Prescription for disaster

SHAWNEE, Okla. -- Riddick Bowe's speech was so slurred after his last fight eight years ago that he was barely understandable. A doctor later said the former heavyweight champion's brain was damaged from too many punches.

Tonight, in a field next to an Indian casino, Bowe will enter the ring for more blows. It's the start of a comeback he believes will lead to the heavyweight title again.

Others believe it's more likely Bowe will suffer additional brain damage -- or worse.

"For him to be allowed to fight is a prescription for disaster," former manager Rock Newman said. "I'm outraged they would not factor in the danger he faces."

Dr. Margaret Goodman, a neurologist and the chief ringside physician for the Nevada Athletic Commission, agrees.

"This is an experiment with a man's future," Goodman said. "He has evidence of chronic brain injury caused by the sport of boxing."

Bowe is the main attraction of a five-fight card at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation's Fire Lake casino, a far cry from Madison Square Garden, where he last fought, or the glittering resorts of Las Vegas.

The Bowe that fans come to see Saturday night will also be much different than the boxer who held the heavyweight title in the early 1990s and engaged in three epic fights with Evander Holyfield.

He's now 37, hasn't been training very hard, and will enter the ring somewhere near 270 pounds to face club fighter Marcus Rhode, who has lost three of his last four bouts by knockout.

Still, just as he was when he tried to become a Marine, Bowe is gung-ho for his latest challenge. He says he still has millions left from his first career, and the comeback is not about money.

Bowe says he just wants to do the only thing he knows how to do.

"I'm like a kid in a candy store. I feel like I just hit the lotto," Bowe said. "I've been miserable the last eight years so why prevent me from doing something that makes me happy?"

Doctors who examined Bowe recently say there is nothing to indicate he has brain damage or other physical problems, and the former champion no longer slurs his words.

That was enough to get him a boxing license from the Indian tribe with cooperation from the Oklahoma Boxing Commission, after several other states showed little interest when contacted by his manager. Bowe never applied in Nevada, which has a medical advisory board and the strictest regulations of any state.

But just four years ago, a psychiatrist told a federal judge that Bowe suffered from a mental disorder caused by blows to the head. He said Bowe had "frontal lobe brain damage" and wasn't thinking correctly when he kidnapped his ex-wife from the house they once shared.

Bowe ended up serving 17 months in prison for the kidnapping -- which he said was a mistaken attempt to bring his family back together -- before he was released earlier this year.

"I never had no frontal lobe," Bowe said. "I don't even know what it is. That was just my lawyers trying to keep me out of jail."

Goodman, though, said Bowe is risking far more than he realizes.

She said doctors didn't do comparison tests, and that Bowe showed evidence of brain trauma because his reflexes were slow after brutal beatings in his final two fights against Andrew Golota.

"There was a decline in skill, a decline in speech and balance, and a decline in the ability to take and throw a punch," Goodman said. "Those are symptoms of classic chronic brain injury, and it doesn't go away completely with rest."

Not surprisingly, Bowe doesn't agree. Neither does his wife, Teri, who is also his promoter.

"The thing about it is I know he is healthy, very healthy," she said. "Every test you could name he did and more than once. If they want to stand in our way then they have to prove that he's unfit, and they can't do that."

Bowe returns to a heavyweight division much different from the one he briefly ruled after beating Holyfield in 1992 to win the title. Vitali Klitschko is recognized by most as the champion, but the titles are fractured and there are few big names around.

Bowe sees an opportunity, even for an aging boxer who didn't like to train even in his prime.

"The big thing for me now is to get my swagger back," Bowe said. "Once I do that, all the big guys, the Klitschkos and those guys, will want to fight me."

Bowe lost only once in 41 fights, though that record is deceiving. He was being beaten by Golota in both fights when the Polish boxer was disqualified twice for low blows.

In interviews after his final fight in 1996, Bowe slurred badly, and Newman persuaded him to retire. But Bowe couldn't sit around, despite being quite comfortable with what Newman said was $16 million in liquid assets and two luxury homes.

Bowe joined the Marines before quitting after only a few days of basic training, then later kidnapped his ex-wife and kids at gunpoint for what he thought would be a reconciliation.

"He will get an idea and become obsessed with that idea," Newman said. "He was like that with the Marines. He wasn't thinking about fighting or anything but being a Marine."

Now, though, Bowe is obsessed with fighting again, which troubles Newman.

"My initial reaction was, knowing Bowe's abhorrence of training, he would find a way not to go through with it," Newman said. "Now that he is, I'm just saddened by the whole thing."

Bowe said he never really wanted to retire, and that his life hasn't been the same without boxing. He's out of prison, remarried and looking to start a new life.

"This is America, why can't I have a second opportunity?" Bowe asked. "I made one silly mistake, but I'm not the worst person in the world. Why not let me be happy and make a couple more dollars for my kids?"