Riddick Bowe....

[Hulk]

Photos: Riddick Bowe, Levgen Golovin Go Face To Face - Boxing News

Well this has possible tragedy/disgusting debacle written all over it....

Look at the shape (or lack thereof) that Bowe is in here.

[bradlee180]

Y'know, Big George Foreman was fatter and older and still fighting, but he wasn't all damaged the way Riddick Bowe clearly is.
Can't be one rule for all, it should be taken on an individual case-by-case basis.

This is a travesty.

[p4pking]

Wow, and in a Muay Thai fight I'd bet money Riddick Bowe couldn't get his feet above his knees, what on earth... Lets just hope this Russian guys isn't actually capable of anything, it says he's just a boxer to is the odd thing Just a sideshow all around.

[IamInuit]

Yet more evidence that boxing needs a comprehensive pension plan. Considering what they do, its pretty much criminal that this sport does not. I recall a few years ago Riddick at some Flea market trying to sell autographed gloves. Sad.

[p4pking]

Yet more evidence that boxing needs a comprehensive pension plan. Considering what they do, its pretty much criminal that this sport does not. I recall a few years ago Riddick at some Flea market trying to sell autographed gloves. Sad.

I think it's more criminal the way so many fighters are managed and fleeced to begin with, a pension or anything like it in any sport would be really difficult to attain. I'll admit I have absolutely no sympathy for multi millionaires who blow all of their money though, it's hardly sad in the scheme of things.

[IamInuit]

Yet more evidence that boxing needs a comprehensive pension plan. Considering what they do, its pretty much criminal that this sport does not. I recall a few years ago Riddick at some Flea market trying to sell autographed gloves. Sad.

I think it's more criminal the way so many fighters are managed and fleeced to begin with, a pension or anything like it in any sport would be really difficult to attain. I'll admit I have absolutely no sympathy for multi millionaires who blow all of their money though, it's hardly sad in the scheme of things.

Part of me agrees with that but its a fine line. Many or should I say most that get fleeced are done so in a systemic manner. Today I think its a little different. Some of the fighters and those who are cash cows now have lawyers to look over the slave contracts. Most do not. Cant see it being all that hard to get a pension going and by virtue of work years an accelerated one. The WBC apparently started one a year or so back but I've never looked into the guts of it. It is imo or should be a moral obligation of the commissions, sanctioning bodies and promoters.

[p4pking]

So many people in all walks of life are fleeced in a systematic manner though, one way or another I can agree with the idea, a portion of each purse or sanctioning fee etc would certainly make sense. That's also a fine line as there is no central governing body, It could just add to the ways in which fighters can get dicked around since the money is still coming from their pockets really.

Take Riddick Bowe specifically though was my thinking, is it sad that he's now having to fight for money? I say fuck no, and it bothers me when people harp on about guys in that situation as if it's a travesty. If he hadn't happened to be good at beating people up he'd probably have been locked up years ago for being such a shitty person, yet he happened to make millions of dollars instead. The fact that he was to stupid not to know that he shouldn't I don't know.. maybe start a mutual fund or something, makes it far more ridiculous than sad.

[greynotsoold]

I don't know how Bowe will do in a muay thia match, but I bet he'd kick ass in a pie eating contest.

[beenKOed]

So many people in all walks of life are fleeced in a systematic manner though, one way or another I can agree with the idea, a portion of each purse or sanctioning fee etc would certainly make sense. That's also a fine line as there is no central governing body, It could just add to the ways in which fighters can get dicked around since the money is still coming from their pockets really.

Take Riddick Bowe specifically though was my thinking, is it sad that he's now having to fight for money? I say fuck no, and it bothers me when people harp on about guys in that situation as if it's a travesty. If he hadn't happened to be good at beating people up he'd probably have been locked up years ago for being such a shitty person, yet he happened to make millions of dollars instead. The fact that he was to stupid not to know that he shouldn't I don't know.. maybe start a mutual fund or something, makes it far more ridiculous than sad.

Boxers are like everyone else, they don't plan ahead--should say too many don't--and wind up in too many court rooms, paying alimony and child support.
I'm not making excuses for these guys, but having big money seems to kick a lot of brains into neutral, they don't want to remember the
past, and can't look to the future. The career ends, the money runs out, they're screwed.
American Pro football rookies are required to take financial planning classes and 78.9% wind up broke or in financial trouble after their career is over. Don't believe me, Google it.
What the WBC did is good, it's too bad every sanctioning body isn't doing the same thing, just like IamInuit said. I think the WBC is looking at individual cases--could be wrong--and providing assistance as needed from a central fund. It's a big step in the right direction.
I feel for Bowe, it's a shame.
Even if the money is eventually deducted from the boxer's pay, there should be a payment plan set up, because it's plain to see these guys can't manage their money.

[Spicoli]

I cannot get the link up but some how feel better for it?! Part of me feels for him, part does not. He's clearly riding his name into a tragic comedy and you can only wish he had someone close who gave a shate try to save him from himself.

