Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 7, 1993 TAG: 9311070224
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS LENGTH: Medium
The upset was interrupted for 20 minutes in the seventh round when a parachutist crashed into the ring.
After 12 rounds, judge Patricia Jarman scored it 115-114 and judge Jerry Roth had it 115-113, both for Holyfield, who became the fourth man to become heavyweight champion at least twice. Judge Chuck Giampi called it 114-114, making the victory a majority decision.
The Associated Press favored Bowe 115-112.
Holyfield's victory came one week short of a year from the date he lost the title on a unanimous decision to Bowe in Las Vegas.
It just wasn't Bowe's night.
In the chaos of the seventh round, Bowe's wife, Judy, four months' pregnant, had to be taken to a hospital after fainting when the parachutist crashed into the ringside seats. It originally was reported that the man broke his neck, but he later was reported hospitalized in fair condition with no broken bones.
Immediately after the fight, a doctor was summoned to examine Eddie Futch, Bowe's 82-year-old trainer. Futch was hospitalized with high blood pressure.
Bowe was controlling the seventh round when the chutist dropped into the ring, using a chute with a propeller on it. The chute caught on the ring canopy and slammed the unidenitifed man into the ropes near Bowe's corner.
Security and police rushed to the scene.
The fight was stopped for 20 minutes as the chutist was immobilized and taken away handcuffed on a stretcher. Part of the chute and the support string were hanging from the canopy of lights above the ring.
Both fighters returned to their corners and were surrounded by their handlers. A Nevada boxing official stopped Bowe's corner from working on his bruised eyes during the unofficial break.
"I saw him [the parachutist] coming in and it looked like he was petrified," said Gary MacLean, who was at ringside. "He was right on target and at the last minute he got scared of going into the ring."
Some observers said the chutist circled several times before coming in from the north and skimming the crowd.
"We watched him as he was circling around and we said what a bad night for him to be doing this, and then he started to come into the ring and he looked really scared," said Nicole Roth, who also was at ringside.
As the stretcher arrived, Bowe sat on his stool wrapped in a blanket. He then added a wool cap to his impromptu wardrobe and began walking around the ring. Holyfield stood in his corner most of the time with a towel wrapped around him and a robe draped over his shoulders.
Several of the TV lights around the ring were turned off about 15 minutes after the incident while men worked high above the ring to remove the remnants of the chute from some of the lamps.
Although Bowe appeared to control the early rounds and also the last couple of rounds, Holyfield had the champion in trouble on a couple of occasions - particularly in the fifth and 10th rounds.
"I knew it was going to take a real fight and I could not make the mistakes I made the first time," Holyfield said.
The big mistake he made in losing to Bowe, he said, was that he concentrated on knocking him out. On a cool night, Holyfield fought toe to toe with Bowe but also boxed more than he has in the past. But in the fifth round, it appeared he might get his knockout.
The fourth round ended on a wild note, as both men went toe to toe for at least five seconds after the bell. They were parted by Emanuel Steward, Holyfield's trainer, referee Mills Lane and a representative of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
In the fifth round, Holyfield, who weighed 217 pounds, hurt the 246-pound champion with a hard right and two more head blows that sent him backward. Holyfield leaped to the attack with a left-right, two more quick shots to the head and then a heavy right to the head.
Holyfield also had the best of the sixth round.
Then came the chaotic seventh.
Holyfield had the edge in the eighth, but Bowe came back in the ninth, a round in which the men again exchanged punches after the bell.
In the 10th, they went toe to toe. Late in the round, Holyfield landed a left-right-right combination and a hook that knocked out Bowe's mouthpiece. Bowe landed rights and jabs to the body in the 11th to set up the 12th.
In handing Bowe his first loss after 34 victories, Holyfield improved his record to 30-1. Each fighter figured to make about $10 million.
by CNB