prenga would keep him on course for one of the biggest fights in British boxing against Fury, who is also scheduled to return the day before against Mariusz Wach.
Prenga (20-1, 20 KOs) enters with an eye-catching record, having knocked out every opponent he has beaten. While those victories came against modest opposition compared to Joshua’s resume, the Albanian believes his punching power gives him everything he needs to produce a major upset.
Joshua is still a heavy favorite, but Prenga represents a different type of opponent than some of the former two-time heavyweight champion’s recent rebuilding assignments. Unlike Jermaine Franklin or Otto Wallin, Prenga is an aggressive puncher whose confidence comes from finishing every one of his victories inside the distance.
Overlooking an opponent with that kind of power could be an expensive mistake for Joshua. A knockout win for Prenga over one of boxing’s biggest names would instantly transform his career while destroying the plans for the blockbuster Fury-Joshua meeting.
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