Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993 TAG: 9302070187
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
BOWE MAKES SHORT WORK OF CHALLENGER
Riddick Bowe served a potent punch in his homecoming Saturday night at Madison Square Garden - a right hand to the head from which Michael Dokes did not recover.Bowe then leaped to the attack, and the heavyweight fight was over with 41 seconds left in the first round.
An estimated crowd of 16,000 watched Bowe's homecoming in what was his first defense of the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association heavyweight titles.
Before the fight, Dokes had said: "It's beautiful to go to the Garden and fight for the people."
The people didn't get to see much of a fight.
Bowe was a 16-1 favorite in his first title defense, and he looked every inch that.
Bowe, from Brooklyn, entered the ring to thunderous cheers, but when Joe Santarpia stepped in and stopped the fight, a chorus of boos reigned down upon the 25-year-old champion.
The crowd might have been booing Santarpia, but the referee could hardly be criticized for stopping the match. It was obvious that Dokes, 34, was badly hurt after being defenseless for more than a minute.
Eddie Futch, Bowe's 81-year-old trainer, had said during training that he wanted his young champion to get it over with as fast as possible and not take chances on looking bad or getting upset in a long fight.
Dokes disagreed with the referee.
"I was under control, I was ready to fire back," Dokes said. "I wasn't even hurt. How could he do that? How could he do that? He never asked me. He never asked me."
The quick stoppage brought back memories of Dokes' World Boxing Association title victory over Mike Weaver on Dec. 10, 1982. Dokes won when referee Joey Curtis stopped the fight after it had gone only 63 seconds, and Curtis was roundly criticized for his act.
Saturday night, Bowe thought he had Dokes hurt.
"He was just no match for me," Bowe said. "I thought the referee should have stopped it."
While Dokes claimed he was not hurt, his eyes told a different story.
Dokes was hurt with a right hand at about 1:00 and then was driven into the ropes with a flurry at about 1:35 of the round. Because the ropes held Dokes up, Santarpia ruled it a knockdown and gave him a standing 8-count.
Bowe, who weighed 243 pounds, leaped back to the attack and drove Dokes into the challenger's corner, where he rained punches on him. Dokes, who weighed 244, escaped briefly but was driven back into the corner. Santarpia the stopped the fight.
Bowe landed about 20 solid shots in the onslaught that led to his victory.
"He'll come to fight," Bowe said. "He's a fighter."
Bowe won the undisputed title on points from Evander Holyfield last Nov. 13. On Dec. 14, he relinquished the World Boxing Council title rather than meet a deadline by the organization that he sign for a defense against Lennox Lewis of Britain, who is recognized as champion by the WBC.
Bowe has a 33-0 record with 28 knockouts.
Dokes, certainly fighting his last hurrah as a major figure in the heavyweight division, is 50-4-2 with 32 knockouts. He earned about $900,000 Saturday.
Bowe made between $6 million and $7 million for what was his first professional fight in the Garden, where he had won four New York Golden Gloves championships from 1985-88.
This was the first title fight in the arena since James "Bonecrusher" Smith stopped Tim Witherspoon on Dec. 12, 1986.
Everything did not go according to plan for promoter Dan Duva on Saturday night.
He had planned to hold a news conference Monday to announce that Bowe's next opponent would be Ray Mercer.
Mercer, however, blew a possible $1.5 million payday Saturday night by losing a unanimous 10-round decision to journeyman Jesse Ferguson.