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Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York.
Date: March 13th, 2004.
BOWE BEATS SMITH
Riddick Bowe KO10 James 'Bonecrusher' Smith.
Riddick Bowe, in his last bout before he takes on fellow New Yorker Mike Tyson in the semi-final of the heavyweight elimination tournament, scored an impressive win over North Carolina's James 'Bonecrusher' Smith.
Smith started the bout well, taking the first stanza. Bowe took the second by landing the more telling shots, then Smith squeezed the clinch filled third. The fourth round was even then Smith outworked Bowe in the fifth to win the round and be leading on points at the halfway stage.
Bowe won the sixth, dropping Smith with a punishing bodyshot, which he had been landing all night. Smith must have still felt the effects in the following round as he tried to hold onto Bowe as Bowe was landing killer punches to win the round big. The eigth was even, then Smith took the ninth. Going into the last round, the fight was to close to call, but Bowe took the decision out of the judges hands, by landing a series of punishing bodyshots and sending Smith to the canvas for the ten count. The time was 2:19.
Bowe was in an ecstatic mood following the fight. "I'm not just the Big Daddy of New York," he proclaimed, "I'm the Big Daddy of the world. Tyson, you're next." Confident words.
Mike Tyson fought in the co-feature, and was in immpressive form. He took on Philadelphia's Tim Witherspoon, and it was all over in four rounds.
Tyson came steaming out of his corner from the opening bell, and dropped Witherspoon with a vicous right cross. Witherspoon regained his feet but was shaky for the rest of the round. Witherspoon was down again in the second, this time from a crushing bodyblow. He again survived the round and surprisingly won the third by keeping the rabid Tyson at bay with his longer reach. Witherspoon again tried to keep Tyson at bay with his stiff jab in the fourth, and it worked for a while. Tyson, however, eventually caught up with him, dropping Witherspoon with an uppercut. Witherspoon struggled to his feet and referee Richard Steele let the fight continue. Tyson swarmed all over his hapless victim and trapped him in the corner, landing damaging punches at will. Steele decided he had seen enough and called the fight of at the 2:29 mark.
Undercard action.
Evander Holyfield advanced to the semi-finals with a dominant display against Jame 'Buster' Douglas.Holyfield dropped Douglas in the first and fourth rounds before stopping Douglas in the ninth after putting his foe down for a count of nine. Douglas was allowed to continue but could no longer defend himself and referee Frank Cappacino stopped the bout at the 1:53 mark.
In the other quarter final bout, Pinklon Thomas KO'd Mike 'Hercules' Weaver in the eigth round from a perfectly timed cross after putting him down moments before from a left hook. He also dropped Weaver in the previous round.
Tony 'TNT' Tubbs won a unanimous decision against Gerrie Coetzee with scores of 77-76, 80-72, and 79-73.
In the opening bout, Trevor Berbick won his rematch with Michael 'Dynamite' Dokes when he won a unanimous decision with scores of 79-73 [twice], and 80-72.
Results.
Riddick Bowe KO10 James 'Bonecrusher' Smith
Mike Tyson TKO 4 Tim Witherspoon
Evander Holyfield TKO9 James 'Buster' Douglas
Pinklon Thomas KO8 Mike 'Hercules' Weaver
Tony 'TNT' Tubbs W8 Gerrie Coetzee
Trevor Berbick W8 Michael 'Dynamite' Dokes
GBA Rankings for the end of March
World Champion:
Title Vacant
1. Riddick Bowe 3-0 [3]
2. Mike Tyson 3-0 [2]
3. Evander Holyfield 2-0 [2]
4. Pinklon Thomas 2-0 [1]
5. Greg Page 1-1 [0]
6. Tony Tubbs 2-1 [0]
7. Mike Weaver 1-1 [1]
8. Trevor Berbick 1-1-1 [0]
9. Tony Tucker 1-1 [1]
10.James 'Buster' Douglas 1-1 [0]
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