[bradlee180]

A new fan of Boxing quickly hears many tales of broke, destitute former World Champions who once had fight purses in the millions and a mansion. It's a cliche that happens to be true. Out of thousands of fighters, I can only think of a small handful who remained financially well-off during all their years after Boxing.

When I was young in my late teens and early 20s, I used to think there should be some kind of system in place in Boxing to look out for these guys, and help them out with some kind of long-term financial plan because it's an embarrassment to the sport to have an immortal fighter like the Great Joe Louis working as a greeter at a hotel/casino in Vegas.
These men typically come from the poorest neighborhoods, have little education, and get hit on the head for a living; how are they supposed to manage millions with no business training nor business acumen? In addition, they're in business with some of the sharpest, most dirty, most cut-throat businessmen in the country. Business-wise, they're ridiculously over-matched, and must put all their trust in a manager who's probably going to rip them off. And you've got some serious conflict-of-issue problems when the promoter is also managing because the promoter ALWAYS wants to pay the fighter the least amount possible, while the manager is supposed to be negotiating hard to get the fighter the highest amount possible. Why is this allowed? This sport is oft run in a very unprofessional manner because it's history is as an outlaw sport run by the seedy underbelly of society... and it remains so.

I digress...
I don't think that way anymore.
Hey, this is a man who earned his money the hard way with his sweat, blood, and tears.
He put in years in the training hall learning his trade, and finally seized the brass ring and the big paydays even as he left pieces of himself in the ring.
He earned it, it's his money, and if he decides to squander it foolishly and take no advice, then that's on him. Nowadays when I hear of these sad cases, I say "That's too bad", but hey, it's his hard-earned money and his decisions, and no one has the right to put a babysitter on a full-grown man, and try to tell him how he should spend his own hard-earned money.

[Dark Lord Al]

Bowe looks in good shape for him.
But yes it is a disgrace he has got anywhere near a ring , he is done.

[beenKOed]

A new fan of Boxing quickly hears many tales of broke, destitute former World Champions who once had fight purses in the millions and a mansion. It's a cliche that happens to be true. Out of thousands of fighters, I can only think of a small handful who remained financially well-off during all their years after Boxing.

When I was young in my late teens and early 20s, I used to think there should be some kind of system in place in Boxing to look out for these guys, and help them out with some kind of long-term financial plan because it's an embarrassment to the sport to have an immortal fighter like the Great Joe Louis working as a greeter at a hotel/casino in Vegas.
These men typically come from the poorest neighborhoods, have little education, and get hit on the head for a living; how are they supposed to manage millions with no business training nor business acumen? In addition, they're in business with some of the sharpest, most dirty, most cut-throat businessmen in the country. Business-wise, they're ridiculously over-matched, and must put all their trust in a manager who's probably going to rip them off. And you've got some serious conflict-of-issue problems when the promoter is also managing because the promoter ALWAYS wants to pay the fighter the least amount possible, while the manager is supposed to be negotiating hard to get the fighter the highest amount possible. Why is this allowed? This sport is oft run in a very unprofessional manner because it's history is as an outlaw sport run by the seedy underbelly of society... and it remains so.

I digress...
I don't think that way anymore.
Hey, this is a man who earned his money the hard way with his sweat, blood, and tears.
He put in years in the training hall learning his trade, and finally seized the brass ring and the big paydays even as he left pieces of himself in the ring.
He earned it, it's his money, and if he decides to squander it foolishly and take no advice, then that's on him. Nowadays when I hear of these sad cases, I say "That's too bad", but hey, it's his hard-earned money and his decisions, and no one has the right to put a babysitter on a full-grown man, and try to tell him how he should spend his own hard-earned money.

I hear you, if it was my money I'd feel the same way, but I can't see the harm in a small percentage--1/10 of 1%--of every purse going to a general fund to help some of these boxers.

[El Kabong]

Riddick Bowe needs to stop fighting and shake hands at casino openings or something

[IamInuit]

Look I’m not trying to say that boxers do not have to take charge over their own lives or be responsible for their economic staying power but this is not like any other job or for that matter any other sport. Boxers are naive about the workings of all the parasites and sharks who they sign on with. They are not savvy about the fine print when they sell their souls via slave contracts to promoters. Lets not forget that they are the ones sacrificing everything and in short their stupidity of how the system works gets them raped and pillaged. The window of opportunity for most is about a decade. Guys like Moore and Hopkins are anomalies.

On the business side fighters like Leonard and Oscar are even rarer. Not only did they transcend the sport but they were also smart business people. I have no pity for guys like Holyfield who made over 200 million dollars and then squandered it all on 26 bathroom houses and fathered about 25 children from 10 different women while playing the God card.

However on the other hand as a patron of pugilism I am saddened by the memory of Joe Frazier living in a 2 room flat above his dilapidated gym in Philly eating his meals out of a can. There is; in my view something wrong with that given what he sacrificed and I feel a little guilty about these stories at times.